Decided to begin New Year month of January 2026 by exploring the hill stations of Dalhousie and Mcleodganj .These were the last two major tourist destinations that had alluded me in India during my employment as " Marine Engineer " doing the circumnavigation of East and West coastal ports of India through coastal shipping and later personal criss-cross country travel by road and rail across India.
Monday(5/1/2026) Departure Mumbai to Pathankot and arrival Dalhousie on Tuesday(6/1/2026) :- Boarded the " 12471 Swaraj Express" into compartment " S5/ Seat 52"at Bandra Terminus for destination Pathankot in State of Punjab. Exactly at 1100 hrs the train departed Bandra terminus with my journey to Pathankot being 1850 Km with a travel time frame of 26 hrs if reaching on scheduled time.I love these occasional 2nd class long distance train travels within India that exposes me to the train journeys providing scenic views of India's vast geographical biodiversity through different States .Accustomed to comfortable luxury living in my house in Mumbai these occasional " 2nd Class" train marathon travels personally allows me to experience the travel hardships of the average Indian middle class train traveller.Would advice every Non- Indian origin foreign tourist to travel long distance " Second Class" to experience India in its true biodiversity and cultures as also the practical train travel hardships of overcrowding on occasions.In " First Class/ 3 Tier A/c" travel on trains there are no hawkers with their unique sales gimmicks nor occasionally at times unreserved passengers overcrowding the compartment as in" 2nd Class sleeper Reservation". At night it was a horror " Slum class train travel" which I had experienced a decade ago on a different train with unreserved passengers sleeping on the compartment floor in the almost freezing cold night .A sleepless night due to the intense cold wave of 9* c temp and no proper warm clothing on the bunk of a overcrowded train.Due to dense fog and poor visibility the train on Tuesday morning was behind schedule and as they say among travellers that it's the journey that matters and not the end destination.This train caters more to pilgrims visiting Vaishnodevi Temple at Katra which is also the last stop of this train and hence only vegetarian food is served on the train ,both by onboard canteen as well as railway hawkers.For the first time during my train jorneys spent the entire morning lying down on my bunk bed,akin to a hospital patient,catching up on my reading through the digital print and not paperback reading material that i usually carried before invention of the Internet .Lunch at 1300 hrs was a excellent vegetarian lunch box prepred in the train pantry costing only Rs 150.Excellent lunch in comparison to the chill cold long train journey akin to slum tourism living.Celibrity Adventurer Bear Grylls would have found it real adventurous if in my situation on the train.Authentic survival. Train was late by 31/2 hrs and finally at 1630 hrs reached Pathankot Railway station.Train travel educates.Alighted the train and on inquiry crossed the railway tracks and walked a short distance towards the main highway road .There were some rickshaws parked near this main highway bus stand having a few Dhaba shops .The main landmark of this highway bus stand is the " Pathankot Liquor shop" situated on the opposite road of the bus stop.There were lot of travellers waiting for different buses or taxi's and I was the lone backpacker heading to Dalhousie.Dalhousie is approximately 82 Kms from Pathankot and was told that there was a local bus to Dalhousie and taxi's were available for Rs 2500- Rs 3000.Worth if I was in a group of 4 or more but definitely not as a " Solo" traveller.Had a omelette snack at the Dhaba and after almost a hour finally at 1735 boarded a local bus to Banikhet , the ticket costing Rs 150.Banikhet is approximately 10 Kms from Dalhousie and reaching somewhere is better than reaching nowhere.This was the common local bus packed to capacity with standing passengers. Lucky to at least get a bus towards Dalhousie as it is off- season and late night.
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