an awesome trip

Beginning


Destination


Dont know how to start..saying that the trip was an adventure wud b an understatement. Oh boy! Here it goes,
Spoke to my mentor on monday after weeks, so we where talkin abt animations n his preparations for his departure.So he said he wud be going to Haridwar the next day. So that rang a bell in my head.Immediately decided to go to Haridwar the next mornin. He said that he would be either in Rishikesh or Haridwar till 17th. Since its a 30-odd hr journey from my place, i had to leave the next day to get there on 17th n then play on my luck. So planned out the event wit help of my cool pals (naveen and ranbir), so as we found out there were two trains from Howrah to Haridwar. One at 12.50pm and the other at 8.35pm. The one in the morning takes at night would get me there at 4am, whereas the one at nyt wud get me there at 4pm. I decided to board the morning one. Slept at 6am, so got at 9am, n missed dad. So cudnt board the morning one.Spoke to dad abt the trip when he cam back home n got the money.Oh yea,i went to see my life.. Ranbir called up and said u get the current reservation when u get to Howrah in the evening. So i said hey dats great, i wudnt hav to run for the ticket now.
So came back home.Asked for permission from the home ministry. So around in the evening, at 6.45 i left home for the station, as usual late. So we went to the ferry, n in a hurry got on the ferry that goes to the opposite direction.hehe. So came back to the same station got on the correct ferry. I was so excited for the trip.Had loaded the ipod wit so many new tuts n podcasts n stuff.Was saving the battery for the journey coz i can only charge my pod using a system, since i dont hav an adapter. So my friend wanted to listen to some songs, so i happily obliged. Lovely wind blowing that day i remember.Perfect to begin an adventure.
So finally 15 mins before the departure i get to the station, no reservation, no platform tickets, nothing. So anyways therez always hope ryt, so i got in the queue for current reservation hoping that ill get the ticket in 10mins, IF they are available.As i was in the line, my frend came n gave me a good news..(no tickets left for Haridwar) phew.. no more standing in the queue.. hehe so got into the station..it was 8.29, 6mins to departure..so i ran towards the reservation bogie, coz the general bogie was ummm lets just say.. that IF i cud get in, i wud b like a needle in a haystack.So i ran upto the TT n spoke to him, told him i got to go n m boarding anyhow, so u temme wat needs to be done. The fellow was nice, told me to talk to one another TT named Kali babu, n get up on any bogie between S1-S5. so rock on m going to Haridwar, lalalalala. So i got on the train n luckily found a place to sit until this stupid unfriendly person started blabering, as if the entire bogie was his.Plus i realised to my horror that my pod was with my friend who was no way near the train.DAAMMMMMM, wat wud i do the entire journey alone, no anim, no music, no tuts , no books!!!! I was like " hey lemme get off the train".
Looked at my other pals faces, bid gdbye n went to another bogie n sat at a place. Was missing life, felt so lonely for the first time in months. Sat at the place for a while after which this stuuupid grumpy fellow starting asking me question abt my ticket. N gave a lecture as if he owned the entire train, was so disgusted but i was talkin over the cell, so just got up gave a smile to the idiot n went to another bogie. Met Kali babu on the way spoke to him. Kali babu gave me a seat, nice fellow. So i met an air force fellow sitting next to me. Was talkin to him. Got to know a bit about Haridwar, where to stay n how to go where. Spoke to the TT again, everyone told me to get a ticket from him anyhow so that in case another TT comes i can show a ticket. Kali babu was nice he got me a berth, but said it would cost Rs. 1000, said that the ticket along wit the fine amounts to Rs.750, n the rest ummm..u know. So i told him to reduce the amt, the guy kept on persisting. He said he'll come back later. So i called up a few frendz n ummm ... umm...and then dozed off. Woke up at 1am, saw the train was at a platform, thought Dhanbad is near, coz the train's scheduled time for Dhanbad was 1.30am. So i got down from the train, asked a few shopkeepers, they said some blockage up ahead, will take half an hour to get cleared.So i roamed abt talkin over the phone. Was feeling great after the nap and the breeze blowing.An hour passed by still no go.Went upto the TT asked him for the ticket, the fellow said "u dont worry go n sit at the berth, ill come up to u in a while". So i called up Ranbir, the dude was waiting for me at Dhanbad station.Gave the news and told him to go home, will inform once i get to Dhanbad.So i roamed around Asansol station, n was amazed to see soo many ppl sleeping here and there in the train, without a berth. Talkin talkin talkin over the phone. Time just flew. So at 2am and the train still stuck at Asansol. I got this annoucement that the train will go via Patna, Gaya. So i immediately called up Ranbir, coz i thought that it would add more hours to the journey. And Ranbir confirmed it that it would add 10-12hours. So i got up the train, kept everythin inside the bag n got off the train!! Roamed around Asansol station a bit more. Ranbir said that there's a train at 9 from Dhanbad that i cud catch.So he suggested that i sud come to Dhanbad n stay at his place for the time n then carry on with the journey.Got out of the station, roamed around and then gave a call to Ranbir who informed that the train is it 9pm not , 9am unlike i assumed. So no chance of meeeting the Man. Then at 3.30am with no either returning back home or goin to Dhanbad, i chose the latter. Was informed that there's a bus to Dhanbad at 4.30, took a rickshaw n got to the stand. After getting there found out that the bus is actually at 6am. Sat at a tea stall all the while, was still excited, dont know why. So 6am, got another good news, the bus for Dhanbad has been cancelled. Called Ranbir, the fellow told me to come to Maithan n from there its very near! So i hunted for a bus to Maithan, got up on the bus n got to know that its Jharkhand Bandh today! yeeeey!! Took an hour of bumpy ride to get to Maithan, nice place though. So from here i was supposed to go meet someone Ranbir had said earlier n he'll take me to Dhanbad. So called up to get the name of the person to meet. Was told to get up on an autorickshaw to Dhanbad. So finally m going to Dhanbad, phew! A really bumpy ride. Now, this rickshaw stoped at someplace i dont know where n told me to get a train from there to Dhanbad, i was like Maaaaan cud hav told me earlier, i wudnt hav come so far. So i got to the station, heard there's a train scheduled for Dhanbad in the next 5mins. Got the ticket quickly. Got to the platform, two trains came n went in 15mins or so.
Me at the station
Go to this link and try zooming in on the Station, maybe ull see my scratching my head.
No sign of the local i had to get up on. Waited there for 1 and a half hours , no sign of single element on wheels..so got up n called Ranbir cudnt get his cell. left a msg. Came to Maithan, then got on a trekker with i think 20 other fellows, man i was sandwitched, on the way to Asansol. Then finally i thought i am done with the travelling, so one last ride to take. Got on the government bus to Calcutta , the City of Roy, oo i mean The City of Joy .. hehe.. Slept more than half of the way back home. Unfortunately the bus dropped me off at Esplanade which is like an hour or more away from my bed!!! So took a metro n then an auto, n finally i was at home sweet home!!
Sat in front of the system n the first thing i cud lay my eyes on was this link
The Reason
The reason for all this!!!