Birthday on board: Varanasi family celebrates son’s special day aboard first Vande Bharat to Kashmir

A family from Varanasi chose an unusual setting to celebrate their son’s sixth birthday — inside Kashmir’s first-ever Vande Bharat Express — on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the historic train service to the Valley.

Rakesh and Neha Jaiswal, along with their young son Moksh, marked the special occasion by cutting a birthday cake on board the inaugural Vande Bharat Express as it passed over the newly inaugurated Anji Khad Bridge — the tallest railway bridge in India. The bridge, which towers above the Chenab River, has become a symbol of the engineering achievements associated with the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.

“It was a coincidence that it was our son’s birthday the same day PM Modi was going to flag off this train. We thought we should celebrate our son’s birthday on the first journey of this train so that his birthday becomes memorable for him,” Rakesh Jaiswal told ANI.

His wife Neha added, “This is the best gift for our son... We made this plan because of PM Modi.”

A video shared by ANI showed the family seated inside the Vande Bharat Express, singing and clapping as Moksh cut his birthday cake, surrounded by fellow passengers and the backdrop of the inaugural journey. The celebratory moment drew attention online, with many appreciating the gesture that blended a personal milestone with a national event.