What could be the meaning of the title of this post Hundred in Gangtok ?
This is about visiting Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, in a group of around 100 persons one year back in May 2011. It was an office group trip with families included. In the organization where I work we didn’t have a group tour since very long time and everybody was feeling a need for the same. Finally in March 2011, management has decided to go ahead with the trip. As usual in business, we divided the various activities required to plan and organize the trip into various internal teams. I was the center point to have coordination between teams.
Now the first task was to select a place for the trip. As the tour has to be done in summers, it has to be hills. We have our head office in Noida where I work and as you know there are so many hill stations in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. But we have our branch offices in Assam as well so we thought that the place should be somewhere in between to save the time spent in journey for both Noida and Assam teams. So two options came Darjeeling and Gangtok. After discussing the pros and cons of both places finally we selected Gangtok. There were two reasons – first was the neat and clean factor attached to Gangtok and secondly at that time there were so many road blocks happening in Darjeeling due to the Gorkhaland issue. After place selection, we made list of all employees and their family members for the tour. Around 65 persons have to travel from Noida to Gangtok and around 35 from Guwahati to Gangtok. Our preferred mode of travel was train and the nearest station for Gangtok was New Jalpaiguri near Silliguri in West Bengal. We have to spend three nights in Gangtok and proposed itinerary was as follows –
12 May 2011 – Start from Delhi
13 May 2011 – Reach Gangtok in the evening
14/15 May 2011 – Gangtok Tour
16 May 2011 – Leave Gangtok
17 May 2011 – Reach Delhi
We start looking for trains from Delhi to New Jalpaiguri, the preferred train was Guwahati Rajdhani express due to least time taken in comparison of other trains. The journey has to be done two months later but there were no seats available on the train. We anyhow booked around 35-40 tickets in RAC/WL in hope of confirmation at a later stage. At the same time Assam team has also booked their tickets and from there confirmed seats were available. We hired Travelmasti for the hotel arrangements in Gangtok as we have to book around 35 rooms with double/triple sharing. So now we were all set to go but one doubt was always there – what would happen if our tickets did not get confirmed? We start looking for alternative options. The first option was flight but the ticket price was way out of our budget. Second option was to change the trip destination but we did not wanted to repeat the whole process again. The third option was to look for a train coach booking in train to which we agreed upon.
We found some connection in Railway office and after some visit to their Baroda House office near India Gate we got the approval for special coach addition in prestigious Rajdhani Express. The coach was costing us around 3 Lakh which was around 30% higher than the usual ticket price for the same number of persons. As I was involved in coach booking process, now I know the other costs which I can share separately if required by anyone. Finally the coach was booked and that too in my name. One interesting thing to tell here is that they accept the price in cash only and the whole process is manual on papers only. I wonder how they manage all this. The cash has to be deposited in a normal but dedicated ticket counter at New Delhi railway station. Now there was one last issue. Rajdhani trains have meals included in the fare, but to our surprise we came to know that we have only booked the coach. Meals are not included in the Extra (as they call it) coach . Then somehow I managed to get the contact details of the catering agency responsible to provide meals on the train. They were ready to provide the meals to us as per Rajdhani standards but with full money in advance at Rs. 800 per person for both sides, in cash and without any receipt. We were having no other option but to simply agree with them and obey their instructions :).
So finally after all this enough and more than enough planning it was 12 May after waiting for 2 months. Excitement was on high level. We have to reach New Delhi station by our own arrangements. I live in Vasundhara, and all the colleagues living in nearby areas around Vaishali and Indirapuram decided to go jointly to the station to save cost. We were around 12 so booked two Taveras for taking us to the station. My wife Urja and son Ojas were also with me on the trip. The train was to depart at 2:00 pm so we start for the station around 12:00 noon. It was very hot outside due to peak summer time. We reached station well in time around 1:00 pm. Everybody was already advised to assemble at the platform from which the train was to depart. When we reached at the platform already some persons were waiting there. By 1:20 everybody was there at the platform as we did an attendance check and we were eagerly waiting for the train to arrive. Around 1:30 we see the train coming, normally we look for the coach number while boarding a train but at this time it was all different. We were not knowing our coach number as it was a special coach. Everybody was looking carefully at the coaches as the train was passing by in slow speed. And as soon as we saw a coach named ‘EXTRA’ , everybody shouted extra – extra – extra. We picked our belongings and rush towards our coach. After entering in the coach we found the air conditioner running at full capacity and we felt almost like in Gangtok already. Everybody has taken the seats according to already decided seating plan. In my compartment we were three couples with one kid in each family.
Our Train
At sharp 2:00 the train started its journey at the right time. The mood inside the coach was like we were in some party. There were different activities happening in different compartments – people were playing cards, watching movies on laptops, senior persons were talking about politics and nation. In one compartment somebody had brought medium size speakers and songs were playing at full speed. It was full masti. But along with all this in my mind I was having one doubt – Food. I knew that we don’t have any proof of receipt of giving cash so various negative thoughts were there. Around 2:30 I received a call on my mobile, and on the other side was the person from the catering agency. He welcomed us on the journey as told me that the water bottles and meals will be provided very soon to us. There was a big sign of relief. Just after his call the Pantry Manager on the train come to meet us and confirmed to serve us during the journey in the best possible manner. Just 5 minutes back we were having doubts about food, but now we were feeling like a prestigious customer in a hotel. I keep receiving the calls from the caterer at every 3-4 hours about food quality and delivery timings.
Me in front of our Extra coach
We are having our branch offices in parts of UP and Bihar as well so accordingly someone has to board the train at Kanpur, someone at Allahabad and some at Patna at 2:00 am in the night. We had a great dance party in the coach till midnight and went to sleep thereafter. We awake in the morning of 13th May and as soon as the train entered West Bengal we check the news on our mobiles of clean sweeping by Mamta Banarjee in the assembly polls. 13th May was the vote counting day, we were having a few people from Bengal in our coach and full discussion was happening on this news. The train arrived around 12.00 noon at New Jalpaiguri, it was one hour delayed. We deboarded the train and I along with one colleague rush towards the station master to get his signature and stamp on the papers we had for the coach as per the rules. Suddenly I heard that somebody was calling my nickname, I turned back and was surprised to see my Mama ji (Mother’s brother) standing behind me. He is in BSF and was posted at Bagdogra near Silliguri at that time. He was catching the train to Delhi from New Jalpaiguri to go his home. We had a very brief chat for 5 minutes as I knew people were waiting for me at the station to start our journey for Gangtok. It was a great coincidence. We got call from our Assam team that their train, Rajdhani from Guwahati, is on time and will reach around 1:00 pm.
We were being told by our tour manager from Travelmasti that buses are waiting for us outside the station to take us to Gangtok. We move outside station and 3 buses and 1 Tata Sumo were waiting for us. All families and girls were being seated in one bus and two buses were left for single young males so that they could have uninterrupted enjoyment during the bus journey. Assam team was also there in next 15 minutes and we were all set to start for Gangtok.
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Deependra,
First of all I would like to congratulate on being the center point of this wonderful tour . Indeed to manage these activities is a great task. It requires deep planning and extraordinary efforts .
Thanks for sharing this information on extra coach. The description was wonderful .
Looking forward for your next part.
Thanks Vishal for the appreciation. Good team work helps in achieving difficult things easily.
Deependra,
Very interesting post. I started reading the post very leisurely but as I moved forward I was full of energy and enthusiasm. The post was so interesting and engaging that I could remove my eyes from computer only after finishing the post.
Its really very hard to successfully accomplish such kind of responsibility and one remains under tremendous pressure until the task is completed.
The concept of booking entire coach sounds great, but the food charges Rs. 800 per person is really very high.
looking forward for the next part.
Thanks.
Congratulations for your new Surname, it suits you very well. I am glad that you like the post so much. Appreciation from veteran Ghumakkars like you is very encouraging.
Food charges are not that much expensive as it includes both side travel. It includes 2 lunch, 2 dinner, 2 breakfast, 2 evening tea/snacks, soup/ice-cream.
Thanks.
Dear Mr. Deependra Solanky,
Wonderful description, marvellous photos. It is great courage to book hotel first without reservation confirmed in Train. Because hotel deduct a big amount in event of cancellation. Indian Railway took this concept from west 30% extra. In India we normally get discount in group booking. Here in Canada I was in Hotel with 15 people for dinner. Next day when I checked the bill there was 30% extra added in it. I phone them and they replied it is service charge, If you more than 6 people you have to pay it. But no need to pay Tip. 800 Rs for meal for two way journey is ok, but when you pay cash with no receipt , It save Income Tax to Catering agency.
Best Regards,
Surinder
Thanks Mr. Surinder for liking the post. Out top management persons are first generation entrepreneurs, so risk taking is very much in routine in our organization. I have first time heard about this extra charge in hotels in west. You are right about the income tax, but sometimes you don’t have much choice.
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Thanks, Deependra, for sharing the details of how you planned this trip. Making travel arrangements for a hundred people is not an easy taks and in addition, you were able to get an extra compartment attached to the Rajdhani Express and arranged for meals, too. Your colleagues were lucky to have the right person in the right place at the right time.
Looking forward to reading about your experiences in Gangtok.
Many thanks DL for such a nice appreciating words. I will post the second part soon.
wonderful post .
Thanks Umesh.
Congratulations for being the nodal agency for this mammoth planning. You can now proudly say that you have booked a coach against your name, while most of us only get to book a seat or a berth.
While reading, when I learnt that you have booked RAC/WL tickets, I was surprised that why you guys are not thinking about getting a entire bogey. It is indeed a LOT of work and planning.
You look much much younger in your pic on platform then what is there in the gravatar :-). Looking fwd to time at Gangtok.
Thanks Nandan. I wish someday I can also book a coach for a trip of Ghumakkars !
You are absolutely right about booking the entire bogey, but we were not sure whether it would be possible or not.
My wife also don’t like my gravatar much, I need to take it serious now :).
Solanki ji….
Wonderful ! Excellent narrated post along with good pictures …….
I liked your post very much…| Good …..everything has planned..
waiting for next post..
Thanks Ritesh for liking the post. There were not much pictures for this post, next posts will have more.
A wonderful beginning. This has increased the anxiety for the next part. Extra coach incident is news for me… i didn’t know Indian Railway is so generous
thanks Solanky ji…keep sharing
We were also not much sure about the coach but we were able to book it, may be the link with railway officials did the trick.
Thanks Sir for the kind words, I will try that next post be at par with the anxiety.
Hi Dependra , Great post ..looking forward for rest of the journey …. It is very very difficult to arrange a travel plan that includes 100 people.
Thanks Subodh for liking the post.
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Takeoff & landing of the post was perfect :-)
As SS said , this has increased the anxiety for the next part.
Thanks for the appreciating words.
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this extra coach in Rajdhani seems interesting.waiting for further narrative.
Thanks Ashok. Part 2 of this series is already published.
Nice job Deependra getting that extra coach. That is an eye opener. I never thought something like this is possible. But is it possible for general people? I mean without big time connections! Nice boarding for a nice journey. Cheerful post. Loved reading.
Bidisha
thanks , Deependra ji
apke blog ke liye . hum log 40person dec me gangtok jane ka plan kar rahe hai , kya aap Ngp se gabgtok jane ke liya jo bus es book kiye the uska contact no de sakte hai
I am sorry Kishan ji for late reply to your comment. We have booked the tour buses from travelmasti tour operator so I don’t have the contact details of the bus operator. I wish I could help you.
Best wishes for your Gangtok tour.
Great to hear about the positive experience of booking a coach. We are planning to the same for our South India trip – 4 coaches from Delhi. Just wanted to know about the extra charges – like detention/waiting charges before we can formally approach the authorities.
Thanks
Sorry for late reply. Yes, there are detention charges applicable for the days when the coach is idle. Now its very easy to book coach as the facility is provided online on the Indian Railway website (http://www.indianrail.gov.in/) itself. You need to second link on the left menu ‘Registration of Train/Coach on Full Tariff Rate(FTR)’.
Best wishes for your journey.