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

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