A rail journey around India, beginning & ending in Mumbai...

A rail journey around India, beginning & ending in Mumbai...

Sunday 14 December 2014

And safely back to the starting point.....

        The circle closes—arrived back in Mumbai. The 11 hour train trip, 650 kms northward from Mangeon, Goa, only about one hour late arriving. Of course, my thanks go out to SD Enterprises, Wembley, UK from whom I purchased my 90 day Indian rail pass and who made all the required seat reservations for me---even ensuring that on every sector my bunk was lower level. Not an unimportant detail, should one have a call from nature at 3.00am and be required to make ones way along a rockin’ and rollin’ narrow passage, to the ‘facilities. 
A local Mumbai beach wedding party warms up.
                As I cruised this final leg, I reflected how I had become over these past 12 weeks, rather blaise---the joys of experience. Mysteries like how to locate one's carriage and specific seat in a train that seems like a mile long. I spent  scores of pleasant hours and miles hanging out of the open door of the rail carriage as we charged along. Sometimes I felt that it was like watching a National Geographic movie unfold before my eyes. Thankfully hanging out of rail carriages is permitted in India, but just watch out for the passing pylons that support the overhead electric rail power lines, or you may end up with a nasty head ache and a dented camera! With the advent of electric powered trains, India Railways banned the famous ‘riding on the roof’ routine. Still, would be interesting to know how many passengers they lose overboard each year from open carriage doors! Yesterday, as chance would have it, we passed the site of a major train wreck—the whole train—or perhaps 20 carriages, had flown off the track and piled up in a massive heap at the bottom of a high embankment. How long ago this happened, I do not know—but I expect, based on my knowledge of how things seem to operate in this country, that the wreck will stay in in situ for decades to come. Too bad  that I did not have my trusty Lumix in hand ready to record the dramatic scene.
Reluctant to go for a swim.....
Sand art (of a god?) on Juhu Beach, Mumbai.
               My final hotel accommodation in Mumbai,  is located generally near the airport sector & not far from Juhu beach. By pure chance, it is perhaps the best one of my whole India trip. Very professional. Super soft beds and attentive service. After complimentary cornflakes, I made my way via auto rickshaw down to Juhu. The hotel tourist map gushed that if I was really lucky, I might even see top Bollywood actors out for a jog on the sands, surrounded by their private retinue of body guards. Sadly, I missed the spectacle! Anyway, a most pleasant walk of perhaps 4-5 kms, up and down the hard sands in perfect 30C sunny weather that included the picturesque spectacle of boys running a beautiful white stallion through the surf. Unfortunately, my humble Lumix point & shoot was hardly up to the job. Due to the intense light levels, the LCD display, totally useless, as in point & guess!

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