Introduction:
For those who didn’t read my blog for Delhi to Orisa:
I travelled from Delhi to Orisa to attend wedding of one of my friend on the cost of railway tickets and my lovely trouser. AND now it was time to move back….
PLAN:
From Jharsuguda to Delhi via Agra with Sachu
Start from Jharsuguda to Agra on 11th.... visit agra on 12th.... and finaly back to Delhi by 12th night...
Introduction of my new partner and conditions:
Sachu, one of my mate who had never crossed the territory of Bangalore( southern karnataka), is out there to explore the eastern and northern India. She wants to visit TAJ and the capital of India. She( or say WE) made this plan when she was in Italy. Main roadblock was that the plan was made in such a hurry that we didn’t get a booking in 3AC but managed to get a sleeper class ticket for 24 hour journey from JSG to AGRA. My plan of getting TATKAL ticket was also failed as I was mourning for my trouser in train at tatanagar while tatkal window was getting opened.
My old partner, MY FATE doesn’t seem good in this part of my journey as his first blow on me was evident that I wasn’t able to book my tatkal tickets. And to know, what all he did to me in journey, please read ON!
Our Journey starts from JSG railway station at 11:40 in Utkal express’s sleeper coach. A first, I was rounded by eunuch gang and thereafter ran almost 1 KM in search of water bottle. Anyhow, train started at 12, 20 minutes late! We were accompanied with family of Mr. Bhawani Singh from Riagarh station. I love traveling in sleeper coach as there you can open your window and see the running landscapes. You get the chance to meet so many variety of people in a small time span. Meanwhile, we chatted, played cards and ate to share the daylight as we know once SUN will be out of sight, we are not able to do anything. Reason: Sach was full ready with her skin thin jacket to fight with the night while I had only 1 shawl,only 1 sweater and just only 1 Jacket!
As the day turn into evening, Sach started growing FATTER as she started piling clothes(mine ONLY things too) over her body. By 9 PM, we slept in our berths. At around 11 PM, I got up. The wind didn’t allow me to sleep. I got up and started roaming here and there in the train. I had a very old habit that if someone annoy me, then I give him/her/IT their best chance to annoy me. So I went to the gate, opened it and sat there. Now it was just me, high speed wind and passing lights on other end.
After a while, I thought that now I should try to sleep. When I reached to my berth, a boy of age around 10-12, wearing a full shirt, a sleeveless sweater, SHORTS and chappal was there, on my seat. When I asked him to leave, he says that his station will come in 2 hours. He didn’t have any place to sit so I allowed him to sit there. He was going to his hometown after 2 years. We started chatting. He was like me. He likes to talk. We chatted on almost every topic which he wants to discuss. I AM NOT going to SHARE those things as the conversation between me and BHOLA made me realize that how lucky I am when I say that I have my caring parents, loving siblings, set of friends and education. We stand near gate as he loves to see to see the passing lights. I gave him my jacket to do the SAME! He departed from me at around 4. After a short while, my fellow passengers started waking up as it was their normal routine time to wake UP. I saw the changing colour of sky from black- dark blue- orange-pale red-yellow-light blue and finally blue and white.
At around 7-7:30, We met another co-passenger, Mr. Tomar. He was a jovial fellow boarded from Sagar to Gwalior. He was on a secret mission to meet his son in his in-laws house. It was a secret from his family as he has told them that he is going for a company work. He was also an interesting character. By profession, he was a collection officer and had banged a person with a chair just 2 day back! By my name, he memorizes character JEEVAN of movie “ Mainey Pyaar kiya” and gave me a dialogue too! We discussed ORIGIN of a rare species named Sachu, politics, India and lot many things in following 2 hours.
Once he gets down at Gwalior, we had 2 hour to kill before reaching Agra. We started playing Cards. This time, I want to kill time in funnier way. We played game “28” and every time I called for trump with highest bid. Out of 10 or 15 games, I won just 1 and by the time, train reached Agra, my Score was -28! PHEW!!
We got down at Agra and got refreshed in waiting room. We hired a cab to roam the city. After the initial hiccups, we reached at the entrance and fooled by a guide who took Rs. 200/- from us to get us inside the Taj. He told us that he has to bribed the guards for that but actually he has planted one of his mate in queue and just replaced that fellow with us. But once I had a look of the monument, I forgot the complete pain of my journey and started capturing the Taj in my camera. Sachu asked me to take her snaps and I clicked so many snaps of her that after some time, I started looking her in my FRAME, even though she wasn’t there! hallucination!!
Now it’s our time to get back to Delhi. I had booked our return trip in a bus which was scheduled to start from Agra at 6:30PM and should drop us in Delhi at around 11:30 PM. In between, it has 2 stops at Mathura and Brindavan. Just 5 hours drive ONLY!!
We have an old idiom that JOURNEY IS NOT OVER UNTIL YOU STEP INSIDE YOUR HOME! The worse of the trip was yet to start and it was planned by him(GOD) to be happened in this part of journey. This was started when we found that we have got the last seat of the bus. I looked at Sachu’s face and grin on that made me sad and nervous too. I sat quietly next to her. I made my best efforts to make that ride a proper but GOD, Driver and wind from the window just blow away all my efforts! Even at one moment, I was about to get a ZABARDAST blow from Sachu but same GOD saved me. But he returned me that blow with interest when Bus hit a hump and almost every passanger on last seat got his head banged with roof of the bus and I got a BLACK OUT for a minute! With delays at various places, fight with driver and passenger, we reached Delhi at 3 AM.
Finally, my U was completed with lots of glitches, funny, exciting and …XXYYZZZZ…. Moments. Dots are my feelings which I can’t express in words like crying on my trouser from inside and laughing on same with the watchmen on platforms, moment of standing on train’s door in half t-shirt and listening to Bhola’s story, trying to block air in the Bus with the visiting card of same Guide who fooled us in Agra and High prospectus of getting a SOLID punch from Sachu in BUS and ofcourse a physical BIG hump on my head …PHEW…..! While people like Aastha, Bhola, Mr. Tomar made my journey a memorable one.
Moral(2) of the STORY: It’s good to do planning for your trip as James Bond do. But God is always there to prove you that Mr. bond is a FICTIONAL character and there is no thing called “PERFECT PLANNING”!And always EXPECT UNEXPECTED as this is the way of life to TEACH us. We the dumb headed humans who loves to learn with their mistakes are being taught by the nature( someone says GOD) that Be happy what you have as somewhere someone is crying for those valuables things which you are wasting just for your FUN!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Delhi to Orisa
PART 1: Delhi to Orisa
Again a start, A new start. This time Life ( and my company too) gave me an opportunity to let me spend my time to explore the Eastern part of India. It was rain of marriages.. and one of my friend- Utkalika(nick name Ut) - a resident of Utkal( old name of orisa), is one of the lucky ones. Her invitation gave me a chance to make my plans to start visiting towards eastern part of my motherland.
Route MAP:
start on 7th night from Delhi... reach PURI on 09th morning at 6 AM... will go to konark and will come back to Puri... on 9th night, travel to Jharsuguda.
Before you read further.... I want to read a old phrase ...
INSAAN banaataa hai, KHUDAA dikhaata hai.( means human make their plan BUT god show them the TRUTH)
My trip starts with the shopping which I did for Ut's marriage - A trouser, which had an important role in this SAGA. As per starting of distance from a point, I started my journey on 7th night, with my Bag on back and Cam on shoulder. I reached NDLS station to board Purshottam express. Since, it was a long journey(33 hours, as per railway TIME TABLE) so I started talking with fellow passengers. I had a policeman's family and a banker in my coach. The whole night and next day was gone with chatting with them and playing with kids. Sadhana Singh- the kid was one of them because of which I just lost the count of hours. They left the train at "ChandPura" and I was all alone in my compartment. I enquired about the train timing with attendant and he gave me a weired smile. I came to the gate and asked the same question with another passanger and he gave me an answer that crashed the first phase of my plan (remembered my LINES right) He told me that train will stay overnight in Tata Nagar as there was some naxalite issue in that area. He told me that now train will reach puri only after 2 PM.
On Tata Nagar platform, I came down from my train with my luggage. It was a complete torture from God. Rain from top along with cold breeze was testing my resistance. I sat near fire to fight with that climate. I ordered my dinner from a nearby shop and started eating. Suddenly a boy scared from a dog came and hit me. I hushed the dog and calmed the boy. After that, I turned at my bag and saw that whole DAL was spilled over it. I unzipped it and found that my black trouser was half yellow from bottom end. I washed it and kept it near fire so that it can dry till morning. But Revenge of god has just started. I don’t know how my trousers went so near to fire that they catch fire and by the time we kept that apart, there are only 1.5 legs out of 2, left in it. Truelly speaking, I felt a drop of water in my eyes for the sudden death of my trouser.
I spent my night with those 3 people, my bag and that trouser. At 6, train started from there and reached Puri at 3PM. I deposited my luggage in cloak room and went out for Puri darshan. I went to puri beach and famous Puri temple. clicked pics, ate prasad, bought a new shirt and Jeans (as I have to change my whole dress for UT's marriage bcoz of last night in(ac)cident). I had my dinner from puri, boarded at my train at 9PM and went to sleep. Next morning, i was in Jharsuguda at 6AM. I was at my destination, I called Ut's brother and asked him the way to hotel. As soon as I entered in the room, met with Bidya's ( Groom of utkalika) friend.
As soon as we got freshed, we made a plan to visit Hirakud dam, one of the largest man made reserviour in Asia. We hired a cab and headed towards Shaakambari temple and then to Hirakud dam. Authorities of Dam has constructed a tall building so that tourist can take a good view of the Dam. The view from that Dam was awesome. From that tower, it was like you are standing on a shore and can see endless water in your front. Only difference was there are certain land spots(upper part of drowned mountains in dam's water) here which are nowhere present in Sea. We are back from there at around 3 to Ut's house.
It was totally a new kind of marriage for me. Rituals were kind of same but execution was totally different, starting from HALDI-SNAAN to Devi Pooja. Baraat arrived at hotel at 4 and got refreshed and started at 6. I always loved the dance of a BARAAT as it’s the only place for a non-talented dancers to show his/her talent to whole world. Be it the snake dance, Bhangra aur dance on a filmy tune( Here, I saw people dancing on Oriya songs too ;-) ). It was an AWESOME experience. As soon as the BARAAT entered in the UT's premises. I get the hold of my camera and started clicking the photos of all occasions. Ut in colourful lehangaa( a traditional dress) and saris was looking so pretty. She has changed 5 Saris in one day to attend different rituals. A new ritual means a NEW sari!!
It was a funny night as I saw that why people in rural India doesn't have BACK problem as they have to greet everyone by touching their feet which acts as a GOOD exercise for them and they stay HEALTHY in return. On that day, I think Ut touched almost 500+ people feet to take blessings. She is a NUT as she was smiling throughout the marriage while Bidya was looking so TENSE all way(Don't know why??). Utkalika was so excited in giving poses to me , Sach and the photographer( I think she had drunk the whole bottle of BOOST energy drink ;-) ). In between, The priests of bride and groom side started arguing over performing a ritual. Somehow people manage to calm them down and finally marriage got over at 1 AM. I went to sleep as final see off of utkalika was scheduled for 3AM. I went to Bed and by the time, I opened my eyes, it was 7 AM. Utkalika was gone and I thanked GOD for saving me from that teary scene of see-off of a girl from her native.
My first leg of journey gets over with a 1.5 leg trouser, loads of pics, lots of sweets, new friends and Puri Darshan.
Sometimes, you smile on the pain which you got in journey. In the real time, you curse yourself for not doing the same thing again. But after a month when you think about the incident, you laugh and think about to do the same in planned manner. I was thinking the same for my overnight stay in TATANAGAR stay, except my trouser thing!!
Fun is a thing which you can never compare. To know more about my fun in my journey… read on my next blog about my return journey. This is not the end of journey as my next plan was to move towards Delhi via Agra with Sachu! And important point to note that my old companion MY LUCK is still UPSET with ME!
Again a start, A new start. This time Life ( and my company too) gave me an opportunity to let me spend my time to explore the Eastern part of India. It was rain of marriages.. and one of my friend- Utkalika(nick name Ut) - a resident of Utkal( old name of orisa), is one of the lucky ones. Her invitation gave me a chance to make my plans to start visiting towards eastern part of my motherland.
Route MAP:
start on 7th night from Delhi... reach PURI on 09th morning at 6 AM... will go to konark and will come back to Puri... on 9th night, travel to Jharsuguda.
Before you read further.... I want to read a old phrase ...
INSAAN banaataa hai, KHUDAA dikhaata hai.( means human make their plan BUT god show them the TRUTH)
My trip starts with the shopping which I did for Ut's marriage - A trouser, which had an important role in this SAGA. As per starting of distance from a point, I started my journey on 7th night, with my Bag on back and Cam on shoulder. I reached NDLS station to board Purshottam express. Since, it was a long journey(33 hours, as per railway TIME TABLE) so I started talking with fellow passengers. I had a policeman's family and a banker in my coach. The whole night and next day was gone with chatting with them and playing with kids. Sadhana Singh- the kid was one of them because of which I just lost the count of hours. They left the train at "ChandPura" and I was all alone in my compartment. I enquired about the train timing with attendant and he gave me a weired smile. I came to the gate and asked the same question with another passanger and he gave me an answer that crashed the first phase of my plan (remembered my LINES right) He told me that train will stay overnight in Tata Nagar as there was some naxalite issue in that area. He told me that now train will reach puri only after 2 PM.
On Tata Nagar platform, I came down from my train with my luggage. It was a complete torture from God. Rain from top along with cold breeze was testing my resistance. I sat near fire to fight with that climate. I ordered my dinner from a nearby shop and started eating. Suddenly a boy scared from a dog came and hit me. I hushed the dog and calmed the boy. After that, I turned at my bag and saw that whole DAL was spilled over it. I unzipped it and found that my black trouser was half yellow from bottom end. I washed it and kept it near fire so that it can dry till morning. But Revenge of god has just started. I don’t know how my trousers went so near to fire that they catch fire and by the time we kept that apart, there are only 1.5 legs out of 2, left in it. Truelly speaking, I felt a drop of water in my eyes for the sudden death of my trouser.
I spent my night with those 3 people, my bag and that trouser. At 6, train started from there and reached Puri at 3PM. I deposited my luggage in cloak room and went out for Puri darshan. I went to puri beach and famous Puri temple. clicked pics, ate prasad, bought a new shirt and Jeans (as I have to change my whole dress for UT's marriage bcoz of last night in(ac)cident). I had my dinner from puri, boarded at my train at 9PM and went to sleep. Next morning, i was in Jharsuguda at 6AM. I was at my destination, I called Ut's brother and asked him the way to hotel. As soon as I entered in the room, met with Bidya's ( Groom of utkalika) friend.
As soon as we got freshed, we made a plan to visit Hirakud dam, one of the largest man made reserviour in Asia. We hired a cab and headed towards Shaakambari temple and then to Hirakud dam. Authorities of Dam has constructed a tall building so that tourist can take a good view of the Dam. The view from that Dam was awesome. From that tower, it was like you are standing on a shore and can see endless water in your front. Only difference was there are certain land spots(upper part of drowned mountains in dam's water) here which are nowhere present in Sea. We are back from there at around 3 to Ut's house.
It was totally a new kind of marriage for me. Rituals were kind of same but execution was totally different, starting from HALDI-SNAAN to Devi Pooja. Baraat arrived at hotel at 4 and got refreshed and started at 6. I always loved the dance of a BARAAT as it’s the only place for a non-talented dancers to show his/her talent to whole world. Be it the snake dance, Bhangra aur dance on a filmy tune( Here, I saw people dancing on Oriya songs too ;-) ). It was an AWESOME experience. As soon as the BARAAT entered in the UT's premises. I get the hold of my camera and started clicking the photos of all occasions. Ut in colourful lehangaa( a traditional dress) and saris was looking so pretty. She has changed 5 Saris in one day to attend different rituals. A new ritual means a NEW sari!!
It was a funny night as I saw that why people in rural India doesn't have BACK problem as they have to greet everyone by touching their feet which acts as a GOOD exercise for them and they stay HEALTHY in return. On that day, I think Ut touched almost 500+ people feet to take blessings. She is a NUT as she was smiling throughout the marriage while Bidya was looking so TENSE all way(Don't know why??). Utkalika was so excited in giving poses to me , Sach and the photographer( I think she had drunk the whole bottle of BOOST energy drink ;-) ). In between, The priests of bride and groom side started arguing over performing a ritual. Somehow people manage to calm them down and finally marriage got over at 1 AM. I went to sleep as final see off of utkalika was scheduled for 3AM. I went to Bed and by the time, I opened my eyes, it was 7 AM. Utkalika was gone and I thanked GOD for saving me from that teary scene of see-off of a girl from her native.
My first leg of journey gets over with a 1.5 leg trouser, loads of pics, lots of sweets, new friends and Puri Darshan.
Sometimes, you smile on the pain which you got in journey. In the real time, you curse yourself for not doing the same thing again. But after a month when you think about the incident, you laugh and think about to do the same in planned manner. I was thinking the same for my overnight stay in TATANAGAR stay, except my trouser thing!!
Fun is a thing which you can never compare. To know more about my fun in my journey… read on my next blog about my return journey. This is not the end of journey as my next plan was to move towards Delhi via Agra with Sachu! And important point to note that my old companion MY LUCK is still UPSET with ME!
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