Tigers Experience: Tigers Experience of Travelling to Simla on Shatabadi Express to Kalka and Back

Travelling to Simla via the Kalka Shatabadi to celebrate the end of 2013 and the beginning of a New year 2014 in SIMLA / SHIMLA - the kalka shatabadi was the first of the Fast Trains launched in India .... Trust me its quite an effort to catch a train . Wake up at 5 am rush for the station , Trains at 7.40 am . Reach station in ten minutes flat - to enter the damn station from the paharganj side takes min 30 mins to an hour - so play it safe . Haggle with the coolies(Porters) - they start with 500 and come down to a 300 ... real lootera wala scene - there u r getting late of the train and they start acting funny. You reach the platform and realise that the train is yet to come ..what a CH u feel like . anyways hang out have some tea from the platform ... luckily the coolies know exactly where the coaches for Executive class arrive m so u dont have to run again . Train Arrives .. a half glued chart is visible but your name is not in it , you go huh now what .. the man who is supposed to stick the chart forgot to paste the top part hahahahaha, nevertheless you have a print out of the ticket hence safe.You jump into the compartment following the coolie, one person stays out with the luggage the other barge into the compartment to grab space for the bags - god what a a task , and eventually you settle down in peace to enjoy the journey and Indian Railways hospitality ... all this is done - there is a bottle of water with a paper cup courtesy maggi on top of the bottle (pls note as per the railway rules you shall be provided with a second bottle post a 20 hour journey- it is printed on the tray mat), a news paper on your seat . perfect . You are kind of comfortable wife wants to go to the loo - and she comes back running becos it is so dirty ... you call the attendant wearing a rajasthani out fit sherwani and a turban - he shouts at the cleaner who take his brush and phenyle and attempts to clean the loo... the compartment is quite clean tho .

Ok this is the funny part - while the crowd is very decent sophisticated - everyone reading the papers , with head phones , on their laptop - there is one lady sitting across us - suddenly had the urge to listen to music - she put on her BB with music playing thru the speakers - man i was like dude take it easy hahahahahha. One Glance at her and She did get the hint and shut it up.

7.40 am to 11.45 am to kalka. Get of the train and start looking for cabs to drive you down to Simla , man they haggle , eventually settled for 2500 one way and the worst was the coolie must be really old but not giving up insisted on helping us with our luggage , felt so gulity - all i could do was give him a extra hundreds thats it .

Total airline style trolley arrives by your side . Sir kya khanegae aap ... array bhai kya kya hai ? Veg / non Beg .. i go dunno . He smiles becos he has been tipped.

On the journey the rule is is Tip the guy before he starts his service to get that extra attention which he is supposed to do normally, instead of tipping him after the service, makes sense. He wore gloves which was impressive. Boss they are doing what ever lil they can .

The Breakfast Tray set up - The Tray mat is the menu for all Breakfast , Tea Lunch and dinner . Assorted decorations of ketchup , Butter ,mixed fruit jam, sugar , salt peppa and your cutlery in the red packet on the right side . This got me all excited , i love breaka.

Breakfast starts with cornflakes - ok the secret here is Eat everything they serve .. dont do any nakhra specially when on a holiday . LOL

Cornflakes with waterrrryyyy diluted milk and sugar .. not bad for a starter . Anything Garam garam in winters is a blessing

The choices of breads Hot Croissant - nice and flaky ,and Brown bread good quality two slices - actually very nice

Paisa Vasool - croissant with more butter and Jam - boss im on holiday - even if the wife gives the looks keep at it .

Opted for the Non Veg option .. the Veg options had so many things like chiila paranthas dosa etc but all depends on what the cater has sent and your luck too .. today he had only gobhi and aloo parantha .

Masala Omelette and Veg Railway cutlets ... The omelette was not rubbery at all - nicely made and the way to eat it is make a brown bread sandwich layered with butter and ketchup lol .. please note here the tip in advance helps in procuring the extra butter and ketchup . below the omelette you wil find boiled veggies and two french fires , put them all in the sandwich . The Veg Cutlets - masala maar ke .. crumb fried cutlets with masala in them .. not bad - just a bit spicy but very edible and tasty . extra ketchup sachet to put on it and then eaten .

The breakfast is perfect sumptuous and hot . This is followed by Tea . My favorite is the breakfast meal for sure .

On the Way Back from Kalka to Delhi - Evening Tea and Dinner - in Short tea was good but the Dinner was a shade better than awful - so i call it Chalta hai food.. You are tired from the drive down from simla , fed up of eating , you got the holidays blues rising - so u want to relax and reach home in a hurry . And yet you want to Eat the Railway food hahahahaha

Evening Tea Tray - Kurkure, Soam Halwa,Samosa, Tea bags and Ketchup

Half Eaten Samosa

Sorry about posting an half eaten samosa - it was just awesome - infact i have noticed in himachal you get the best of samosas without the crappy masala , even in Simla- plain simple and Hot . Teh attendant who was tipped off earlier insisted that we eat this and am glad we did .

Soam Papri - I didn eat this but everyone loved - i like a good son in law smuggled it for my mom in law who is a meetha freak .

Stylish Soup Bowl with Bread Sticks and Butter

Vegetable Soup - Nice flavor but over loaded with corn flour - It was hot so it went in .

This used to my favorite dish on any train The tomato soup with croutons - was so disappointed with it that i had to force it down... to make it better i added a bit of butter didn help more pepper still didn help eventually wasted half of it . We use to look forward to the Timatar ka Shorba on every train travel - i guess the caterer has been changed.

Ah !!! Dinner time - stylish told the guy give me Non Veg Indian and Non Veg Continental . The Non Veg Indian had mixed sabzi extreme left , Yellow dal , Chicken Masal - he said it was chicken senturian , steamed rice , two parathas and Dahi . Oh yes there was Noga ka mixed pickle also.

The Sabzi was good - fresh , The Daal was ok , The Chicken was a disaster covered with corn flour - there version of butter chicken with a chinese twist or rather overdose . Eventually had paratha with sabzi and daal chawal with dahi .

The Veggie Thali had everything same as above except they had Paneer Masala which was definitely better than the Indo Chinese butter chicken .

Ok Hang On here comes the Continental Meal LOL .. total Bhookad .

Boiled Vegetables , Roast Chicken - WOW . With Brown bread , Chips and butter . The chicken look deliciously red and roasted but when i tore it open it had Blood - yuck was so so disappointed , now who to complain to , no point - just left it and sent it bak . Wouldn recommend it to anyone .