What I learnt from this trip

1. India is vast. Very. It broke the boundaries I had created in my mind.

2. Food is generally available in most of the cities in India with ease. There wasn't a single place we went out of food because of unavailability. (Food = Clean Food)

3. People are generally nice.

4. Indian Railways is one of the best things to have happened to India. The interconnectivity, the services offered (most of the stations have AC Rooms available and a clean canteen).

5. People would help you if you ask for directions or any other information

6. I now know how to take care of myself and where to look for what in a totally new place.

7. I'm all the more wanting to make such a trip again. (wanna join me? :P)

what you could expect in this blog? - unreleased videos, unreleased photos, conversations, missed out details. so, stay hooked!

Day 17: Bangalore Calls

We were so happy that the next destination was Bangalore! We surely were missing it. The filter coffee, work, friends, masala dosa, Kannada, boy! You just don’t know how much we were missing Bangalore towards the end of the trip.

Two young boys full of enthusiasm boarded the auto to the airport and gleefully awaited the boarding call.

So, India, there!

Day16: Filth eclipses Pleasantness

If someone had said all good things would come to an end on this day, I would’ve given a pat on the lad’s shoulder (kiss on the cheek, if it were to be lass) and said, I agree with you. You’ll know why at the end of this post.

Shillong bade us good bye, but not before making us spend more than hour in the ill-fated bus, with which problems began even before we got in. The driver’s 1000hrs was IST 1200hrs. Spits flew hither, thither and wither. (If you thought people spit everywhere only in Delhi, wait till you visit Meghalaya or Guwahati. Spitting is a birth right which you can exercise at any public place, in front of anyone, if you’re in Meghalaya or Guwahati. Don’t be surprised if someone spits right on your foot by mistake and wouldn’t apologize). A guy threw up and refused to clean. People in the bus were too slow even to react or abuse the guy who threw up and refused to clean. A lorry fell down in one of the ghat sections while overtaking, holding up traffic for more than 2 hours. This paragraph outlines how we spent 7 hours which was supposed to be 3 hours. But this only outlines. It was horrible.

And finally after what seemed an eternity, the familiar filthy bus stand Guwahati had to offer arrived. We simply got down and got in at the nearest decent looking hotel. Sixth floor room was the destination.

I think it was too pleasant at Shillong and the journey back as we couldn’t take the “not so pleasant” and the “not so clean” bus stand and surrounding places. We saw the spits and the unclean things around and carried that image into the hotel room. We decided not to come out of the room except for checking out and that’s precisely what we did.

It was the books that caught our attention until we let the books down and pulled the blankets up.

Day 15: Clouds Call

12. Cherrapunjee:

“Megha-alaya. A place so wonderful that even the moving homeless clouds found a home!”......... (Kavithai Mannan) Poet from Bangalore

“Wow”......... Consultant from Bangalore

“Too much”... Oneiro on Cherrapunjee

Morning woke me up to a dream that I was sleeping in a dungeon. Things tumbled back in my mind the moment I saw the water jug that was kept on the dust covered table. I had slept in a dungeon. We rushed to the tourist bus that was to leave to Cherrapunjee. We weren’t exactly overjoyed with the idea of traveling in a tourist bus, like tourists. I mean, we weren’t tourists! We were the people who traveled far and wide out on an adventure trip and didn’t want a guided tour, the locations and starting & ending times decided by the driver of the bus! But then, rarely, my dear friend! Rarely does the thing we want to happen, happens. So, we went. We had the pleasure of the cabin to us. Breath taking view added to the awesome-ness. (In case you’re asking if I thought about her, then, you won’t get an answer here. This is day 15. You ought to have known by now when I think about her and when I won’t. What?) Of the whole lot of places we visited, just like the tourists, we liked mawsynram caves the most. If you happen to visit Cherrapunjee, I urge you to visit one of the most beautiful natural rock formations that one can find in Cherrapunjee. It’s the best.

Lunch was maggi and more chocolate. It was here Sleepyface was faced with the profound question if chocolate and places like Koteshwar, Leh or Cherrapunjee made up the heaven that is promised religiously by all these religions of the world. If this ain’t heaven, then what is? (If you know, let me know in the comments)

Cherrapunjee lived up to its expectations Oneiro and Vishnu carried in the minds – the wettest place on earth. There was a constant drizzle. The fog and the clouds occupy spaces meant for clear air and make visibility less than 2 meters. It is with immense emotion that Sleepyface urges you, if at all he does, to visit Cherrapunjee at the earliest. It’s important that you understand the emotion and not just treat it as a bunch of English alphabets tied together to form words.

Dear reader, I urge you to visit Cherrapunjee at the earliest. (And, if I’m not asking too much, if you could, you know, putting it squarely, let me know the answer to the profound question of which heaven is and which is not)

And so with that note of being amidst clouds and getting wet in the constant drizzle, taking snaps and trying to stay away from the tourists, SF and O returned back to the dungeon and without a word, they start reading. SF starts Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance while O continues Atlas Shrugged into the night and later into sleep as well.

Day 14: Rain Comes

10. Guwahati:

“What if there’s a bomb right here, next to us?”…. SF to himself on Guwahati

“Filthy...” O on Guwahati

Guwahati! The city, slow but organized. People, nice. Weather, pleasant…SF on Guwahati

It had just stopped drizzling. The whole place was wet and the weather extremely pleasant. It is one of those rare cities where the bus stand is right next to the railway station. We didn’t want to waste any time and we rushed to the bus stand to catch the next available bus to Shillong.

It was here that mayhem of a different kind took place. The scheduled 3 hour journey took 7 hours, with 2 break downs, a puncture, fire in the bus and traffic jam.

As we entered Meghalaya, the view outside was like a dream. The greens, the constant drizzle, the clouds, it was in this setting that life found meaning. I had dairy milk chocolate in one of the most pleasant places on earth – Meghalaya. I probably couldn’t have asked for more.

11. Shillong:

“Hey, look at him spit!” SF to Oneiro

“Er…having an umbrella qualifies a citizenship in Shillong?” O on Shillong

It was sixish when we reached Shillong. We thought, like every other place that we’ve visited, it would be easy to get accommodation. We only thought so. The first place we enquired, we thought we selected a wrong place. Then the second, the third, seventh! All hotels were full and no rooms and were priced exorbitant amounts. It made no sense. It was more expensive than Bangalore. We settled on a place which looked worse than the one in Pahargunj. It was straight out from the ones shown in the bollywood movies showcasing underworld brutalities.

We got out, had a light meal, booked tickets for a one day organized tour to Cherrapunjee for the next day at Meghalaya Tourism, and got back to the dungeon. The hotel guy gave us a thick blanket which the minute one puts it over him/her either because of the tiredness or because of the stench in the blanket, sleep just comes. (However, I argued with Oneiro that I fainted)

Day 13: 2 Tier AC

All day in the train, we continued to read the book. Oneiro at Side Upper and me side lower. We didn’t speak a word. Evening saw Oneiro read quite a good chunk of Atlas Shrugged and me completing Ken Follett’s Code to Zero. The highlight of the day was the Patna Railway Station – the head quarters of the minister of Indian Railways

Day 12: On Our Own

On completing the eventful journey, which will remain in the memory for a long time, we saw ourselves at the outskirts of Delhi. Mobbed by auto drivers and driven by indecision, we checked in at the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in, in Pahargunj. It was a place that could’ve attracted a raid by the police any hour, for all the wrong reasons that you can think of. Yes, all the reasons you can think of. (what?) The corridors were stinking. The room was stinking. Ugh… I not just refuse to but I can’t describe more about it.

We got out of the place as early as possible. Enquiring around we learnt CP was close by. Walked until CP, brunch at Saravana Bhavan again, Shuttled between PVR Rivoli and the PVR Plaza @ CP to find out if we could squeeze in 3 shows that day. Sadly, we managed only two (Partner & Mithya) but hey, we also managed to buy used books and meet the cast of Mithya, gobbled up a snack at the Mc Donald’s, before which, we sat at the CP park and read a bit of the used book that we bought.

Tip: The old man selling used books at CP, near PVR Rivoli rarely reduces price but has a good knowledge of the books.