Hello all from the garden city, I'm sorry if this post is wholly incoherent but i am stuck in a hot cybercafe with a 100 degree fever, so i think i should be allowed that much!
Aah, there's so much to write out, but first things first.
I made the journey this time by train, partly because the amount of baggage i was going to carry and partly because it was so much cheaper. Even before i got on the train, i knew it was going to be s shitty trip, i could feel a vague tingling and numbness at the back of my throat, I had gon and caught a cold, right before the trip. The prospect of the trip itself was also daunting, for the last three years i had gotten myself used to the 27 hour journey between Delhi and Pune but the almost 40 hour ride to Bangalore is something that nighmares are made off. I got on at 9 at night so the first twelve hours would be ok but another one and a half days of doing nothing is pure torture for the hyperactive twenty on year old that I am.
Once aboard the train, things seemed to look up for a bit, my whole compartment was full of people travelling alone, families and particularly crying babies make me crazy, here at least i could expect some conversation. With me there were eight other people (AC 3), one ITPB guy (Indo-Tebetian Border Police), two south indian guys, a kashmiri, one tamilian woman and a couple of other assorted characters who kept to themselves.
It would have been an interesting trip had I not been under the weather with the damn virus. The first night was positively painful, partly beacuse of my blocked nose which kept me up all night but mostly because of the spine twisting, train berths. Honestly considering the number of passengers the railways carries, one would think they would spare a little thought to improve their services. But no, their berths are not too hard and not to soft, just right, to induce acute spinal discomfort.
I woke up early the next morning, around eight in the morning to find the attendant slamming my breakfast down near my head. Now as far as I am concerned, the Bread-omelette you get on trains is practically an institution, to eat anything else for breakfast would be an act of blasphemy. Some trains like the Rajdhani's (express trains that run from various important cities to Delhi) have customised their bread omelette and may serve you a few soggy chips (as in fish and chips, not wafers) what I got here though was a very basic bread omelette, ie. a two soggy slices of buttered bread, an omelette and a sachet of tomato sauce.
Now when I was young, travelling by train was a source of endless fascination to me, I would alternate between staring intently out of the window, reading/ drawing or bothering my long suffering mother. Now I have adapted to the normal adult mode of travel which basically involves sleeping only to wake for meals, of course I also subscribe to the students philosophy of frequent trips to the outer corridor for a quick smoke.
Now once my breakfast was done, there being nothing more to do, I went back to sleep and thats pretty much how most of my day passed, with the occasional drunk passenger who insisted on kicking up a row serving to relieve the tedium.
I got into Bangalore at about two in the afternoon today, on time, which is incidentally a minor miracle. I got a room in a small but clean hotel room, and had a long overdue bath.
I think I am probably an internet addict because once bathed and ready, my first urge was to get to a cyber cafe. Asking at the reception for the whereabouts of a cyber cafe, I was directed by the receptionist with a quick wave of his palm. Thus armed i found myself on the street. The small street on which the hotel is situated, leads on to a larger road and oh boy what a road.
Now i am a delhiite, I've been to Chandini Chowk, but this was a whole other level of insanity. I don't know if it was the fever or if it was the trepidation of being in new surroundings but i was overwhelmed by the chaos. It was like stepping into a war zone but I braved it.
I walk for about fifteen minutes but there is no cybercafe in sight, finally I ask at a chemist, he directs me across the street, motioning in the direction of a narrow lane. Thats well and good, sending me across the street, but how the hell an i supposed to cross it? Its mayhem with bikes and autos and cows, as a matter of fact this is a lot like pune, I'll fit in here nicely. Anyway i did eventually find the cybercafe, not in the direction I was sent off in but in a lane diametrically opposite. I'm almost done here now, and now I'm worried about finding my way back, but not to worry I am equipped with my famous sense of direction, something that lead me three times around Rashtrapati Bhawan, while looking for C.P. so maybe i should be worried.
Aah, there's so much to write out, but first things first.
I made the journey this time by train, partly because the amount of baggage i was going to carry and partly because it was so much cheaper. Even before i got on the train, i knew it was going to be s shitty trip, i could feel a vague tingling and numbness at the back of my throat, I had gon and caught a cold, right before the trip. The prospect of the trip itself was also daunting, for the last three years i had gotten myself used to the 27 hour journey between Delhi and Pune but the almost 40 hour ride to Bangalore is something that nighmares are made off. I got on at 9 at night so the first twelve hours would be ok but another one and a half days of doing nothing is pure torture for the hyperactive twenty on year old that I am.
Once aboard the train, things seemed to look up for a bit, my whole compartment was full of people travelling alone, families and particularly crying babies make me crazy, here at least i could expect some conversation. With me there were eight other people (AC 3), one ITPB guy (Indo-Tebetian Border Police), two south indian guys, a kashmiri, one tamilian woman and a couple of other assorted characters who kept to themselves.
It would have been an interesting trip had I not been under the weather with the damn virus. The first night was positively painful, partly beacuse of my blocked nose which kept me up all night but mostly because of the spine twisting, train berths. Honestly considering the number of passengers the railways carries, one would think they would spare a little thought to improve their services. But no, their berths are not too hard and not to soft, just right, to induce acute spinal discomfort.
I woke up early the next morning, around eight in the morning to find the attendant slamming my breakfast down near my head. Now as far as I am concerned, the Bread-omelette you get on trains is practically an institution, to eat anything else for breakfast would be an act of blasphemy. Some trains like the Rajdhani's (express trains that run from various important cities to Delhi) have customised their bread omelette and may serve you a few soggy chips (as in fish and chips, not wafers) what I got here though was a very basic bread omelette, ie. a two soggy slices of buttered bread, an omelette and a sachet of tomato sauce.
Now when I was young, travelling by train was a source of endless fascination to me, I would alternate between staring intently out of the window, reading/ drawing or bothering my long suffering mother. Now I have adapted to the normal adult mode of travel which basically involves sleeping only to wake for meals, of course I also subscribe to the students philosophy of frequent trips to the outer corridor for a quick smoke.
Now once my breakfast was done, there being nothing more to do, I went back to sleep and thats pretty much how most of my day passed, with the occasional drunk passenger who insisted on kicking up a row serving to relieve the tedium.
I got into Bangalore at about two in the afternoon today, on time, which is incidentally a minor miracle. I got a room in a small but clean hotel room, and had a long overdue bath.
I think I am probably an internet addict because once bathed and ready, my first urge was to get to a cyber cafe. Asking at the reception for the whereabouts of a cyber cafe, I was directed by the receptionist with a quick wave of his palm. Thus armed i found myself on the street. The small street on which the hotel is situated, leads on to a larger road and oh boy what a road.
Now i am a delhiite, I've been to Chandini Chowk, but this was a whole other level of insanity. I don't know if it was the fever or if it was the trepidation of being in new surroundings but i was overwhelmed by the chaos. It was like stepping into a war zone but I braved it.
I walk for about fifteen minutes but there is no cybercafe in sight, finally I ask at a chemist, he directs me across the street, motioning in the direction of a narrow lane. Thats well and good, sending me across the street, but how the hell an i supposed to cross it? Its mayhem with bikes and autos and cows, as a matter of fact this is a lot like pune, I'll fit in here nicely. Anyway i did eventually find the cybercafe, not in the direction I was sent off in but in a lane diametrically opposite. I'm almost done here now, and now I'm worried about finding my way back, but not to worry I am equipped with my famous sense of direction, something that lead me three times around Rashtrapati Bhawan, while looking for C.P. so maybe i should be worried.
5 comments:
I love the "sachet of tomato sauce" I think that is what we call a "packet of ketchup"....it's so cool to hear what things are called around the world or even in the next state over. In Illinois we say Pop, but it Wisconsin they say Soda or Coke. And we also say Water Fountain or Drinking Fountain and they say Bubbler. I never get to travel unless I'm on vacation...Your trip sounds so exciting! Well even if the food does suck.
hehe the thing is you could get away with pack of tomato sauce here too, actually my version, not many people would understand on account of the 'sachet'. Tomato sause however can be used interchangebly with ketchup.
its always like whenever anyone travels they have somthin wrong like fever... like duh man, like woah man last time i tavelled i was like seeing two flocks of shit flying by me every three seconds flat... but like bang - a - lore is the shit man.. just like y`know chill for a while.. smoke some cheeba like two ounces rolled and like hit the sack for a while.. ;O
ya dude i know how it exactly feels to mbe sitting idle in the train for 2 days . cheers for gtting bangalored!
It must be terrible arriving in another with temperature. Hope you have already recovered.
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