Destination Himachal Pradesh: Day 1

(Hyderabad to Delhi)

Day 1
I caught the HYB-FZR special train at Nampally Railway station today. Its scheduled departure time was 10:15 A.M but I'm pretty sure the train didn't budge before 10:40. So the trip starts off with a delay; perfect. My co-passengers are decent people. I have two families in the same compartment with me; four parents and two children. The children are cacophonous and have the energy levels of a ferret on speed. What I wouldn't give for intelligent (and attractive) female company... The first couple of hours of the train journey were alright. The temperature was decent enough and the families decided to spend the time napping. I thought I'd just sit by the window but since it was an overwhelming majority against me, I had no choice but to put up the berth and lie down with my IPod on and rolling through my playlists. I was drifting in and out of sleep thanks to the ADHD kid constantly trying to scale and descend all the berths a thousand times over. I finally woke up to a guy prodding me firmly and shoving biryani in my face. I was too sleepy to decline and since I was hungry anyways, I bought some and polished it all off within a manner of minutes. After I finished my pathetic lunch I realized just how incredibly hot the compartment was. In a matter of hours it had become a veritable hot gas chamber. The antediluvian fans stuck on the ceiling groaned and churned out even hotter air as if to spite us further. I tried to sleep again but trying to sleep when you have the sensation of your skin sizzling is not easy to do. I resigned myself to my fate and decided to read a little bit on the laptop. The ADHD simian child donned his destructive avatar once more and almost stepped on my laptop in his compulsive attempt to scale all the berths in a counter clockwise motion. A silent scream died inside of me and I begged his father to let me escape to the top berth. The man was more than happy to let me do so and I'm here in my refuge typing now to try and escape the heat and distract myself. I think I’ll go smoke a cigar or chew pudi cause this is getting to be a little tiresome.

Day 2

After suffering through the oppressive heat and the unceasing din of the raucous children, I finally experienced some form of respite when night came about. Having spent the entire day with the IPod plugged firmly into my ears and laying down on the top berth drifting in and out of sleep, I was extremely joyous to feel the cold wind rushing in through the windows. I wasted no time and took the pudi to the doorway of the train. I caught hold of the yellow railings and leaned outside and experienced bliss. I opened one pudi slowly and purposefully and chewed away. I felt the dim ecstatic high wash over me. I spent more than an hour feeling the rush of the wind on my face and all the noise of the train seemed like music in that time. Nagpur was soon approaching, however, so I brought myself back to the present and prepared myself to make a mad dash out onto the station to buy myself some edible food. As soon as the station arrived, I dashed outside and bought kachori and poori sabzi. The meal cost Rs. 40; the joy was priceless. All this while, my phone was steadily losing juice and I glanced over to the ‘charging area’ only to discover a herd of people trying frantically to get to the point. I decided against my chances of making it through there and put some Pink Floyd on and lay down with the idea of going back at a later time. The next thing I remember is waking up at 7:30 A.M, very surprised. Back home, my sleep cycle was utterly abnormal and I had not managed to fall asleep before 2:30 A.M for about 4 months now. And here I was, on the train, fully rested after a good night’s sleep. I was extremely happy about the state of affairs and decided to have some breakfast. The only breakfast I could find was watery milk tea and a bread omlette; I threw away the bread. I found out from my co-passengers that the train was running behind by approximately 2 and half hours. This dampened my spirits further and I chose to retreat to my top berth palace yet again. I woke up sometime later and went to try getting my phone charged up again and struck up a conversation with a guy who told me emphatically and in no uncertain terms that my phone was utter trash. I thanked him for his expert assessment and then got the hell out of there lest he got more personal about his judgments. We arrived in Jhansi and one of the brats disembarked with her family and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was however a little touching and sad to see the other kid’s sorrow at her departure. Once the train started moving though, the kid decided to channel his sorrow into destruction and set into motion Plan Hell spawn whose sole motive was to bother every single passenger in the compartment one way or the other. He flung bottles, threatened people with straws, and went so far as to spit at a bovine looking woman. In the background of this carnage, I hurriedly enquired of his father where they were planning to get off and thanked my stars that Gwalior was only 15 minutes away. And then Gwalior came and the child left leaving behind silent, sullen and tired passengers. At Gwalior I was informed that the train was actually running 3 and half hours late and that I wouldn’t reach Delhi until at least 6 P.M. I bought a couple of sandwiches and a packet of chips and this was my glorious lunch. After that I settled down to write. I’ll sign off now and finish my report after I reach Delhi.

The third and final phase of my journey was pretty uneventful. After Gwalior the passenger strength dried up and consisted mainly of fatigued veterans who just wanted to see the end of the long and arduous battle. I spent my time standing in the doorway, lying down, talking to old people, avoiding kids, and eating trash. I finally reached Delhi Safdarjung station at 7:20, exhausted, and glad to see the end of the 34 hour train journey. I wanted to take a metro to Mayur Vihar, where I’d be spending the night at a friend’s place, but instead opted for the comfort of an auto. I walked all the way onto the road and waited 15 minutes for auto and then realized that Mayur Vihar was the other way. I trudged across the road and got into an auto to go to Mayur Vihar. 5 minutes into the ride I realized that my phone was missing. I spent the next 5 minutes experiencing a minor cardiac arrest and then frantically screamed at the auto driver to turn back. He acquiesced and stopped on the opposite side of the road from where he had picked me up. I searched there first and realized that I might have dropped it on the other side where had picked me up initially. So I told him to take a U-turn and take me there. He told me to cross the road and begin searching while he’d go and take the U-turn and come back. In my thoughtless frenzy, I ran across the road and began combing the pavement for any sign of my lost phone. I didn’t find it despite my efforts and my heart sank. After 5 minutes I realized that the auto driver also wasn’t showing up and then it occurred to me that he might have stolen my luggage and left. The entire world’s weight suddenly descended onto me and I was left reeling. Then, like an angel of the Lord, the auto driver showed up and I was thankful at that moment for at least having my luggage intact. Depressed, I began to get into the auto and found the phone on the seat. I was sitting on it the entire time. Feeling like an utter fool, I apologized to the auto driver and asked him to go on. He thoroughly empathized with the situation and offered me some water and asked me to calm down. After reaching Mayur Vihar, I paid him a little extra and thanked him. Then I went to my friend’s home, had a long hot shower and a grand meal and decided to call it a night. The consequence of the train’s delay was that I couldn’t make it to Kashmere gate to book my ticket to Reckong-Peo and I had to postpone my trip to the evening of the 6th. It’s a small compromise on my schedule and it’ll allow me to plan a little better and meet a few more people here before I leave. It worked out well in the end  Lessons learnt from this train journey:

1)NEVER EVER TAKE THE HYB-FZR SPECIAL TRAIN!

2)When traveling in a sleeper compartment, carry a three-pin extension plug point with you. This will help greatly because there’s only two plug points available and if you carry a three-pin point, that’ll increase to four greatly endearing you to other people and putting you ahead of others for cell phone charging rights.

3)Pack some food and water. The availability of both is not guaranteed when you require it and also the quality of both is a little suspect

4)Bring an IPod or a book or a laptop or all three. There are high chances you won’t find anyone to talk to and in that scenario, one of these three will be your saving grace

5)Take the top berth when traveling alone; always.
That’s it for the first leg of my journey. I’ll write more when I get on the bus to Reckong-Peo. Cheers!