A journey up north…could be cold and lonely
I had been on a trip to Delhi last week. In what had been a one-of-its-kind experience for me, I discovered on one hand that it is not all that difficult to go around Delhi NCR and on the other hand, one could feel severely lonely and cold. The ‘cold’ part is not just because of the weather in this time of the year but also the experience you get when you interact with the people. While it is like that when one travels alone and visits a new place. I had been to Delhi before, but this was one trip I’d remember all through my life.
Having planned to be in Delhi by Friday, I started on a crisp Hyderabad Thursday morning to the railway station. While I made it to the station an hour early. While the train arrived right on time, I could not believe my eyes when I saw a third of the 3TierAC coach unoccupied. So to start with, I had a wide variety of seats to choose from. I was charted to sit with a noisy and bombastic hyderabadi-turned-marwari family. I’m ususlly the kind that would enjoy talking to neighbors on journeys but this was rather too intruding, the uncle ji ended up asking my salary right on the second minute of our first conversation. As a natural response, I found a better seat to keep up with my inner peace! The train had curtains for each of the sections and that made the SideBerths look like mini-rooms in their own right. I got all cuddled up on the sideberth with a clear-glass emergency window that said ‘In emergency, pull the hook’.
Train journeys during the day are usually interesting, the view form the window is a world in its own right. One could see various kinds of people, so many different styles of buildings, fields…and of-course a lot more that you wished you did not see! The journey was that usual type until the train stopped over at Nagpur for a house keeping halt. I had heard a lot about Nagpur-orange before, so I went around to see if could find some. I ended up buying quite a lot of food as you can see…from right to left -
The Nagpur Orange in an orange carrybag – Rs.30. 
The ’special meete bare’ – Rs.20, I really have no idea what these are called in English but for those who have never tried them, they taste a little like the apples.
Then the famous ‘I-don’t-know-what’ snack ( if you know, please use the comments section to let us know too!). By the time I finished my shopping the train had started to move. So I did not have the privilege to find out what it was called and how it was made. For all I knew after I ate it, it was a combo of alu-bonda (snack with a filling of potato curry) and kachori (with a filling of some sort of a powder this time), topped with a some chutney (usually a spicy sauce, but this one was plain).
The Nagpur experience was exciting!
Munching on the meete-bare I immersed myself into the books (I knew I’d need them on this journey, so I’d enough of them with me). After dinner I settled into a nice sleep and did not know when Bhopal, Jhansi and Gwalior went by. But when I woke up, the train stopped at Agra. I look out of the window I see smoke, then I took a while to realize I need not panic and it was only fog and the train was not burning! I got down to discover for myself why they talk of canceled flights and delayed trains in this part of the country during winter. The fog/mist was falling through the trains top as though you’d see it when you open a deep freezer. That my experience with dense fog. The visibility was not more than a few feet, I would not dare to walk, let alone drive or fly a plane!
As can be expected, the train which was already running 2 hours late started toddling like we see in this video on the right…
I thought that the train would be delayed by 4hrs max. But to my dismay, While it had to Reach Hazrath Nizamuddin station at 0840 hrs, it arrived at 1710 hrs. Now that is what you call a delayed train!
I was cursing the weather and the railway system when I over heard from a radio that a whopping 170 domestic flights were cancelled and rescheduled and 8 international flights landed in a different city in India! Now, aren’t trains better!!?
I had planned to go to Gurgaon that evening but it already seemed like night so I re-planned to go to a friend’s place in NOIDA (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority), UP.
If you ever plan to go from Delhi to NOIDA, don’t to what I did. My friend from NOIDA advised me to simply take an autorikshaw instead of troubling myself up with any other mode. He asked me not to pay more than Rs.250. I thought huh, Hyderabad to Delhi in an 3TierAC for Rs.1200, and to reach home within city Rs.250? Well, that’s when reality struck. After as many as ten autowalas (that’s what we call the auto drivers in India) refused, one guy asked Rs.300. I bargained for Rs.230.The auto initially ran at 30Kmph, then it went to 60 and after that I conveniently closed my eyes as I was getting a flying sensation!
Rules that the Delhi autowalas strictly adhere to:
- Not to apply brakes what so ever.
- Never stop at signals. Never care when crossing a busy road.
- Never mind driving on the wrong side, in-fact prefer that.
But the real twist lied ahead. Autos from Delhi are not supposed to enter NOIDA as its a different state altogether. So he stops another auto that’s passing by, transfers me to that auto, collects 230 from me and pays the second autowala a mere Rs.60 and there he goes…
Well the second autowala explained me the facts as he drove for more distance to reach Shipra Township than the previous one did. Huh!
But the best way to travel to there would be to hop on to one of those Mudrika buses (the green air conditioned ones,easily available behind then Nizamuddin railway station) to NOIDA. Then take a Cycle-Rikshaw or an auto to reach your destination.
My friend received me the township gate. Man what sort of a place was that? NOIDA has at least 65 sectors of which at-least half of them are as big as 10sq Km. The sector that I saw (62) had at-least 200 apartment buildings and society housing buildings put together. I should not forget to mention that these were 20story apartment buildings that house a 100 homes each. Now…now you can imagine what sort of a place I’m talking about and the population out there. NOIDA’s website shows a planned 140 odd phases coming up in the future. Wouldn’t that be bigger than many states in India?
All this while I was wrapped in a sweater and a jacket to keep warm. It was thoroughly cold and humid. After dinner I was advised to hide under two thick quilts or I w
ould not be able to sleep.
Sun rise happened at 0730hrs and I could barely see anything beyond 2-meters, yeah that was how bad visibility was. Add to this the 100% humidity and pollution in Delhi.
I was to travel from NOIDA to Gurgaon to meet a friend. I thought of various options like Metro, cab, bus etc. My friend advised to take one of those frequent Mudrika buses (no.392) from Shipra (sector 62 Noida) to Daula Kuan (Rs.30) and then there would be quite a few options from there to Gurgaon. The bus took an hour from NOIDA to Daula Kuan and there were plenty of those Haryana TC Volvo buses to Guraon(Rs.25). Traveling between Gurgaon and Noida isn’t as bad as I had imagined before. It cost me less than Rs.100 to and fro. If you have the wit to find out information and some patience, it could save you a lot of money for local travel in Delhi NCR.
I was back from Gurgaon late that evening and had to board the train back to Hyderabad the next evening. If one has nothing much to do in the day, Delhi’s winters are ideal for hibernation! One could sleep till around 1100 hours and still feel its not morning yet!
After a lazy breakfast and window shopping at the Shipra mall in NOIDA, it was time for me to plan traveling from NOIDA to the New Delhi railway station. If one plans to travel without a break to Delhi from NOIDA, only a taxi cab would be it. Or if you choose to save some money, there are better ways. I took a share auto (the same auto rickshaw but as the term suggests, the expenses are shared. In other words, you pay as much as you wold if you took a bus) from Shipra to Anand Vihar Metro station (Rs.10). Anand Vihar to Rajiv Chowk metro station to New Delhi Railway Station (Rs.18). The only trouble was to change trains at Rajiv Chowk.
Reaching the station was rather too fast, thanks to the speed and punctuality of the Delhi Metro service. But only after I reached the New Delhi station I realized that I was too early. AP Express was delayed by a unearthly five hours and I had no option but to wait at the station. Most of the trains were running late, delayed by four to 16hours. I settled down with a bottle of water and a magazine. I was reading while a couple came and sat beside. They were from Bangkok and were headed towards Kolkata. It was their first time to India and their train was delayed by 16hours. We talked for over two hours, mostly about India and its people, food, clothing culture and travel. If it was not for them, my waiting would have been very boring. I was relieved to hear the announcement say my train
was leaving as per the rescheduled timings and there was not further delay.
I had to grab a bite before the train started. After much looking around I decided to try the ‘Janata Khana’ (public food in true hindi to english translation) on the platform. It was not particularly tasty but 6 pooris and potato curry, for just Rs.10, it was filling enough.
Unlike the train I came to Delhi in, this one was full and I did not have much of a choice but to climb to my upper berth and sleep soon after dinner. After a good nights sleep I woke up at around 0730 hrs and the chai wala was happy to inform that the train was running at its usual speed though it was expected that it would run slow owing to the dense fog.
As I got up and planned to freshen up, some tragedy struck. Having realized that my phone was running low on battery, I put it to charge and asked a co-passenger to look after it while I went to the loo. He nodded in agreement. But I came back all freshened up and ready for some music on my SonyEricsson w810i Walkman phone, only to realize that the very co-passenger who agreed to keep watch had stolen it and alighted the train at the Bhopal station as I was brushing. None else saw him do that. Now that’s what we call bad luck. I was reduced to a dumbo who not only lost his phone but also all of those 300 odd contacts, loads of precious music and beautiful memories with it.
I told my self that these things happen and they probably happen for a reason. What ever the reason was but I had no memory of any contacts except for my dad’s number and a few others. The rest of the journey was amazingly boring an tiring. The train arrived five hours late and finally I was home before midnight.