My first ever Rajdhani experiance

As a kid, the Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express used to be this legend that I dreamt often. Although train travel was an integral part of my childhood, Rajdhani remained a distant dream. A dream that only zipped past me at 120 km/hr overtime I saw it. A dream that announced it arrival from a great, great distance by the sounds of twin diesel locomotives and its generator cars at either sides of the rake. A sound that was as intimidating to rail enthusiasts like me as a Bullet motorcycle is to a biker. In those days, it used to be hauled by two diesel locomotives so that it wouldn't need to spend much time at Vadodra station changing its locomotives. One of the two diesel locos would detach itself from the train and the other one who simply haul it al the way to Delhi. When I used to go to Valsad during some of my summer holidays at my cousin's house, it was a ritual. Take a picnic basket, leave the house at sharp 6, go to the yard just before the station, position ourselves on the banks (the abandoned yard's platform), eat some sandwiches, make merry....till about 7:30 pm to welcome the king of Indian Railways zoom past Valsad at unimaginable speeds. Now, hauled by WAP7- India's most powerful electric locomotive- the Rajdhani still invokes the same sentiment in me as it did all those years ago. Last Friday- 22 May 2015- I took my first ever trip on this Rajdhani. One of my biggest childhood dreams come true.

(Photo courtesy: IRFCA; the Indian Railways Fan Club photo gallery. Picture was shot by Tushar Dhake)

Because I had never travelled by First AC, I decided to take the plunge and splurge (Rs.4,500). It's quite expensive and a few budget airlines could have got me a cheaper air ticket, but cost saving was not the purpose; experience was. The ride began very smoothly. I got allotted a cabin of four, so there was a lady with her 3-year child, her maid and another elderly gentleman who was a businessmen. The train now stops at Borivali and Surat. The ride soon began and the train started zipping part suburban stations. The amount of clearances this train gets throughout its journey is amazing, given how other trains can get delayed and piled up. 

Food is plenty. It starts off with a tray of snacks. Tea or coffee is served in glass cutlery, unlike paper cups served in 3-tier AC. Butter sandwiches, samosa, sweet and namkeen is part of the snacks tray. Newspapers are served and so is packaged water. You can have as many as you want throughout the journey.

Meanwhile, I keep checking the speed of the train on my new Speedometer App on my phone. The train hits a top speed of 135 kph, but easily averages at 120 kph. You can feel the speed if you sit next to a window and watch the train zip past stations. The LHB coaches are very smooth and you can feel the difference travelling in them as against the usual coaches we see in all other trains. But these coaches keep giving very ugly jerks when the train catches up speed. If you're in the toilet peeing, it gives you a nasty scare, all of a sudden. 

As soon as the train leaves Surat (about 8pm), dinner is served. By the way, unlike 3-Tier AC, food is served to you here in First AC. Each passenger gets an individual foldable table (they're kept hidden near every cabin's or coupe's entrance door), table mats are placed on top over them and then food is served. Just like in airlines. Tomato soup- with breadsticks and butter- to start with. Then, we get a choice of non vegetarian and vegetarian. The non vegetarian is either Indian or continental to choose from. I chose continental. Roast chicken, spaghetti with gravy and mixed vegetables was served. Food was okay, but not bad at all. Curd is served along with it. You can ask for sugar if you like it sweet. For desserts, there's ice-cream. 3-tier AC serves only vanilla, First AC serves a choice of vanilla and butter-scotch.

We reach Vadodara station at about 9 pm and the train has an approximately 15-minute halt here. As soon as the train leaves Vadodara, it's time to go to bed. Bedding is given to all of us. Besides, an attendant comes and does our beds; another only First AC thing. By the way, there is an attendant in the Rajdhani First AC coach. Every coupe or cabin has a bell, which you ring to call an attendant if you need him. 

Breakfast time in the morning and they serve you eggs, omelette, poha, etc and also Kelloggs cornflakes with either hot or cold mild. Tea / coffee is also served. My Rajdhani was delayed by more than 10 hours on account of the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan. So all Mumbai - Delhi trains were diverted from Nagda towards Indore and Bhopal and then onwards on the North Central Railway to Bhopal, Jhansi, Agra and then to New Delhi. It was a tiring journey but we were very fortunate to be in an AC train. Imagine going through a furnace of a country side for second-class passengers. We reached Delhi next day at 16:30 hours to a 45 degrees C temperature, instead of 8:30 that morning! But to the credit of Railways, we got complimentary lunch that afternoon on our way to Delhi, because we were running late. Simple dal, rice and potato dish but very tasty.

All in all, my first ever Rajdhani experience was quite memorable. Coaches were just about clean though toilets could've been cleaner. Rajdhani trains have housekeeping staff that keep cleaning throughout. A recent trip to Surat on the August Kranti Rajdhani in 3-tier AC had left me very impressed; the housekeeping must have come twice or thrice- in a journey of three hours- to  clean up the coach thoroughly. 

A childhood dream came true. Though I feel I was robbed of the speed experience on account of the excruciating delay. I feel I'll take this trip again, someday. 

Red Ink Awards

Yesterday I attended the Mumbai Press Club's Red Ink Awards for journalism. In its fifty year running, I attended it for the first time. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu was the chief guest and gave away the awards. NDTV's Prannoy Roy for the Lifetime Achievement award. Caravan magazine swept away the awards winning in multiple categories across many of its writers. Scroll.com won the start-up media awards. Menace Doshi of the CNBC-tv18 was the host of the evening.

For me, the highlight of the evening was Prannoy Roy's acceptance speech. He said what I have been worried about for a long time. The tabloidation of media. He especially pointed out TV channels that appear to be tilting away towards that path; an example of which he said that he once saw a crime show where the lady anchor said, tripling her hair, "break ke baad ek rape dikhayange". Dr. Roy was  candid to point out the ugly crime shows on some of these channels. This is exactly what had me worried for the past few years.

While most English news channels are guilty of sacrificing real news in favour of debates (that are nothing but shouting matches), Hindi news channels may be accused of sensationalising. Ugly late-night crime shows appear to titilate the audiences. They are graphic and production quality is very poor. In highlighting such crime shows and TV channels' taboidation, Dr. Roy hit the nail on the head.

The show was very well organised. The venue was Jamshed Bhabha theatre at the NCPA. 

A walk on Pune's MG road

Taking a walk down the MG road in Pune camp area in the morning can be quite invigorating. Especially if you don't have any agenda.

I start from Golibar maidan end. First stop is the newspaper vendor. The elderly Muslim gentleman is such a friendly man; he recognises all his regular customers, even someone like me who go to Pune once in a month, two or even three. All newspapers and magazines are usually available with him; a very well stocked stall. There's something about a neatly organised newspaper stall. It just pulls you in, even if you know you are not that avid reader or may not have the time to read as much as you'd like. You want to read all the newspapers and magazines on display. Of course I can't. Plus, I carry my iPad these days so I prefer reading all newspapers on it. And if I like something that I can't read at that moment, I can always save the link. Most of my weekend reading these days are stories that I come across throughout the week. Or those that I come across in some exceptionally busy mornings. Pune is a different story. I still feel sentimental about stopping by my newspaper stall, pick up an occasional Business Line (only for BLink that's edited by the fabulous Veena Venugopal, about who ad guru Prahlal Kakkar once said "she is as sexy as she reads"), Mumbai Samachar (Asia's oldest newspaper) for Mother India and perhaps a Times of India for its so-what-am-I-supposed-to-do content but liked by Mother India nevertheless. 

Next to the paper vendor is one of Pune's biggest fruit and vegetable market. This is the place to go to if you want to buy the freshest fruits and veggies. These days, you can't miss all those mangoes lined up there. Stalls are nearly laid out and items are top quality. 

MG road has everything you need. Shoes, clothes, shops, crockeries, furniture, electronics, computers and everything you need and everything you don't. Pundole watchmakers stands tall further down the line. From one shop there years back, they have now grown to about four shops, with a separate watch-repair shop. They are the only shop I know that sells watch cases. The Parsi family is full of expert horologists. The gentleman who runs the repair section comes across as the guy who invented time! Once I asked him if they repair Omega watches. Aghast at me even daring to ask something like that, he immediately pointed towards one of two dozen certificates hung across the wall to one that said "official service centre for Omega". "We definitely do Omega watches, sir", he said, still not overcome with the shock he got from my question. With a soft voice but firm tone, he comes across as every bit knowledgable that he is. Our first and last stop for all our watch repairs.

MG road offers plenty of options for the foodies. A slight detour towards East Street takes you to the delightful Kayani Bakery for the world - famous Shrewsberry biscuits. But I want to try out something new there now. So I bought chocolate biscuits and Khatai. The former were not good, the latter was heavenly. Marz-o-rin is a long-time favourite; better than any of our Starbucks and Cafe Coffee Days of the world. Ice coffee, chicken sandwiches and Black Forest pastry and a table on the first floor verandah is all you need to spend a lovely hour and watch the world go by. Today though, we decided to visit age-old George restaurant further down the line for their chicken biryani. 

Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) requires a monorail

Everytime I go to the Bandra - Kurla Complex (BKC), a business district in the middle of Mumbai, I feel blessed. I am thankful to my employers for now having chosen a place like BKC for our office. I think for those of us who use public transport, it's a curse to have an office at BKC. During peak hours, it is near impossible to find a rickshaw or a bus, in minutes. The buses that come from Kurla (and going towards Bandra station) are so crowded that they don't stop. Demand for rickshaws far outstrip their supply. And to make matters worse, the traffic snarls at Kalanagar make it worse. Only people with cars are better off working at BKC.  

Unfortunately, our state planning authorities have never really invested in public infrastructure. Nor do they understand the basics. Take for instance, the monorail and metro, what's the difference between the two and where we need them. At present, monorail at Mumbai goes from Chembur to Wadala. If you see its route, you'll realise that it goes in the middle of nowhere! I really wonder how many people use it for their daily use. 

Ideally, a monorail is required for a shorter route and where there is dense population. Preferably office-goers who the monorail can ferry to the nearest train station. Like BKC. Surprisingly, the monorail has plans to go all the way to Jacob's circle (Saat Raasta, near Mahalaxmi station). For such a route, a metro is more useful since it covers a longer distance. 

A monorail is an idea solution to BKC office goers as such a route from BKC to Bandra and Kurla train stations. Such a mode of transport will cut the road traffic in a jiffy, solve public transport woes that many office goers there face in present times and is also environment friendly. A BKC monorail will also serve people to move around with BKC area. Ideally, the BKC monorail should also involve the Kalina - Santacruz office area (where Kotak, Centrum offices and Windsor buildings are located) to make that office area  interconnectible. Property prices would likely zoom up in that area if public transport is eased up. 

There is still space of construct a BKC Monorail at the moment. But the opportunity is slowly slipping by as the vacant land is slowly being bought by companies to build their offices there. Once the space is gone, all we'd be left with, would be heavy traffic and terrible traffic woes. 

Flamingo watch at Sewri

Early Saturday morning, I set off to see the Flamingos that come visiting Mumbai. These majestic migratory birds visit Mumbai every year between December and stay on here till about April. It was a long-time wish that finally got fulfilled. Birdy (appropriately called for the occasion)- an expert trekker and outdoor guide- had organised the morning watch. A colleague who is a regular with Birdy  pulled me in and off we went. We took the harbour line train- one of my favourite train rides in the whole of India- and landed at Sewri station at about 7:30 am; the appointed time. We joined the group there and began our 1 km walk to the Sewri jetty where Flamingos were waiting for us.

Sewri- and the first half of harbour line up until Wadala- looks like a Mumbai caught up in time warp. Development has thankfully (and also partly woefully) escaped this part of Mumbai. Large swaths of godowns dot the dockland area of Eastern Mumbai. The only visible sign of development here is the new Eastern freeway which runs parallel to the harbour line tracks for a long patch. A quick cup of tea / coffee outside Sewri station and we were on the way; amidst slums, dilapidated buildings, lots of large trees, dirty roads and dozens of tankers. We reached the jetty area that was dotted with tankers lined up for God know what, and what looked like a shipyard with broken ships. Birdy led us to the end of the jetty area where a large flock of flamingos were frolicking. 

Flamingo watch isn't as simple as it sounds; that you just go there and you'll find flamingos. Early mornings are the best time. Make sure you go there during low tides, so that the birds have a place to stand on the mudflats without sea water gushing in. We watched the flamingos for a good hour and the trip was worth it. Then, the high tide came and drove all the birds away. 

Then, we went to the nearby Sewri fort. More flamingos were visible from here- I presume it was a different bunch than the one we had just seen at the jetty- but they were very far away. Two kittens captured everyone's attention and I think the kittens quite loved all the attention. We were finished with the trip at about 9:30 am and then Joel and I headed for breakfast at Cafe Mondegar. Two fried eggs (sunny side up) with bacon, two glasses of orange juice, and toast was a lovely way to wrap up a wonderful outing.

 

Air-Cool is back

Thank heavens that Air-Cool- my hair saloon- has reopened. Arguably the best hair saloon this side of the town (Churchgate, Mumbai), it reopened after a hiatus of more than two months. In December 2014, it abruptly shut down its shop as I was told their lease ran out. Now they're back and have relocated at the Asiatic store, opposite Churchgate station. 

To me, Air-Cool is not just any barber. It's like a factory in there. Barbers in clean white and black uniforms, neatly attired go about doing their jobs professionally. They have speed yet most of them are quite good at what they do. Waiting time is usually minimal. Interiors are very simple, yet they look classy. There's the instrumental music being played in the background; always instrumental and not at al loud. All the barbers are assigned numbers. The one who I go to is No.4. 

Simple guy who always welcomes you with a smile, he cuts hair like he's been doing for centuries. I like my cut to be simple. I am a bit old - fashioned when it comes to getting a hair cut. I hate electric razors. I make it very clear to them that I must not be subjected to an electric razor. The other temporary hair dresser I was going to these past two months prefers to use electric razors. I just feel those barbers who use electric razors aren't so great at their craft. That's short-cut, in my books. 

Anyways, all's well that ends well. I hope Air-Cool doesn't have to shift in a hundred years now.  

Should you invest in mutual funds directly?

Last week I wrote an Opinion piece in Mint newspaper on the capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) plans to mandate mutual funds to come out with a separate plan for those investors who invest directly, without any agent's advice. Called the Direct plan, this plan will have a slightly lower total expense ratio (TER), without the distributor commission element. The net asset value (NAV) will be different for the Direct Plan. As things would go, Sebi introduced the Direct Option in its board meeting last week. What this means is that in addition to the 'retail' and 'institutional' plans, there will now be a Direct Plan. Only those investors who invest directly will be able to avail of the Direct Plan that comes with a lower expense ratio. Will investors transfer to the Direct Plan in droves?

My estimate is though initially there might be a rush, in the long run many such investors will suffer. Investing in mutual funds (MF) in not as easy as it sounds. There are operational hurdles. Numerous forms to be filled up (for Know-Your-Customer norms, application and Systematic Investment Plan), forms getting rejected because of the tiniest of reasons, change of bank account mandates; these hassles can sometimes drive investors to the wall. A good distributor can be of great help here. But if you go 'Direct', then distributors can't  help you as they can only access your record if their stamp has gone on your form.