Gangtok Trip--Kolkata--Part-2

19:30
I never liked to be in any city, its crowd, too busy roads, traffic, rushes and everything associated with frustrated people. All mess. But might be I was wrong. Might be everything I had seen was in day light, but when you were on the road in the night, roving all around the city you are mesmerized by glittering buildings which are sparkling when seen from distance, that beauty will really take your heart away. Salt Lake, Rajar Haat, the IT city of West Bengal, not of Kolkata as these are situated in the outskirts of KOLKATA not in Kolkata but in WEST Bengal.

The buildings here were awe-inspiring - INFINITY, IBM, TCS and many more buildings which were really worth a look whenever crossed. I am not comparing it with other city but yes, if you are in Kolkata then you should pay a visit there.Anyways back to main action. We were in Rajar Haat Bypass. It connects the main city to the airport in a short route. Else you have to go through the whole city. Bypass saves a lot of time, accident risk and exertion too. Bypass was stretched up to 20 kms or more. And this smooth pitch stretch never allows you to go through in less than 100 kmph not even your low graded mechanical engine which is not allowed you to go beyond 80kmph.

20:00
1980 model ambassador was at 110kmph on that road. We were literally flying at that time because every single part of the cab was vibrating with their maximum hertz. Steer wheel vibrated, everything in the dashboard vibrated, I vibrated……….. what the hell!! Even my soul was also vibrating and within 40 minutes we were in the airport zone, which was 20minutes earlier than expected. We were about to reach our destination. Wait a minute! Wait! Wait! Now where to go? We have reached the contours of New Barrackpur. Up till there I knew the way. NOW WHAT?
Neither I nor the Cab driver knew the way to New Barrackpur Station, the landmark nearest to my home.
“Ab kis taraf jaaye sahib” cab driver asked.
“Chalo yaar, pahuch jaayenge”I assured him.
Finally we lost, we lost the way.
“Kya sir apne ghar ka rashta bhul Gaye (what sir, how can you forget the way to your home)” Rupjyoti asked, he was looking disturbed, didn't know why. Why he was so disturbed despite being in my place?
However I too was disturbed, continuous ringing of my cell with mom’s name inscribed on it. Reaching home late constantly intrigued and bothered me a lot.
I used to travel in local trains in Kolkata. I didn’t know how to get there by road ways, to the railway station. If by any chance, I had to come through this way, all the time the cab driver knew the way. But this time it was different. What the hell could you expect from someone who didn’t even know the basic difference between BARRACKPUR & New Barrackpur. Anyways with all the hues and cries we reached home…..now it’s time for mom to cry. Sorry it’s time for mom to make me cry for being late. But my Mom and Dad were in no mood to ruin my prestige in front of my friends. Although it had been ruined already.


20:30
After dinner we were highly awaiting the local train to reached SEALDAH. Our train to New Jalpaiguri was waiting for us.
21:15
We were in Sealdah station. We got the print out from a shop nearby the railway station.
21:45
Darjeeling Mail and we were sitting in the train, clashing on the ownership of the berth.
22:05
WE were leaving Sealdah. Day one of Gangtok trip was over. Heading towards New JalpaiGuri(NJP). Day one was tedious, bothersome as well as exciting. Many more to come….that’s all for day one…..



Jharsuguda---->>Kolkata---->>New Jalpai Guri---->>Gangtok.





To be continued...............

Gangtok Trip -IN KOLKATA-Part 1

2nd May ‘2011-DAY 1

11:00
“Sir Ticket ka print-out le lena”. A message popped up on my mobile. My clock went off for the 11th time of the day. In the past 16 hours my cell-phone floated from divert to offline mode because of my affectionate bosses who were so desperate to talk to me. What if I was in leave? What if I didn’t even give a damn about the company? Not at least when I was on leave.
Standing on a railway platform (New Barrackpur Station), while I was waiting for the train to arrive, I took out my cell and switched to General mode.
In no time, the cell which was almost dead for the last few hours started bursting in agony. The continuous bleeping that started never seemed to end. Within a minute 15 messages had appeared on message notification box.
Huh! 16 messages. Sounds good, but I was not so happy as I was supposed to be. Among the 16 messages, 5 were of missed call alerts among which four numbers were from my company. 5 good morning messages - these messages always made me wonder about how someone can be free to spare so much time to forward silly messages right from dawn. Another 5 messages were promotional ones with the prefix “TD”. I was fed-up with these promotional messages and I am just waiting for the day when I would reach the extremities of irritation when I will call them on their given number and will let them introduce to the Saga of wrath. Anyway, coming to 16th message, it was of the lobster (Rupjyoti) conveying about the ticket which needed to be printed, as that damn fellow had forgotten to find the space in his bag for the already taken printout. Finally he missed it.
Meanwhile train had come. It was a fully loaded one whilst there was no space to enter. By the way, one free advice, you all guys need. Take it or leave it. In Kolkata local trains, whenever you have to deal with the crowd. Sorry!! Sorry!! Simply saying crowd will not be accepted, this is BENGALI crowd and Bengali things always walk along with the term called AGGRESSION. So the advice is, whenever you are with this Aggressive Bengali crowd please surrender yourself to the crowd moving towards the desirable direction. Always keep watching your feet, never ever allow your shoes to match with other's feet. That means never try to move your feet in the bus. The chances are that once you lift your foot and land it over someone else’s feet then it will bring you different and unforgettable kinds of miserable situation to your life. Personal experience guys. You never know, when you will get the ticket to the world of aggressive khisti.
Anyways I boarded the train up to DUMDUM, one of the busiest junctions in North Kolkata, not only for local trains but also for Metro trains.
12:40
I entered into the FORUM, ElginRoad. My trip partners were dwelling in the train and they were around 2 hrs late. I had time to kill while Forum had movies to be screened .So we both shook our hands and agreed upon Dum Maro Dum.
14:00
Another 2 hrs and they were still dwelling. So CHALO DILLI.
16:30
Congrats! They reached. They finally reached….BUGGERS…huh!
They were late, exhausted, hungry yet still enthusiastic.
Hari: Shopping!! Shopping!! Shopping and hungry.
Naresh: Calvin Klein!! Calvin Klein and hungry.
Rupjyoti: Hungry
We reached KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) to kill our hunger which was continuously nailing our stomach second by second. Although mom had done all her preparation for dinner, still I couldn't handle myself from getting into the school of LICKONOMICS. However, the other three were also damn hungry. And I mitigated my desperateness into them.
17:45
We left for a woodland shop where Hari wanted to buy a pair of shoes.
18:30
We headed for the Metro station
Status: We were getting late and within 45 minutes we had reached to the New Barrackpur Station.
By the grace of Naresh Balaka, one our fellow partner in the trip, who was so enthusiastic about this trip, had brought six days garments for only 3 days. And all his fantasy of being a high profile Fashion freak led to a heavy bag. Because of that bag, he was restricted at the gate of Metro station, as heavy bags were not allowed in Metro trains. Many times I have travelled by the Metro with luggage but I never faced this kind of a situation. I didn’t know what had happened, but it was true that we were all standing outside the Metro station, not being able to board the train just because of that damn heavy luggage of garments. Huh!
Time was 1830 hrs. Train to New Jalpaiguri was at 2200 hrs from Sealdah and only 3:30 hrs was left. Four stranded guys were standing in Park street road. Except for me the rest were new to Kolkata. Anyhow there was no expectation from them and I just kept asking myself - what to do? Any other means other than train will take at least 2 hrs to reach home. My cell was ringing every 15 minutes and it was mom enquiring about the proceedings at my end and where the damn we were? When we will reach home?


Then came the cab driver, Mr. CHOTE LAL GUPTA.
Mr. Chote Lal Gupta, the cab driver was talkative, audacious and had a happy face.
“New Barrackpur Station, chaloge Bhaisahab?” I asked the cab driver.
“Barrackpur, ha bhaisahab chalenge, jaroor chalenge”, he replied back with a great gusto feeling.
“Arre Barrackpur nahi New barrackpur”, I rectified him. He misunderstood NEW BARRACKPUR to BARRACKPUR.
“Ha bhaisahab, sab ek hi hain, ek naya hain doosra purana, kya faraq padta hain?”His enthusiasm was killing me.
“Arre chalo yaar, I will show you where it is?” With all head we hopped in with hopes ringing high in our hearts….




To Be continued..........