Why I would choose Gatimaan over Shatabdi? -Governance Now

Why I would choose Gatimaan over Shatabdi?

It makes sense to take the Gatimaan Express to Agra as it is value for money.

Aasha Khosa | December 21, 2016 | New Delhi

#value for money #hotel #Agra #Shatabdi #Gatimaan Express

I have started liking the Gatimaan Express, the Delhi-Agra ‘bullet’ train, not so much for being a time-saver – as it takes about 15 minutes less than the Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi - but for the awesome food that’s served on board to passengers.

The breakfast platter that the waiter served me at about 8.30 am qualifies to be called the brunch. Food came in good measure, both in quality and quantity.

The Uttapam-rava idli served with piping hot sambar and coconut chutney had an authentic taste. It also had seasonal cut fruits and bread. One could wash the food down with pineapple juice and later, with the choice of tea or coffee. A pack of two biscuits, and sachet each of jam and butter for the bread was there.

The non-vegetarian travelers were served omelet. At Rs 755 fare, I thought, the food give the traveler good value for his money. The food indeed was such a refreshing change from the potato-cutlet fried pea stuff often served on the Shatabdi and even Rajdhani trains.

My co-passenger, who was a frequent train traveler, told me that this was the best train meal he had ever had. “Rajdhani food is so down market.” His experience related to the Kolkata-bound Rajdhani.

Being the youngest train, the interiors are clean and toilets not too bad. However, the only time one is transported to the normal train is, when the otherwise well turned out waiters awkwardly carry the breakfast trays on their arms; the rest of the serving is done on trolleys. One wonders why trolleys should not be used for serving breakfast too, the way it’s done in the airplanes. This, obviously, would make serving convenient and dignified.

I found a lot of foreign tourists on board. In Agra the general manager of a top-end hotel told me that his guests were opting more for Gatimaan than the Shatabdi.

More importantly, unlike the Shatabdi, the Gatimaan is never late. In fact it’s too punctual to be called the Indian train. Shatabdi from the Bhopal end (to Delhi) usually gets late by hours, causing huge inconvenience to the passengers due to its post-midnight arrival.

Comments

Other News

Astonishing breadth and depth of ancient Indian knowledge systems

The Greatest Books of Ancient India: Incredible Ideas about Science, Music, Maths, Art and More By Dr. Pradeep Chakravarthy and Dr. R. Thiagarajan Hachette India, 208 pages, Rs 399

Strong El Nino threat over India`s monsoon, food & water security

India is heading into the southwest monsoon season this year under the shadow of a rapidly strengthening El Nino, with meteorologists warning that the climate phenomenon could significantly disrupt rainfall patterns, intensify heat stress and place additional pressure on the country’s agriculture-d

How corporates can nudge real change

The Business Of Business Is (Not) Just Business: How Behavioural Tools Can Drive Real Change Edited by Sutapa Banerjee, with Foreword by Nadir Godrej HarperCollins, 336 pages, Rs 699

India stopped jailing people for paperwork. Now comes the hard part

A small pharmacist in Rajkot neglects to change a notice in his store under a little-known clause of a public health law. This was not only a non-compliance matter, but also a criminal offence, and a jail sentence was the punishment under the old system. Not a fine. Not a warning. Jail. Now scale

How to make our cities climate-resilient

Indian cities are growing at a pace that our infrastructure and climate can no longer sustain. This rapid urban sprawl increasingly strains urban systems, overshadowing the severe environmental fallout produced in its wake. The repercussions include Urban Heat Island Effect (UHI), Urban Floods, and many mo

Trump’s China setback pushes US to woo India

A week after Donald Trump’s visit to China – the first by an American president in nine years, US secretary of state Marco Rubio arrived in India on May 23 on a four-day visit aimed at resetting Washington DC’s relations with New Delhi and attending the third Quad ministerial meeting.