It’s 1 pm and Sun was exactly over my head. At platform no 1
of Karnal railway station I waited for my train which’s one hour late and
abruptly an announcement: “May I have your attention please. Train no 12460
from Amritsar to New Delhi (ND) via Ambala Cantt., Panipat, Sabzi Mandi is
further delayed by one hour and is expected to reach by 2pm. The inconvenience
caused is deeply regretted.”
Uff! It’ll be close. At 4:35 my train for Bareilly
(BE) will depart from New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS). It’s 9
th of
June & as I’ll reach BE it’ll be 10 June and 10 May’s (Tanmay’s) birthday
and this is what for I planned such a long and hectic journey. According to
National Train Enquiry System (NTES), if current time is followed, I will reach
ND by 4:12. Cool! However, my train arrived Karnal at 2:15 pm and I got my
reserved window seat. Waiting in such a humid weather bound me to have a short
nap until I started reading Indian Express. Before reaching Sonipat, I got to
know the reason of delay. According to an aged man sitting across me, the D2
coach (mine was D4) got fire somewhere near Rajpura. “Thanks to the fast and
coordinated rescue work. I’ve to catch another train at 4:45 from NDLS too.
Hope so I reach”, man said anxiously. I
smiled and continued to read paper. I was at ND exactly at 4:25 on platform
number 13 before two outer stopovers at where once I started walking on tracks
considering the time left for departure of BE train. At exact 4:32 I was in D12
coach of Bareilly Intercity and again reserved Window seat, departed at 4:42.
In this journey which at one point seemed to be unending, passengers busted in
& tones of “
Garam Chhole” were getting louder and louder. After 10
stations with smaller duration of halts, now it’s Moradabad with 10 minutes of
halt. That’s where I stepped down and found bananas to eat with cold
Kheer.
 |
| AT HAPUR STATION |
At the station, I stood for a long time, like a philosopher ruminating on life
and its meaning. At 9:50 pm and at
Rampur, with two stations left for my destination, I checked out NTES which
amusingly displayed that the train has reached BE, 10 minutes late to scheduled
time. Just then, I called Samarth (Tanmay’s native friend) with whom I was in
contact from last two weeks and sent him my location. He seemed to be worried
of not being at the BE station according to NTES. And I finally reached at
11:20 pm, one hour thirty minutes late, but “nationalist” app says I am only 10
minutes late!
 |
| SCREENSHOT OF NTES APP |
Meanwhile, soon I was at
Samarth’s place where I filled my small tummy with tasty
Dal-Roti
(without onion-garlic, they being
Jains) & Chilled
Dashehari mangoes.
10 minutes late (Just like train), with cake(s) and faces we stormed into
Tanmay’s place. It was the second time I visited his home, last time during
Diwali holidays & when we headed for a one day break into the mountains, in
Nainital. Expectedly (with some unexpectations), his happiness seemed to be
doubled to see me & more than that his mother was so glad to see me that
she even mentioned “
tum to saat samundar paar se aa gaye.” And
meanwhile, Cake cutting ceremony as well as Selfie taking rituals were on. At 2
am, severals of unsettled talks and gossips on one side and my sleepy eyes on
the other. Eventually, I slept at 4 am. Didn’t had a long sleep, as they are no
more sounder especially when you have outraged your night hours with sticky
social media. However, mesmerizing breakfast made my day!
Ghar ki kachori
aloo ke sath… it seemed that it was not home made, just the same market
taste for which I use to walk for from Krishi Bhawan to UPSC even in humid
afternoons. Rest of the day passed with night planning for party and reading
his “pending” Sunday Guardian papers. Before reaching the rooftop venue in the
evening, we roamed around the main lanes of city, a big noisy mall and yes the
clear Cantonment Area. Butter Chicken for the Dinner & Hookah for rest of
the time being. Reached home around 10 pm and next few hours were terrible. I was
bored and unexpectedly Tanu was like “I don’t care!” With untoward face and
mood, I started turning pages of the novel until my eyes turned “off”. Again a better morning just because of better
breakfast –
Bread Pakoras. Sunday today & it was time to complete my
second motive to visit BE --
to explore the city.
 |
The beauty of shabby shops & contemporary
freedom I got, both just too good to pass up. |
It was hot outside but
this can’t stop me! He was not interested to take me out, he had an excuse that
he didn’t know such places and moreover, Bareilly doesn’t have such. But I made
my point clear, just take me to the market even if it is same as of every small
city but apart from wide roads and big malls, market is the best place where
one can know the living & habits of the residents. Further, I called
Harshit (another college junior from the city) to take me up because “I hate to
think of a wild man like me in a cage”. The next few hours made me feel like a
spirited traveler with a guide driving the two-wheeler and explaining the
significance of every important corner of the city. What made this session more
interesting was the changing mood of sky, glittering sun above head on Lucknow
Road & Healing rain showers on Nainital Road! (Check out the coincidence as
per the road) Going through the narrow lanes of old city’s market (refer photo) I compared
the beauty of shabby shops & contemporary freedom I got, both just too good
to pass up.
The love for food was not at the peak but the desperation to try
the new was at all time higher – so The Lassi. It was different, instead of the
more common twist of adding the upper layer of the curd or
malai, they
added
Rabri (condensed milk dish, mostly sweet) on the top of
Lassi
served in
Kulhad. Back to Cantonment
Area again, but this time a comprehensive sneak peek and in broad daylight. This
long traverse ended on the same wide roads where we were yesterday. In the
evening roaming at the terrace and reading books, eventually Tanu noticed a
kite hanging on a tree for which he ran downstairs and soon he was back home
with his bleeding hand because a deep cut while he was pulling the
manjha
& me running downstairs to clean the wound. Late night, on his mother’s consent we all
went for dinner several kilometers away from city to a huge
Dhaba on the
Moradabad Highway where my manner of less eating got exposed & made me feel
shy!
 |
KUWARPREET, 8, TRAVELLING FROM RAMPUR
TO TILAK BRIDGE |
Next morning taking farewell from him and his loving mother, me along with
his brother left for station for my train back to Delhi departing at 4:40 am. Soon,
when the dawn broke the day, train departed and so the many pleasant & sour
memories.
Sour because like most of the people, in a hurry I presume that why
people are against us? The first impact of that thought is on us, because it automatically triggers emotions such as anger and frustration. The other
outcome of blaming someone without knowing the real truth, of course, is that
the relation is likely to suffer a setback. Let’s put ourselves in their shoes,
& chances are we will see a logical reason for their actions and do
ourselves the favor of cutting out unnecessary negativity. That’s all what I
unwrapped putting on my rational thinking above the emotions because I have
always accepted that I may be the only reason of many Friendships and
Relationships. But after coming over all these I have discovered a new me,
mature one. Moreover, forgiving others even if I am not guilty is in my veins.
“आय स्वेयर! भला ऐसे करने से कोई छोटा
थो़ड़ी ना हो जाता है।”
अगली बार "आपके" लिए झुमका
पक्का!
 |
GOT TO STAND ON ONE FOOT IN THIS PACKED
GENERAL COACH FROM NDLS TO KARNAL. |
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