“Presenting India’s first food train, The Kurkure Family Express. Board the train for a trip of a lifetime full of fun, yummy recipes & crazy masti with Rocky and Mayur“. Thus read the invite and I knew that I was in for an epic ride!
So what was the Kurkure Family Express? It was an entire train hired by the good folks at Kurkure to celebrate International Family Day. The special train traveled pretty much the entire length and breadth of the country in 7 days with 40 families, celebrities like Boman Irani, Annu Kapoor, Meghna Gulzar etc and the fun ‘foodie’ duo, Rocky and Mayur on board. Why a train journey? “Because trains are about relaxed travelling, fun conversations and a lot of snacking, thus providing ample scope for bonding“.
I was part of the last leg of the journey from Kolkata to Delhi and boarded the train from Howrah along with 10 families, fellow bloggers Poorna and Ritika and popular 92.7 Big FM RJ Sumanta on 20th May . Because of the rains in Chennai and Orissa, the train was running quite late and when it reached Howrah, it was nearly 2 a.m. The time did not dampen spirits though. We were all super excited and when the train arrived, it was a grand celebration. Everyone was cheering, there were beats of the dhol, there were photographers and Kurkure banners everywhere and amidst all of this, we finally got on board.
I was travelling in an overnight train after nearly fifteen years and it was so much fun reliving the happy memories of my trips with family. Air travel obviously is much more convenient but nothing really beats a long train ride – the chaos, the changing landscape, the sound of “chai garam”, the tiny stations with the funny names, railway food, playing games and antakshari etc. And thanks to Kurkure, I experienced all of these after so many years. The next day started off with a short informal chat with the super cool Rocky and Mayur on the Kolkata food scene. Then we played simple and fun games with the families, got some nail art done, ate wonderful food and tried the new Kurkure flavors. In the evening while Rocky and Mayur were busy shooting with the families on the train, the rest of us decided to play Pictionary. If only I could show you the masterpieces we drew! There was also a magician on board and he came over for sometime showing us some cool tricks. If you follow me on Snapchat (poutpretty), you must have seen what he did.
21st passed away in a flash and when we woke up on Sunday, while we were eager to reach Delhi, we were also sad that the journey was coming to an end. Kurkure saved the best for last. We had to take part in the Chilli Chatka Relay and create a dish using Kurkure and other ingredients. We bloggers were pitted against 2 families and thanks to Poorna’s brilliant recipe of a chaat, Rocky and Mayur declared our team as the winner. We won an exclusive tete-a-tete with the duo and by the end of it, we were sharing phone numbers, clicking pictures and they left with the promise of coming to our houses to have home cooked Bengali food when they are in Kolkata next.
The train reached Safdarjung station soon after and thus ended my journey on the Kurkure Family Express. A journey that I will never forget. Thank you Kurkure and the entire team for taking such good care of us and for leaving me with memories that I will cherish forever!