Apr 21, 2010 12:53 PM
22891 Views
I was over the moon when I heard that Duronto from Hyderabad would land me in Delhi in 20 hours.Looking at the cost of the ticket 1600 odd for a/c 3 tier and 2200 /- for 2 tier I decided to stick to AC 3 Tier.Little did I know that all my excitement would go down the drain by the time I completed my journey. The trains third AC compartments are very congested and if you happen to be on side berth then you are in for a great trouble.Side berth coupled with the seats near the entry door is a deadly combo , the one which I had got.
Firstly, the doors of the coach open every second and you see waiters cleaners burst in with all their paraphernalia.There is not a moments peace.Its the soup then the lunch then tea followed by juices and then dinner, its an endless cycle.The bearers carry cartons of food luggage from one coach to another causing a whole lot of inconvenience. The side berth guys are constantly at the risk of being disturbed by unintended jerks.Its not strange if you see your footwear fly away elsewhere thanks to the constant movement.The endless coming in and going out stops only in the night to start in the morning again.
There is no proper waste disposal system in this train at least.The leftovers are thrown in dustbins near the washbasins and soon they fill up...spilling out leaving stench of the dals and sabzis which looks highly messy.The bathrooms even are not spared of this.The coach floor is all dirty with sambhar spilling and haldi stains...and then to wipe it all the garbage collectoir followed by the sweeper come at regular intervals making the coach even more chaotic.In this train due to the lack of disposal bins or covers. The uninhabited nowhere lands were spilled with waste all over by the staff.
By the end of the journey...I had to put up with not only the highly disturbing envirtonment but also with dirty bathrooms , chutneys spilling on floor and food stench spreading throughout the coach.Thanks to the constant movement , the a/c was also not effective.The fridge was down which I did not believe.Everyone was given normal drinking water but there were chilled bottles to be seen appearing from nowhere. Quality of food varied from point to point.The lunch from Kazipet was inedible while the dinner from Ballarsha was acceptable.Breakfast from Jhansi was passable.But its certainly not worth the cost they have charged.
Overall, I decided that be it 24 hours instead of 20, its best to travel comfortably in second class AC in other superfast trains with the same or even lesser fare.Its upto us if we wish to carry food or buy from the vendors.I did exactly that while returning and found a huge difference.
