The Introductions!

I had this in my long-pending list of posts to be published. A trigger in the whatsapp group and here it goes!

I want to recollect fond memories of the first (and probably a few early) meet-up with fellow railfans. How and where it happened, and a recollection of interesting traits and incidents.

With a family of railfans, right from my thatha, peripa, appa, chithappa, younger brother and cousins, railfanning passion was nothing new to me. It was part and parcel of life :) Getting to know and realising that railfanning is a passion by itself, a hobby that others seriously pursue was an eye-opener for me (like how it dawned on all other fellow railfans on one fine day!). My travel companion and fellow railfan during childhood was my younger brother Anand. From the days when we used to play with toy trains at our home to fighting for the window seat in a train journey to mugging up timetables, he was the first ardent railfan I grew up with. We used to eagerly await Appa buying us the Timetable every year. We used to ponder over exotic tables of the MG lines in the North, SCR area. Somehow, he got a special affection for the stations Renigunta and Guntakal - they used to appear in a lot of tables and had a number of trains with interesting new names passing through them. Mugging up tables was a serious business. We would never know whether we know 7 table or 8 table by-heart, but will list down all stations in the timetables as though we are in a memory skill competition. The passion still continues and we still exchange rail notes when we get to bump on each other even now. Having grew up only around MG trains, travelling in a BG train (be it Brindavan or Saptagiri or the unit to TI/ TRL) was the one we used to really look out for.

I did not have any fellow railfans in school or in my articleship firm. Having entered 10th standard, the passion took a back-seat as I had to concentrate on studies. Nevertheless, spotting trains at the Bazaar Road gate in Saidapet was a daily affair enroute school.

The passion was brought back to life when I joined office and accidentally discovered that one of my colleagues, R. Aravind and his younger brother also shared this crazy hobby. This was the time when I had an internet connection at home and guess what, the first google search I did was 'Indian Railways' :) I happened to join the official online discussion forum of IR where a wealth of information, especially on technical aspects, was there as a treasure trove. This photo's link that was shared in the IRDF forum pulled me into the ocean of the Indian Railways Fan Club (IRFCA). I got connected with some 5000 fellow railfans across the globe through their Yahoo Groups and rest is history :)

All along then, the railfan in me was restricted to online discussions and in person discussions with Aravind. This guy will require one full post for himself, so I am skipping this part.

Then came Orkut as the first mass social media along with me buying a camera. I discovered that I can make friends online, meet up fellow railfans and take photos and videos of my favourite trains. This really opened the flood gates.

I took a few photos during my 2005 December trip to Mysore and had them uploaded to the IRFCA gallery. My first ever interaction with stranger railfan was a phone call with Gowrisankar in mid-2006. He was happy to meet a fellow railfan as well and asked me to join a send-off meeting for Dr. Vrijlesh at Central. He was supposed to take Charminar on that Sunday. Gowri was running late that day and he asked to meet a person called Sridhar Joshi, who will be near the loco on PF9. Got to meet Sridhar Joshi, Poochi Venkat and Vrij on that evening.

Gowri has been a strong pillar of support from that Day 1. He has been along with me all through the ups and downs during the last 11 years. I am glad to be part of his life as well - it was a natural bonding as we both were commerce graduates (which is a rarity among railfans) and had lots of stories from our articleship days. He is the only railfan who has scolded me the most :) the right that he takes to scold me during arguments is to be seen to be believed!!

Sridhar Joshi (popularly known as Gawdappa for the Madras gang) has always been 'Sridhar' or 'Sridhar Joshi' or 'SJ' to all others, but always 'Joshi' to me from that Day 1. My initial impression was that he was rough and tough. He turned out to be totally otherwise... the way he takes care of people during trips and the way he ensures that the family bonding is there among railfans - taking that one step further to see that our families are inter-connected as well, is beyond explanation. The young gen values him as a 'Gawdappa', for me he is a valued mentor. I have learned a lot from him on how to deal with the babudom. Which switch is for which light. Someone who sees railfanning beyond just a camera lens.

Third in line is (Poochi) Venkat. His name was very popular among railfans with camera during my pre-camera days. The first words I spoke to him were, "Aahaa, so you are that Poochi Venkat - like Andhumani of Dinamalar, your name was more popular that your face! I have finally met you today".

The next big event was getting tagged to my guruji Ashwanth through Orkut. We got to know each other through some interactions in rail related forums in Orkut. We did one trip to Tirupati together - people at home literally fainted when they heard that we just went to Tirupati station and came back without going to any temples and it was intended to be a typical railfanning trip. Ashwanth, during this trip, taught me almost all the technical aspects of railways - the locos, coaches, signalling, operations and everything under the umbrella of IR. He is still my 'guru'.

We got tagged to Krishnakumar S (Jr KK) and we three decided to meet, and not just a meet, take a joy ride in the Pondicherry Passenger to Villupuram Junction; return by Vaigai to Madras. By doing this, we get to travel in trains and have time to discuss about railfanning. Through Orkut, we roped in Vimalakar, Harish, Harish Kumar and Naveen. Vimal is the most jovial railfan I have ever met. He gets angry at times, but not the angry type that makes one feel bad. His characteristic suffix of 'maa' to a sentence is his highlight. Harish is now in US. Harish Kumar stands out as one of the best photographers in Railway photography. The way he sees railway in nature as background and composes his shots is awesome. Naveen is the other name for 'balanced-head'. Never have I seen him involving in a fierce argument. He is quite silent, but his sarcasm (that comes out occasionally) is par excellence. This was one of the first trips that I made with the Madras gang.

I don't exactly remember the sequence of meeting other MAS gang members and hence mentioning them in a random order - restricting it those with whom I have had interactions and bonding beyond just railfanning:

S. Aravind (Lalbagh) - the ultra enthusiastic person as a railfan, who goes into the nuances of gradients, traction and the like.

Aswath (Osboth) - fellow CA, with whom I have had tons and tons of interesting discussions on a variety of topics... brilliant chap.

Aswin - Brilliant Pilanian with response time equivalent to camphor. Astounding vocabulary and presence of mind, coupled with a good sense of wit.

Krishnakumar K (Sr KK) - my initial impression is that he is no less than a 1000-wala saram. The way he uses a nice array of words to scold a blunder that SR or IR does, will always make me laughing with tears from my eyes! I am always 'Thirumalai' to him, and he is always 'helmet' for me.

Krishnan (always with the suffix, Sir) - a walking xx TB external hard disk drive who has xx GB RAM when it comes to retrieving railway facts. I have had a lot of discussions with him on non-rail related topics, especially when I am upset otherwise. He always will ensure that the discussion gets me back re-railed with enthusiasm.

Rakesh Joshi (as SJ calls him, the 'sishyan') - from the first day I met him at Saidapet bus stand when he got down from 47D LSS bus, to this date, he is more a proper sishyan to me :) we have interacted a lot on psychology, astrology, temples, rituals and what not...

Ramkrishnan (Ramki for the entire world) - we share a lot in common. The amazing similarity in the way we think, the way we analyse, our wavelength will always be in perfect sync :) when we get to initiate a discussion, a lot would be understood at the beginning itself, untold!!! I have interacted in equal proportion with his parents as well and what a wonderful hosts they are!

Sampath Kumar - for his elephantine memory and down to earth attitude. His presence of mind and balanced views have always inspired me.

Sriram Karthik - one meeting at his house with his father is enough as a sample on how much we share our common passion. Cool headed knowledgeable chap.

Vasanth and KS Rajagopal - my mentors on database analysis and number crunching. Whatever little I possess on these traits is courtesy inspiration of these two gentlemen (+ Krishnan Sir and Deepak Saravanan 'Deepu').

Disclaimer:
This is the spontaneous post for now, will edit and update when I get more time. As I mentioned earlier, I have restricted it to people in MAS gang with whom I have interacted way more than just railfanning.

The old narrow gauge

18 AUG 2017 2657 S8 25 LB FF NBE EW Coach 15619 Power 30367 RPM PF 5
MAS 2315
SBC 450 PF 3

19 AUG 2017 76551 KQZ DMU Coach 22404 FF BE WS EW
SBC 9.37
BNC 45/50
BNCE 54/56
BYPL 10.1/3
CSDR 10/13
YNK Home 25/31 x 6339/16850 ED SHF + 16668 ED LHF PF 35/38 ACP 39/40
DJL 53/55
DHL 11.6/8
AVT 19/20
NDY 26/29
CBP 37/39
GDH 46/47
IDT 57/59
CMY 12.27/29
DTT 34/35
SVS 44/45
DNU 58/59
GJT 13.8/9
KQZ 20 PF2

19 AUG 2017 2658 S7 52 LB RF NBE Coach 15248 Power 30398
BWT 23.45 PF 4
MAS 4.45 PF 9
Subham.

Haridwar

20 MAY 2017 2055 JanS C2 58 AS BE power 16635 LDH shf

NDLS 15.20 PF11
GZB 16.5/7
MTC 45/47
Deoband 18.7/9
TPZ 28/30
HW 20.30 PF3

27 MAY 2017 2056 JanS D3 68 AS RF BE coach 02614 power 11163 IZN 'Tez'

HW 6.18/28
RK 7.15/17
TPZ 57/59
DBD 8.22/24
MOZ 45/9.1 xMail/ 40233 BGKT, xShatabdi/30073
MTC 55/57
Guldhar 10.26
GZB 46/48
Sahibabad 11.0
Tilak Bridge 19/20
NDLS 11.35 PF10 Subham.

Kabini Trip

2007 06 JAN 2017 C11 31 MS RF NBE Power 30417 RPM 12324 UBL Coach 08159 PF 2A MAS

MAS 6.1
BBQ 10
ABU 26
AVD 29
PAB 33
KBT 47
TO 59 switch to ML
AJJ 7.8
CTRE 14
MDVE 24 TSR
THL 43
SVUR 47
KPD 54/56 x22027/TVC-SHM, x22042/RMM-TPTY
JTJ Home 8.55LSS 9.6
KPN 42
BWT 10.5
BFW 20
DKO 35
WFD 40
KJM 49
BYPL 51
BNC 56
SBC 11.8/26 PF 7
RMGM 12.8
MAD 30
MYA 49
Y 13.0
S 16
MYS 30. PF 1

2008 08 JAN 2017 C1 16 MS RF NBE Coach 14160 Power 70462 UBL 22715 ED

MYS 14.15 PF 1
NHY 25
S 32
KGI 15.53
SBC 16.12/40 PF 7
BNC 47
KJM 58
MLO 17.18
TCL 28
BWT 34
MAR 18.2
JTJ 30
VN 43
VLT 19.0
KPD 26/28 PF 2
SHU 57
AJJ Home 20.10/15 PF 21 Prec 6058
TI 51
AVD 58
VPY 21.16
MAS 25. PF 2. Subham.

Kadaimugam 2016

14 NOV 2016 6183 S7 11 LB RF BE RF COACH 94204 POWER 22042 AJJ

MBM 2345
ST, 51
PV 55
TBM 0 4/6
VDR 15
GI 19
CTM 21
SKL 27
CGL 37/39
MLMR 1 5/7
TZD 17
OLA 21
TMV 32/34
X1064
X6184
PEI 51
VVN 58 X6860
MYP 2 5
VM HOME 14/19 X6178/30411 PF 6 25/59 saw 6175/5 X6102/15515 PF 5, X6180/PF 4
SXR 3 9
TUY 13
CUPJ 40/42
CDM 4 11/14
SY 30/32
VDL 40/42
MV 55 PF 1.

15 NOV 2016 6184 S9 28 LB FF BE COACH 96341 POWER 13495 ED SHF
KMU 21.50/22.0 X6105/16678 LHF PF2
MV PF 1 40/43 X6779/16476R PF 3
TBM 3 42/44
MBM 4 0 PF 4 A LINE.

Delta 2016

At Egmore:
22887 for 102 Up Boat Mail pf 7
24654 AJJ tiger g7 in p4 shell for 153 Dn Cholan
24655 AJJ tiger g7 in p4 shell for 7652 kcg ms
22221 ED for 2662 Pothigai. Interestingly the word Pothigai was written in tricolour in the SLR board.

28.09.2016 6853 MS pf 8 B3 9 LB RF NBE coach 00116 power 24654
MS 8.17
MKK 8.29
STM 35
TBM 48/50
VDR 55
GI 9.15
CTM 20 prec over 40519
SKL 27
CGL 37/39
KGZ 10.0
MMK 2
MLMR 13/14
TMV 38/40
VVN 57
VM arr 11.10 pf 4 switch to 13513 SHF

VM dep 11.43
SXR 52
TUY 56
PRT 12.2/4
MBU 12
TDPR 22/25
CUPJ 31/33
ALP 45
PUC 53/13.5 x6854/11186 shf
CDM 28/30
CLN 37
SY 46/48
VDL 56/58
MV 14.12/15 PF1
KTM 26
ADT 35/37 x6234
KMU 50.

01.10.2016 6854 B3 22 UB FF NBE coach 05118 power 14671 ED shf
CDM 12.42
KII 50/58 X6853/16564 ED
PUC 13.9
OT 24/27
NT 36/38
NPM 43
MBU 48
PRT 55/57
TUY 14.4
VM arr 20 pf 4. 14671 gave way to an offlink p4 22901 AJJ. I was expecting a p1.

VM dep 14.45
TMV 15.18/20
MLMR 45/47
CGL 16.24/26 PF4
SKL 38
CTM 41
GI 44
VDR 50
TBM outer 55/17.1 pf6 arr 17.5
TBM dep 17.7
PV 13
STM 19
MKK 28
MS outer 33/35 pf7 42. 3 min BT. Subham.

Gatimaan 2016

30 JUL 2016 2611 Garib Rath Exp MAS Pf 2 G10 4 LB FF BE coach 07143 power 22788 ET

MAS 6.10
SPE 7.39
GDR 8.14
NLR 8.44
BTTR 9.9
KVZ 21
UPD 48
TNR 10.0 prec over 7405 Krishna Exp
OGL 14/16
CLX 51
BZA 12.20/23
KMT 14.0
WL 15.8/10
RDM 16.20
BPQ 18.2/12
NGP 20.45/59
overtook 2625 Kerala Exp while he was waiting for banker attachment
JHS 5.52
GWL 6.50/55
AGC 8.8 PF 2

31 JUL 2016 2049 Gatimaan Exp AGC Pf 6 C1 65 WS FF NBE coach 163151 power 30020 GZB

AGC 17.50
NZM 19.28 2 min BT

31 JUL 2016 2622 Tamil Nadu Exp NDLS Pf 3 2A HA1 2 UB FF NBE coach 05030 power 22558 ED

NDLS 22.45
BAQ 6.50
BHS 7.13
BPL dep 8.40
ODG 9.9 prec over Kamayani Exp
HBD 49
ET 10.6
DHQ 11.34/39 banker 31026
MJY 12.0/2
AMLA 12.20
PAR 13.23 prec over 2970 JP-MAS
NGP 14.40/50
BPQ 17.33/43
WL 21.1/6
KMT 22.18
MDR 55
BZA 00.21/27
PON 5.50
MJR 6.0
TVT 27
KOK 38
BBQ 57
MAS 7.7 pf 5. 3 min BT. Subham.