Part2:Hazrat Nizammudin to New Delhi Via Madhya Pradesh --- Ahoy to Kanha

The train journey itself remained quite uneventfull except for a few instances,
1 Making friends with the kids2 Food from commesum in Agra3 Sitting in the attendant bench at night looking out of the door4 listining to actual Hindi after a long time with words like swastha, aavashyek e.t.c.... 5 Making plans to buy a toothpaste in one of the stations6 Taking our bunk back after giving it to somebody else as the TT would have required it
After food in Agra we decided to sleep, with Prashant on the top bunk and me on the middle one. With the bed being set the night quitly passed and gave way to the morning sunlight...
Being woken up by Prashant is not a pleasent feeling you can ask Alok Aggarwal....
Anyway the day started with me smoothly sliding down the bunk, realizing\told that we do not have any toothpaste...nevermind...Datoon hai...chalega....is the potty clean...yup...with liquid sopa....amazing ...three cheers to Indian railways..... life is good
( For those who do not know me...Potty is the most essential work a human does... there is nothing heavier than a ass full of potty)
Well with my mind and heart clear and most importantly with my Stomach crystal clean...I set upon the grim task of chewing on the datoon...after a considerable time... my mouth was clean...only thing foul coming out of it was the language...the breath was clean...lovely..
Jablapur....I have been here...actually...Madhya Pradesh is one place you can say I have been to.... did my Hotel Management from nagpur some 5 hrs of bus drive from here....... Also it is close by to Katni...the gateway to Morwa and to Singrauli...I did my schooling from there... so all in all I kinda belong even without knowing anything I somehow know...
All right...onwards we move...decide that we need to have a plan...and after a lot of planning again using sophisticated methods of initiution and feelings we decided that we will take the train from Bhopal to Delhi...with all the plans being crystal clear we walked to the reservation counters and filled in the form... filled everything except for one small detail the name\number of the train... never mind I said I will ask and fill it in.....as we do not know what is the avaiabitlity situation....
Stand in the queue ...my number ...5...after about 2 min the person in front of me moves out and joins another queue...Why??? Impatient people....ah after about 40 min my turn comes in and I was told that the form needs to be complete .....
KILL, DROWN,HACK,....just a few feelings that were coming to my mind so after a little bit letout we went back to the station for something not sure what and baught the Madhya pradesh MAP, still not toothpaste though...took a rickshaw to the place in Jabalpur where we could get some internet....cool...reached the square...had DOSA, idli e.t.c.. and onwards we walked to the internet cafe...booked our tickets and startedthe long march to the bus station...I did not realize that it was that far off...or that I am so out of practice ...unfit e.t.c..
Reached bus station, tore the sleeve of my shirt...ok....just rolled it a bit more...got the bus that we were lookin for ...and actually slept....this happens to me...I can sleep anywhere..anytime...poor Prashant...I ave no clue what He was doing...I guess clicking....
Mandla...again woken up by Prashant..abused...reminded him that I am elder to him and he should give respect.. :)
Sat down and after a lot of talk went out to get some food, drinks and most importantly Camera Rolls...
A new bus, definately better but slower than the previous one...it had to be...people in Calcutta would know of these buses ..1B, 2C e.t.c.Same speed, and same intentions...maximum filling...
There in after a few breaks the chai shop, with a difference, you can ask for some salt in your tea's and nobody will ask any questions or raise eyebrows apparently it is quite normal to do something like this...great.....I am with the freaks....I am home......

I AM IN KANHA

Part1:Hazrat Nizammudin to New Delhi Via Madhya Pradesh -- Delhi to Jabalpur

Bit of a strange journey for me as well.... never having been to a journey without any final destinations
Actually the plan crashed quite at the start itself....I forgot that there was a training that i need to attend...small oversight .. big problem.... all but ended the plot...what an anticlimax...then standing on the verge of cancelling trip I get mail saying that I am not eligible as I had not responded to a set of questions related to the training ...Yahoo .......ignorance again bailed me out....HA HA HA HA AH A... i am going for the trip...nothing can stop me now.. the next steps were taken call up Prashant....Make plans I say....Tell my superiors that i will be gone for 5 working daysSend emails to my client about my inability to communicate for the next five days
Confirm the plan again...Prashant was thinking of going with some girl...made him realize that I am a better travel companion(young guys...do not see the point right away)Any ways with the plan all set and knowing that I would need to be in NOIDA by 12:30A.M to close on the complete plan, So the plan is to reach NOIDA by 12:30 and latest by 1 p.m because I need to be in office to fininsh up a few work items....(bugger)
obviously I was late...now that has to be expected.... so le3:25 PM 3/23/08ft office late reached home late requested Sanjit to drop me to NOIDA he agreed, left home late...as in the time that I was supposed to be in NOIDA i was leaving DWARKA (my place)...but this is normal....people who know me won't be shocked.....anyway as I do not travel on the same road twice( Main RAJA HUN) however I had to reach the same destinantion...heregoes....
DWARKA-DHAULAKUAN-SOMEWHERE IN DELHI Prashant calls up, gave him the longitude and latitude he gave us another set of directions and voila we were supposed to reach somewhere we reac hed cannaught place...ah...never mind...35 min of high tech tracking through satellites and a talking GPS systems with great speech patterns kinda like the computer in HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO GALAXY...and NOIDA it is where we reached after about 2 hrs to speed driving
Lunch...love it food here, the best veg. food in NCR....
Next up get everything, put in Sanjit's car and start of to the station, reach the station, and get in the train sit in the allocated seats and incidently the train started right on time, quite unexpected I say.......
And Peta takes his camera out and starts connecting with people in the train especially the attendants......
And i start contempleting about my life...had a tough week\year needed this journey to unwind