NRM 2010 – Day 2 Round Up

Folks the 2010 Convention of IRFCA has come to a close. Here is a roundup of the final sessions on Day 2.

After the video quiz and the Clue hunt on the NRM grounds, the delegates assembled back in the auditorium for the closing session. This session was kicked off with a wonderful presentation of modelling Indian Railways by Mr. Ranjeev Dubey who is a member of the Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS) and Friends of the National Railway Museum (FNRM).

Ranjeev started out modelling Indian Railways over 25 years ago and today his layout is a sight to behold. Built entirely at home with a just a smattering of commercially available stuff, Ranjeev has used t-shirt buttons, cocktail sticks, toilet paper and a whole lot of stuff lying about at his home into a virtual replica of the Kalka Simla Railway. His work features KC, ZDM1, F Class locos and near perfect models of Simla, Barog & Solan stations. Ranjeev had important tips for budding modellers and more importantly, his work proved what single minded devotion to a hobby can result in.

Ranjeev’s session was followed by the first ever IRFCA Awards ceremony where the following awards were given away

IRFCA Trip Album of the Year – Apurva Bahadur & Lalam Mandavkar for A Tale of Two Viaducts

IRFCA Trip report of the Year – Mohan Bhuyan for Upper Class to Sheopur Kalan

IRFCA Photo of the Year – Naveen M for his image of the Boat Mail at Pamban Bridge

Next was the turn of the quiz winners. The competition was so close that it would have been unfair to award just the top 3. So here were the top 6

Special Award #1 – Raymond Arogyaswamy from Chennai (The prize for the same was graciously provided by Hugh Penri Williams)

Special Award #2 – Just short of the top 3 and jointly placed were the duo of Dr. Jitendra Mulky from Dahanu Road and our LP S Sampath Kumar from Madgaon. (These prizes were specially provided by Raymond Arogyaswamy)

2nd Runner up –  Our veteran quizzing champ Ajai Banerji from Jaipur

1st Runner up – Another veteran featured here, Mr. Biswarup Basu from Talcher missed the top spt by a whisker

Winner – After consistently strong performances in past Convention quizzes, Sagar Tipnis from Thane won the top spot at the IRFCA Quiz 2010.

But this was not it…. in its 20th anniversary year it was only fit that the two of the founding members of IRFCA present at the Convention were appreciated for starting the movement that is now an intrinsic part of our lives. A special award went to Dr. Dheeraj Sanghi and Ajai Banerji but the other founders were with us in spirit for sure. And for his invaluable contribution to the the Indian railfan community, Apurva Bahadur was the recepient of another special award which summed up the evening.

As the session wound to a close, a discussion ensued on the next Convention venue. Pune and Bhusawal emerged as the two likely venues, but it was decided that it would be left up to the the votes of the entire IRFCA community to decide the host city for IRFCA Convention 2011.

NRM 2010 ended with another sumptuous lunch which comprised Kadhai Chicken, Dal Makhani, Matar Paneer, Kadhi Pakodi,  Veg Noodles & Manchurian Gravy along with Ice Cream.

Post lunch, most of the assembled gang boarded the bus which dropped them at NZM and NDLS while the Delhi gang along with Bharath, VSP, Kunal D, Sachin Buddhisagar & Vivek Pillay dunked a whole lot of beers and kebabs to celebrate another memorable IRFCA Convention.

A special word of thanks to

• Vikas Singh
• Vikas Chander (the convention t-shirts & lunch was courtesy him)
• Sandeep Sharma
• Vivek Mathur
• Ankit Bharaj
• Ashish Kuveklar
• Lalam Mandavkar
• Apurva Bahadur
• S Srinivas
• Bharath Moro

and most importantly to Mayank Tewari for believeing that NRM 2010 was really possible.

May our tribe grow

See you next year…………