Intercity

I've never travelled so much by train in my whole life as I did in past six months at IITB. Most of it toggling between Mumbai and Pune on weekends. I was introduced to Intercity by a friend passing out, as the fastest carrier between the two cities...no wonder I fell for her immediately...then the affair continued for months...and still going on steadily ;) To the extend that once I went to and fro in a single day!
Some things become so much a part of our life that you can't see beyond them. On odd occasions when I fail to get a reservation, I go standing but take another train...every minute of the 2:15 hrs journey from Pune to Mumbai is a treat in all respects. Well not all....hmm...so here ends the good part of the story.
I have a few complaints....it's so hard get a reservation for this queen of deccan...gives a lot of hard time...to my bro :P...and why on earth some of the most repellent human beings are sent into my compartment!...the bus experience has been pleasing in that respect...anyway as the best things in life are desired by everyone...so is case with this poor speedo...with hoards of people on board, the general bogies offer the most disgusting scenes on the surface of mother earth...it would be easier get a seat in the parliament than in Intercity general dabba...well...seasoned commuters like me are trained for that with some dhakka-bukki techniques...but otherwise its no less than a miracle if you end up getting one....but if you do, then nothing like it! You have 2 hrs full of entertainment....the unending quarrels of the fellow passengers standing in the passage, in doors, and in every possible cubic centimeter...the pheriwallas take immense pleasure in making rounds of the whole train for innumerable times....by now I know most of them by face...and some by name! chikki at Lonavla and vada-paav at Karjat allows a few more of these train-crawlers to get in. Last one, Intercity runs 15 mins slower than usual these days...not cool :(
Well, having shown the good and bad side of it, I just wish for a few more sisters of this Super Express....heard this somewhere....'The Burning Train'?...remember the multi-starrer....Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Danny....anyway, they could be named Intracity, Velocity, Univer-city....ok...I know....I stop right here.