1024 Sahyadri Express

In the bygone days, the glitterati and the hoi polloi from Pune used to travel to Mumbai by train. Why because the notorious Bhor ghat used to make even Lamborghinis travel at 10kmph, that too if you were lucky. Many are the hapless road travellers of yore who have spent an entire night in the infamous traffic jams.

Enter the expressway and, hey presto! everything has changed. It is almost infra dig to travel by train now. You can vroom to outskirts of Mumbai in 2hrs and even AC public transport will take you there in 3 hrs max. You now dont plan a trip to Mumbai. Even by public transport. You micro manage your destination to Thane, Mulund, Sion, Dadar, Mantralaya, Borivali and what not.

All said and done, train journeys are more C1 C2 friendly. ( The spinal cord vertebrae, silly! ) And of late, easier on the purse too. Moreover, the ceetees in the tunnels and the monkeys at Monkey Hill are perks on the house.

For some reason, the Rlys dont seem to recognise the growing clout of the suburbs in Mumbai. Almost all the morning trains leaving Pune stop at Kalyan and then snobbishly zoom past Thane to Dadar. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get to downtown.

I had some work in the Eastern suburbs last week and decided to travel by easy paced, conveniently timed Sahyadri Exp. USP: halt at Thane. From there you can now take AC city buses, my fav mode of transport in Mumbai. VFM, safe, comfy and C1C2 friendly ( courtesy air suspension.)

The junta traveling by this train are a relaxed and earthy suburban lot. It has a lot to do with the train's halt at Pimpri, Dehu, Talegaon, Karjat, Neral etc. And yes, most of them dont flaunt gizmos in their ears. That makes them eager and willing to strike up a conversation. That is my favourite timepass while travelling. Start a debate on a random topic in a motley crowd.
( Corruption or cricket come in very handy). Then lapse into listen mode! Beats MP3 anyday.