In this post I will share one of the most thrilling experiences of my life and I am sure all IRIans would absolutely love it.
It was October of 2013, I was in class 8 studying in Delhi Public School, Bhilai and had gone to Mumbai to represent my school in a national quiz to be broadcasted on TV. After the quiz was over, we were not getting seats in any train from Mumbai to Durg for our return journey. On the other hand my relatives and I were supposed to board 12853 Durg - Bhopal Amarkantak Express on the 8th October 2014 and travel to Pipariya. We finally got tickets in 18029 Mumbai LTT - Shalimar Express for our return...
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journey starting on 7th October 2014, but there was a big problem. 18029 arrives Durg at 18:25 and 12853 departs Durg at 18:20. So my father had to cancel his and my ticket and later booked tickets on 15159 Durg - Chhapra Sarnath Express till Katni and 12296 Danapur - KSR Bengaluru Sanghamitra Express till Pipariya. It was already 13:50 on the 8th when we arrived Nagpur, already delayed by 30 minutes and so I left any hope of catching Amarkantak. At that time, cyclone Phailin had struck the eastern coast and as a result many trains were diverted via BZA-BPQ-NGP-BSP route. We were put behind 22856 Tirupati - Santragachi Express. We departed at 14:00, already late by 40 minutes and king of SER, 12841 Howrah - Chennai Central Coromandel Express crossed us. What happened after Itwari was absolutely mind boggling, we experienced an amazing, continuous MPS run and even after 10 stops, we were standing at Rasmara (Station before Durg) at 18:01 having covered the 253 km stretch in 4 hours 1 minute at an average of 63 km/h despite 10 stops. Then after 5 minutes we were given the starter to enter Durg. At 18:23 we were just entering Durg outer and 12853 hadn't departed yet. 18:28 our train comes to a stop at PF3 and 12853 hadn't departed from PF4. PF3 and PF4 have an uncovered drain b/w them but fortunately it was a bit covered by the ground where my coach A1 came to a halt. My father on PF3 saw me, ran towards the door and shouted at me, asking to jump b/w the tracks and board 12853. My teacher who was accompanying me pushed everyone standing near the door inside my coach A1 so that me and my father could run and go to other side. It was a total chaos. I got down, it was a steep climb down to the ground and then a steep climb up and boarded the S1 coach of 12853. A middle aged person helped me with my luggage and at 18:29, 12853 departed. My father rushed through 18029, threw his handbag and trolley on the ground, then got down and had to run. He threw is handbag to me while the middle aged man whose name was Rakesh who was travelling to Katni held onto the trolley. My father ran and boarded the train, despite the steep climb when it was already at around 15-20 km/h and at 18:33 both of us were onboard 12853, headed towards Pipariya. We couldn't believed what we had just done. It was absolutely mind boggling and I hope you enjoyed this experience of mine as much as I do when I cherish the memories :)