A trip to remember

I have not been online for some time now …. The reason being my trip to Varanasi (better known as benaras ) ….. Boy it was a trip to remember …. right from the beginning to the end …..

Everything went wrong this time …. And it all started at the time of boarding the train ….. the departure time was scheduled at 6:45 …. My father told me a thousand times that it was supposed to be platform no.9 …fair enough…….tickets were not a problem as it was a piece of cake ( courtesy to my mother and special que for women …. Indian Railway rocks 😉 ) …. Since I had to get few platform tickets as well I suggested everyone else to occupy seats in the train….. after say 5 minutes I also reached the place …. The train was in a disastrous condition …… “Is this what they call superfast or Is it the benaras factor ?” …… whatever …… just have to sit for 5 hours ….. train left the platform …. It was just 6:35 …. Ten minutes before the scheduled departure time ….. poor guys who missed the train …..

I kept on watching the trees hurrying back for some time and then inquired from a fellow passenger about the nearest station ….. He replied “Its Sultanpur” ….. what the hell …. This train was not supposed to go there …. We were in the wrong train ….. that’s why the train was all trash …. That’s why we departed 10 minutes earlier ….. my mother started panicking ….. perfect start to the trip ….. Anyways we boarded another train at Sultanpur which made us to wait for some 2 hours at the outer …. And when we decided to walk the distance to the platform the train moved and the driver smiling at us ….he planned it for sure…… I could feel the boil in the blood ….. Somehow , atleast we reached the place …..

As soon as I entered the city it looked flood-struck …. Water everywhere …. Lack of proper drainage …. No roads to work with …. Bumps all the way … that’s what I hate about benaras …… It has been in the same condition for tha last 10 years with no development at all ….. even my village has seen more development ….. the whole week I spent there , I was locked in the house with only scorpions . playing cards and power failures to work with ….. with rain pouring down heavily It was impossible to get out of the house …. Let alone going to cyber cafes……

Anyways now I am back to Lucknow and I don’t know when will I go back there ….. got a very tight schedule ahead ….. and if India TV is correct, world will end in 2012 and hence it was possibly my last trip to benaras ……. No regrets though …..