The railway transport nightmare - decisions changed

As decided we were to transport our bikes upto Ambala by train (Jhelum exp) from Pune. But the catch here was that we could transport only 4 bikes a day in the train due to luggage constraints.

We decided to transport 4 bikes a day ahead and the other 3 bikes the next day when everyone would be on the train. We were however warned by the railway parcel agents that someone has to be at the receiving station while unloading the bikes as usually the guys there don't do it plus the train reaches at 12.45am in the night , damn! Now there was a catch situation here that if we send the 4 bikes ahead who would unload them at Ambala in case the railways botched it up. We couldn't risk losing a day of the trip getting our bikes back from nowhere in case the bikes didnt get unloaded at Ambala and went all the way ahead.

Two things were possible.
1. Put someone on the train that day so that he could get down and atleast unload the bikes or ask for help there for unloading the bikes, but again here reservation was needed for the person to get aboard the train the day before which wasn't possible so late. We had one contact of DCP in Pune who said that they had their counterparts in RPF Ambala who would unload the bikes there but again they said it wasn't 100% sure that they would do it. We wanted a 100% commitment that the bikes would be unloaded there, we didnt want false promises. This was a bleak option

2. Two persons among us would go ahead on flight to Delhi - get to Ambala before the train reaches and unload the bikes. This seemed a viable option but then the costs would increase for the flight and would be distributed among all of us.

We decided for option 2 , me and Purvesh were to goto Delhi by flight from Mumbai Saturday morning 6am and reach Ambala and stay put in a hotel. The train arrives at Ambala in the night at 12.45am so we goto the station and unload the first lot of the bikes. So I had to start Friday night to Mumbai to be with Purvesh. My journey starts a day earlier i.e 4th of July 2008.

Decision taken , me , Saurabh and Shailesh had to book our bikes on 3rd July 2008 to send them on 4th July 2008. So I took my bike along with all the documents of the bike (RC,TC, PUC, Insurance) which were needed there (xerox). We agreed to meet at Pune station at 6.00pm and book our bikes for the next day to be sent.

At mid-day today i get a phone call from purvesh saying that I needed to get his bike from Shivaner Auto in Kothrud where Deepak had given it for repairs. Now it was Deepak's responsibility but I had to do it...callous nature of Deepak....he could have given it earlier but he didnt! and to top it he had work at office...and he thought no one else has work?? I was going to blow my lid on Deepak but what the heck someone had to do it and if nobody did it , it would be a disaster isnt it? Now if people dont take responsibility then god knows the future....well Deepak if u read this please dont feel bad...I just wrote what i felt nothing against you buddy! :)

I reached Pune station at 6pm on my bike after completing all my work at office but Saurabh and Shailesh were nowhere to be seen. Finally they arrived at 6.45pm and we went to the parcel office. To our dismay we found out that the parcel booking closes at 5pm and we need to come the next day morning to book our bikes there , hell!

We decided to keep our bikes in the Pune station parking lot to save the hassles of bringing it again from home the next day over long distance and also because rains had started in Pune so it was a nightmare riding the bikes in the rain here in the traffic. So we kept our bikes in the parking at Pune station took the receipts and caught the next local train home.

Phew....