My rendezvous with Begumpet Railway Station.

After my son, Ch. Srikanth shifted to Bangalore for better prospects; we miss him a great deal. We eagerly await his fortnightly and sometimes once in a month, weekend homecomings. And fortunately, even at short notice, travel plans between Bangalore and Hyderabad are possible.

There are about 75 buses daily; connecting Hyderabad and Bangalore. And there are six trains between these two cities on Fridays and Sundays. With an excellent highway and very comfortable buses and plenty of them, covering a distance of 560 Km. under 8 hours, a bus journey is quite popular. It is a different matter that the bus fares shoot up towards weekends. However, my son prefers travelling by train by planning his trips well in advance, as tickets are virtually impossible to obtain at short notice. And the most convenient train for him is the Yesvantpur – Secunderabad – Yesvantpur, Air-conditioned Garib Rath Express Train. After office, he starts for home from Yesvantpur on a Friday at 20:50 hrs. and on his return journey, he reaches Bangalore on Monday morning at 07:10 hrs. well in time to attend office.

Though Secunderabad Railway Station which is the starting and terminating Station for this train; is just 2.5 km. from our house, I prefer to pick him up and see him off from Begumpet Station which is 3.9 Kms. away from our house and one Station away from Secunderabad Station. The reasons are; on Saturday morning when I pick him up at 08:20 hrs. and on Sunday evening when I see him off at 19:20 hrs. the traffic along this route is barest minimum and Begumpet being a very small Station with just two platforms, it is very convenient for Srikanth to move between the train and our car, parked just at the Platform Entry Gate of  Begumpet Station!