for a complete set of pics, check dese links:
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Friday, 19 October 2007
07-07-07 part II- how to wait 4 the train at da railway station
I reached kolkata widout any stoppage due to waterlogged tracks around 12 30. my train to delhi was scheduled at 5 15. and i had 1 suitcase and 1 huge bag alongwith a college bag all packed with stuff that seemd to be bricks now...
reached the new station of howrah and realised that the old station was not so nearby. my shoulders almost gave way during this journey and the coolies seemed to know of it .. though i kept moving at a slow pace, i finally allowed myself to help a old man earn some money for his family by letting him pick up the stuff for me(4 jus 30 bucks though the rate was 70, but dats a different issue.. he only gave a small quotation in the first place, so i decided to give in)
reached the old station and saw a problem of keeping the luggage. The person whom i had met had left as he had work to do and his office was full with water so could not keep the luggage there.
Did some research here as well and found a hidden place in the railway station- the cloak room.
we can keep our luggage in it for a mere 10 bucks per luggage per day.(though i had heard its name earlier, but never went to the cloak room before) the downside of keeping the stuff was that the room was home to the biggest pot bellied rats with an insatiable desire for food . i saw a few suitcases torn by them and some of the family members were lurking around wen i went to keep ma articles in their home, probably smeeling if it had any food. the suitcase contained ma lappy and other electronic circuits i had made and i definitely wud not have wanted them eating the black bag out just to find that all it contained were hard disks and some circuits.
anyways, it felt better to get rid of all the luggage stuff.
the railway station of kolkata is awesome. it had some nice private foodjoints and cake shops n stuff, apart from the cheap food normally sold. had a nice brunch there. Roamd the whole of old howrah station amidst the drizzle goin on. saw some foriegners and just casually went to talk wid them, since i was a stranger to everyone and they were strangers in india. Due to the heavy rains, many trains were cancelled so the station was full of energy. people sitting, sleeping doin all sorts of stuff everywhere .. it did not feel lonely wen u had choice of seeing, talking or just observing so many people.
being a stranger helps. being alone helps too. you are just yourself. ... without any mask which you have to wear when u go to ur workplace where you have predetermined how to react to the person you see. some people deserve a wink of an eye, some a handshake, some your smile, some deserve stopping and talking, some an unnoticed look, some a quick removal of eyeballs near their territory and so on ..
everything is premeditated. except when you are yourself. a stranger . wen u are a stranger, u be yourself, talk wen u want to, just observe things wen u want to, roam and find whateva u interested in . .
The rain turned into a slow turtoise and i found a subway going out of the station towards ferry ghat .. went there to find a very cheap mode of transportation- ferries .. just 2 rupees per trip .. and you can go to the kolkata city places. since i had limited time, researched n found max. of 30 minutes for the round trip .
da experience was awesome. moving parallel with the howrah bridge and the new bridge built on the lines of millenium bridge. went to a place called fairchild or something .. dont remember. quickly went on foot to BBD bag area and saw the british buildings still prevalent in the old city.
went back via ferry to howrah .. reached around 2
now what 2 do for the rest of the time ?
found an empty seat in first class waiting room (though the third class waiting room had a sexier crowd, chinkys in scanty clothes dryin their hair, sleeping on the bench n stuff, the smell made me go to first class room.found an empty bench and slept..
woke up at 3 30 and found the place almost empty .. as i started going downstairs, saw enormous crowd trying to see some activity goin on.. asked people and found some japanese chinke and chinkys doing shooting of some movie.
chalo, yeh bi check maarte hai .. made a place for my self among the crowd and met with a chinky who seemd to be bothered about the proceedings( must be a part of the crew). as i conversed with her in english, her accent changed suddenly and she replied in hindi.. " its a Japanese tv show.. one couple india aata hai aur experience karta hai yahaan ka atmosphere" i was literally shocked .. she told me they specifically learned hindi for coming here..
went to the eatery, took a kwality walls icecream cone( wz a shop like BR) 80 bucks ka ! it was around 4 30.. took ma stuff from cloak room and then startd my wait for the train. .. the train was late about 1 hr due to rain. . anyways,
strange person in a strange city, doiin strange things.
reached the new station of howrah and realised that the old station was not so nearby. my shoulders almost gave way during this journey and the coolies seemed to know of it .. though i kept moving at a slow pace, i finally allowed myself to help a old man earn some money for his family by letting him pick up the stuff for me(4 jus 30 bucks though the rate was 70, but dats a different issue.. he only gave a small quotation in the first place, so i decided to give in)
reached the old station and saw a problem of keeping the luggage. The person whom i had met had left as he had work to do and his office was full with water so could not keep the luggage there.
Did some research here as well and found a hidden place in the railway station- the cloak room.
we can keep our luggage in it for a mere 10 bucks per luggage per day.(though i had heard its name earlier, but never went to the cloak room before) the downside of keeping the stuff was that the room was home to the biggest pot bellied rats with an insatiable desire for food . i saw a few suitcases torn by them and some of the family members were lurking around wen i went to keep ma articles in their home, probably smeeling if it had any food. the suitcase contained ma lappy and other electronic circuits i had made and i definitely wud not have wanted them eating the black bag out just to find that all it contained were hard disks and some circuits.
anyways, it felt better to get rid of all the luggage stuff.
the railway station of kolkata is awesome. it had some nice private foodjoints and cake shops n stuff, apart from the cheap food normally sold. had a nice brunch there. Roamd the whole of old howrah station amidst the drizzle goin on. saw some foriegners and just casually went to talk wid them, since i was a stranger to everyone and they were strangers in india. Due to the heavy rains, many trains were cancelled so the station was full of energy. people sitting, sleeping doin all sorts of stuff everywhere .. it did not feel lonely wen u had choice of seeing, talking or just observing so many people.
being a stranger helps. being alone helps too. you are just yourself. ... without any mask which you have to wear when u go to ur workplace where you have predetermined how to react to the person you see. some people deserve a wink of an eye, some a handshake, some your smile, some deserve stopping and talking, some an unnoticed look, some a quick removal of eyeballs near their territory and so on ..
everything is premeditated. except when you are yourself. a stranger . wen u are a stranger, u be yourself, talk wen u want to, just observe things wen u want to, roam and find whateva u interested in . .
The rain turned into a slow turtoise and i found a subway going out of the station towards ferry ghat .. went there to find a very cheap mode of transportation- ferries .. just 2 rupees per trip .. and you can go to the kolkata city places. since i had limited time, researched n found max. of 30 minutes for the round trip .
da experience was awesome. moving parallel with the howrah bridge and the new bridge built on the lines of millenium bridge. went to a place called fairchild or something .. dont remember. quickly went on foot to BBD bag area and saw the british buildings still prevalent in the old city.
went back via ferry to howrah .. reached around 2
now what 2 do for the rest of the time ?
found an empty seat in first class waiting room (though the third class waiting room had a sexier crowd, chinkys in scanty clothes dryin their hair, sleeping on the bench n stuff, the smell made me go to first class room.found an empty bench and slept..
woke up at 3 30 and found the place almost empty .. as i started going downstairs, saw enormous crowd trying to see some activity goin on.. asked people and found some japanese chinke and chinkys doing shooting of some movie.
chalo, yeh bi check maarte hai .. made a place for my self among the crowd and met with a chinky who seemd to be bothered about the proceedings( must be a part of the crew). as i conversed with her in english, her accent changed suddenly and she replied in hindi.. " its a Japanese tv show.. one couple india aata hai aur experience karta hai yahaan ka atmosphere" i was literally shocked .. she told me they specifically learned hindi for coming here..
went to the eatery, took a kwality walls icecream cone( wz a shop like BR) 80 bucks ka ! it was around 4 30.. took ma stuff from cloak room and then startd my wait for the train. .. the train was late about 1 hr due to rain. . anyways,
strange person in a strange city, doiin strange things.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
07-07-07 ..... reachin kolkata
hmm .. this is ma first typed entry into the blog .. so, i thot to narrate a recent incident only..
here it goes ..
After ma stay in IIT KGP for bout 1 month or so, i was supposed to come back to chandi in the month of july..
Wat better date than to reach on the 7th ?? truly, the date would be historic in the years to come ..
so i decided to come part in this history as well and booked ma train ticket (Howrah Rajdhani !!) from Kgp on 6th so that i reach on the 7th to delhi ..
ok .. nice little story ? so where is the twist and turn to keep u readin on ? (vaise koi itna padhega nai .. , its only me clickin on ads to get some quick money .. .. for charitable purposes, though)
Since the 2nd of the month, west bengal was witness to the most fiercesome rain in the past decades.. continuous rain 24 hours .. everything went standstill.. (includin ma project on which i was workin .. so cud not meet ma proffy and did not even get a certi for ma efforts).. well those days are a different story .. should not waste precious characters here....
gettin to the topic, calcutta was drowned in floods, and all rail lines from 'chappragachhi'(though i dont know how 2 pronounce or spell dat.. ) to 'kolkata' were underwater..
dat meant there was practically only one way to reach kolkata.. by road.
my train from kharagpur to kolkata was already cancelled .. almost all trains were cancelled ..
though rajdhani was supposed to leave at 5 pm frm kolkata, i started my journey early (around 7)in the mornin from patel hostel ..
went to the bus stand in an auto amidst the heavy rain pouring. The scene of bus stand was unimaginable.. no bus standing .. and no bus was expected to arrive and leave to kolkata amidst the heavy rain ..
so how am i supposed to reach kolkata and get board the rajdhani at 5 ?
after heavy discussions with the localites(though conversing wid them 2 is a different story altogether, they speak some bengali .. almost gibberish to me .. ) i found only 2 options open..
either board a taxi-price 1400 for 2 hour journey, or get a 20 rupee ticket and wait for the train ..
after spendin 1 month wid a baniya friend in hostel, i decided the 20 rupee path, knowing the submerged tracks in the way .. just to remind you, the rain is still pouring without any decrease in it's intensity .. so, i reached the railway station around 8 and started discussions with all those people in range of my eyesight regarding the possibility of trains reaching kolkata..
Being a stranger in an unknown territory sometimes helps.
since no one knows you, you dont have any ego problems asking strangers odd questions. like, just go to a group of people talking among themselves and asking " where are you planning to go ?" "could you suggest me some method of reaching kolkata in time.. ? " though the questions can be as stupid and odd as you want to be, if any personal info. about yourself is carried alongside, u can land into trouble..
1 chai wala to startd shouting to me, too .. maine bhi aankhen dikhai, aur punjabi mai kuch-kuch bol kar chala gaya ..
is bheed mai fir mujhe mile ache log. . how did i find them ? keep ur eyes open,dude ..
duur se dekha kissi ne windchiter pehna tha jispar chotta sa likha tha eastern railways.. aur saath mai ek aunty.. shayad biwi hogi ..
the person seemed a regular as every person whom he saw recognised him ..
i quickly approached him and explaind the position in which i was in..
first he said dat just wait 4 a train .. it will come ..
den some coaxing .. and he told that just stick with him.. he too has to catch a train at kolkata..
.. ... .. den some more info.. he was staff of howrah rajdhani .. n train wud not leave widout him ..
n oder stuff ... den only u tell the info that u are too aboard that train itself .. ... ..
chalo .. saari tension khatam .. he told ke he was responsible for getting train from godown or somethin .. n wil assess situation at chappragachhi .. n if water is on tracks, he will take me to the station . that too widout a ticket.
sometimes its nice to trust strange people .. .
for pics, see facebook link page 4 or in the blog related with rain....
those are the pics i clicked in a train
here it goes ..
After ma stay in IIT KGP for bout 1 month or so, i was supposed to come back to chandi in the month of july..
Wat better date than to reach on the 7th ?? truly, the date would be historic in the years to come ..
so i decided to come part in this history as well and booked ma train ticket (Howrah Rajdhani !!) from Kgp on 6th so that i reach on the 7th to delhi ..
ok .. nice little story ? so where is the twist and turn to keep u readin on ? (vaise koi itna padhega nai .. , its only me clickin on ads to get some quick money .. .. for charitable purposes, though)
Since the 2nd of the month, west bengal was witness to the most fiercesome rain in the past decades.. continuous rain 24 hours .. everything went standstill.. (includin ma project on which i was workin .. so cud not meet ma proffy and did not even get a certi for ma efforts).. well those days are a different story .. should not waste precious characters here....
gettin to the topic, calcutta was drowned in floods, and all rail lines from 'chappragachhi'(though i dont know how 2 pronounce or spell dat.. ) to 'kolkata' were underwater..
dat meant there was practically only one way to reach kolkata.. by road.
my train from kharagpur to kolkata was already cancelled .. almost all trains were cancelled ..
though rajdhani was supposed to leave at 5 pm frm kolkata, i started my journey early (around 7)in the mornin from patel hostel ..
went to the bus stand in an auto amidst the heavy rain pouring. The scene of bus stand was unimaginable.. no bus standing .. and no bus was expected to arrive and leave to kolkata amidst the heavy rain ..
so how am i supposed to reach kolkata and get board the rajdhani at 5 ?
after heavy discussions with the localites(though conversing wid them 2 is a different story altogether, they speak some bengali .. almost gibberish to me .. ) i found only 2 options open..
either board a taxi-price 1400 for 2 hour journey, or get a 20 rupee ticket and wait for the train ..
after spendin 1 month wid a baniya friend in hostel, i decided the 20 rupee path, knowing the submerged tracks in the way .. just to remind you, the rain is still pouring without any decrease in it's intensity .. so, i reached the railway station around 8 and started discussions with all those people in range of my eyesight regarding the possibility of trains reaching kolkata..
Being a stranger in an unknown territory sometimes helps.
since no one knows you, you dont have any ego problems asking strangers odd questions. like, just go to a group of people talking among themselves and asking " where are you planning to go ?" "could you suggest me some method of reaching kolkata in time.. ? " though the questions can be as stupid and odd as you want to be, if any personal info. about yourself is carried alongside, u can land into trouble..
1 chai wala to startd shouting to me, too .. maine bhi aankhen dikhai, aur punjabi mai kuch-kuch bol kar chala gaya ..
is bheed mai fir mujhe mile ache log. . how did i find them ? keep ur eyes open,dude ..
duur se dekha kissi ne windchiter pehna tha jispar chotta sa likha tha eastern railways.. aur saath mai ek aunty.. shayad biwi hogi ..
the person seemed a regular as every person whom he saw recognised him ..
i quickly approached him and explaind the position in which i was in..
first he said dat just wait 4 a train .. it will come ..
den some coaxing .. and he told that just stick with him.. he too has to catch a train at kolkata..
.. ... .. den some more info.. he was staff of howrah rajdhani .. n train wud not leave widout him ..
n oder stuff ... den only u tell the info that u are too aboard that train itself .. ... ..
chalo .. saari tension khatam .. he told ke he was responsible for getting train from godown or somethin .. n wil assess situation at chappragachhi .. n if water is on tracks, he will take me to the station . that too widout a ticket.
sometimes its nice to trust strange people .. .
for pics, see facebook link page 4 or in the blog related with rain....
those are the pics i clicked in a train
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
