Truly the title of the blog is not an exaggeration, its quite true. I left at six in the morning, boarded bus at 7 and reached the city at 8 then back in auto rickshaw and then to train which left at around 9:30. This was going to be quite an eye opener and an exhausting one. We started our journey with ease and like earlier times i had my friend with me. Here we were on our way to Roorkee, for those who think its somewhere in Orissa i must inform that its Rourkela and not roorkee. Roorkee is up there near Haridwar. So train was moving and it was almost 3 to 4 hours since we were moving and then we entered Rajasthan, well i must tell you this was one hot experience which we may never forget. The temperatures were soaring and we were seated near the windows so the sun coming directly over to us the air was hot as if breath of some grievous dragon and the cabin was a living hell as if we were put into some furnace. The only sign of relief were the fans, they were trying their level best to keep us cool but in front of the heat demon it wont stand a chance. We thought of pulling out our other weapons, the bottles of water but to our surprise they were empty. So now what? We waited for few minutes for some station to arrive so that someone might come to sell bottle of water and no one turned up, stations went one after another and no one came for selling bottle of water instead they sold TEA yes tea, we thought how in this whole world in middle of desert someone would have tea but our doubts were rest assured, their were people who were comfortable having a sip of tea in middle of desert with all that heat. Out of our inquisitiveness we stopped someone and asked why the hell we don't find a bottle of water and quite honestly he replied "you wont find it anywhere on the train sir". Stations passed and we were starting to get a bit dizzy and then i saw a person with two bottles of water in his hand and inquired only to find out that the bottles were available on the train itself, at some ten bogies distance. I rushed through the cramped spaces in the train to reach there and bought three bottles, back to the place and drank them ferociously. Relieved a bit but not completely, we moved ahead. Now we had atleast some means to stay alive, finally after few hours of torturous heat the sun began to set and the heat began to subside and due to our horrifying experience we had collected enough water of bottle to have a bath with. The train reached Delhi in the morning and we thought our pain was over as we had made it up til here, only 3 hours separated us from our destination. But we were again taken back by surprise, this time it was not due to nature but due to people. As soon as we left Delhi people started to flock our compartment, we thought it being a reserved compartment such a thing would never happen but when we saw our Travel Ticket Examiner being escorted by two police guards our illusion was shattered. Few police men entered the bogie and to anyone's guess they too were travelling with us. People can seat anywhere and you cant say anything to them, its just not possible for you to defer them. For first time in my travel i was feeling unsafe. But to god's grace somehow we made it through and reached our destination. Like Kanpur here too the mode of transportation is Cycle Rickshaw. So we boarded one to the campus and here we reached campus. Finally to room at 12:00 in the noon on other day. It was a 30 hours journey from my home to the campus. Literally the longest journey i had in my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment