Duronto and me

On the third week of January, I had to travel to my hometown to attend the wedding of brother of one of my closest friends. I still wonder why I booked railway tickets for that journey.
My train was at 8 pm. So I went to office carrying all the luggage that was to be taken. During the afternoon, an idea stuck: "Let's check online for the train status". Ans as luck would have it, it was late by 13 hours and the revised departure time was 0630 on Saturday (God! I have to wake up early the next day). I booked a cab to pick me from my home at 5 o'clock for the station and returned home as usual after having dinner at office. I also went to bed early (at about 12.30 am) due to the early waking up the next day.
The alarm went off at 4.45 am and within 15 minutes I was ready for the cab to arrive. But the time went on. I called the cab service at 5.10 am, the guy at the other end assured me that the cab has already left their office for my home. Another 10 min went by, I called again (readers may think I was a bit overboard, but the cab office is 10 min walk from my home). I left home at 5.30 am to go on my own.
The visibility outside was about 2 meters. I was dreading that if now I took an auto, it would take me the better of a day to reach the station. After a few minutes, I received a call: "Where are you? The cab is waiting in front of your house." Luckily I was near to the cab office when the call came. I told them to call the cab to their office and I will take it from there.
As I reached the office, I saw the guy discussing heatedly with someone over phone: "What do you mean that your tank is empty?". There goes my catching of Duronto. But again, luckily, another driver was present there with his car (this one always took me to the airport). He told the guy, to leave the driver and he will take me to the station. There I was, 5.40 am on the clock, 2 meters of visibility, still in Noida, with the train departing at 6.30 am.
But the driver was a skilled one. Even in that thick fog, he drove efficiently, without taking any risks and got me to the station by 6.15 am. Any novice would have surely lost direction or would be on top of a divider due to the fog. I thanked him whole heartedly and went into the station.
Now where was the train platformed? The whole station was full of people as for the last week or so, no train has left  on its scheduled time. There were many people there who were there for more than 48 hours. I watched the electronic schedule board for a while. But no Duronto. Dreading that the train has already left, I approached an information counter among the bustle of people queued in front. The receptionist told that, Duronto had not reached there yet, and it would leave for Kolkata at 3.30 pm. WT*?
The news was confirmed by an announcement over public system and I started my way back home. The metro had already started, so no problem there. Reached home at 8 am after spending about 300 bucks (cab fare) for no reason at all. And immediately went to sleep :D.
Woke up at 10.30 am, again dressed up and went to office. For lunch, of course. Again started for station at about 1.30 pm, this time via metro. After losing my work access card in the metro, I reached the station at about 2.30 pm. The train started on time and I was at last homeward.
The train was half full, most of the tickets canceled because of the 19 hour delay. We started with a scheduled arrival to Howrah at 7.30 am on Sunday morning. To me it was perfect. I had a top bunk in the 2 tier AC coach. Both the lowers were empty. So covering both the lower bunks, I set up my command center. The guy on the opposite top bunk also helped by going to sleep at 5 pm :P. My time was spent blissfully reading story book, watching movie on laptop and what not, the coach attendants providing refreshments at regular intervals. So although the train reached 12 hours later its scheduled time, at 7.30 pm ;), did not bother me much.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing all my readers and non-readers (although they won't come to know my wish) a very happy and prosperous 2010.

-Resolutions are for fat people

The X-Day 2009

Keeping the blog short.
Went to Park Street on Christmas night. All lighted up. The rush was greater than that during the pujas [:O]. The Kolkatans just need an excuse to celebrate. Needed about half an hour to cover a half kilometer sidewalk!!!
Met with two school-mates there. Enjoyed the evening to the fullest (disclaimer: it was alcohol-free).
Going for '3 Idiots' tomorrow with family.
Also, will be doing some changes in the blog layout. People still here, bearing my posts, please bear this also.

All about books

Right now, I am waiting for my flight to my hometown for a (forced) vacation (in reality office shutdown) and surfing the web on free Wi-fi a-la Airtel. Couldn't surf my usual sites on such a posh environment, so thought to clear some backlogs for my blogs.
To start of, I think I have read two Eoin Colfer books since the last time I've blogged about books. And I do not think I am sure about this as I am sure of my poor memory and my voracious tendency of reading.
Airman : A gripping story from beginning to the end. This is very well written and very well plotted. I gave this a miss at first, as I was completing the Artemis Fowl series then. But as a one-shot novel, this holds its ground even with the Artemis series. So Colfer fans out there, don't miss this and also to the young readers (and the not-so-young ones) give Colfer a try. a good 8/10.
And Another Thing... : I had been hearing of Hitchhikers' series from the start of my college days, and ultimately read it after joining my job. Immediately I became the fan of the series. I was a bit disappointed to see the protagonists die at the end of fifth book, and with the original author no more alive, I was a bit sad that that was the end of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian. Last year it was revealed that there was a sixth book in the making. I was immediately jumping up and down in my mind, and then when I read that it was given to Eoin Colfer, I think I shot through the roof with joy. But with great excitement comes great trepidation. How would Colfer handle this classic series? Would he fall on his bottom or take this newer heights? Well, in his first stab at adult fiction, he didn't disappoint me. Though tried mostly to be faithful to the writing style of Douglas Adams, his own persona was clear in it. This may or may not be liked by many people, but it worked for me and with the open-ended ending of the book, I am also looking forward to further sequels of the series (Alas! I think Artemis will have wield some of his fairy magic to bring bring out another book of him). I would give it a good 8/10. (I also missed the Encyclopaedia Galactica in the 'Guide'.)
Just remembered, I also read Matthew Reilly's latest book in the Jack West Jr. series: The Five Greatest Warriors. A very well written novel. Reading these novels, have again raised my interest in ancient history (hmm... note to self: history timeline). This is a very good ending to the trilogy. I would recommend action/adventure readers, Dan Brown fans to give this trilogy a try, you won't be disappointed.
OK, so spanning two days and two cities, ultimately this blog post is completed. A very merry Christmas to all the readers (the few who cares to visit this sparsely updated rantings) and I hope I am going to squeeze in a few more posts before 2010.

Stay/Play Safe

A Whole New (Blue) World...

Just saw the brand new cinematic sensation 'Avatar' at office expense. I watched the 3-D movie in a 2-D movie hall. After wearing two specks for 3 hours, I had a massive headache. But it was worth it.

This movie presents a whole new cinematic experience. Cameron has put the proverbial old wine in a bottle which is not of this world even. The story was clear from the trailers. 'A of B infiltrates C, but A falls in love with D of C and at last saves C from A'. But what the trailers couldn't capture or portray was the visual treat one is up for.
James Cameron has literally built a whole world from scratch. The flora and fauna are astounding. The details in which they were portrayed were amazing. The concept of Eywa was incredible. So to cut this short (mostly because I am unable to find any more positive adjectives) this is a must watch in 3-D movie halls. Piraters don't wait for the DVD/BD rip of this. This experience can only truly be comprehended in a theater hall (I myself am planning to try this again in 3-D imax).
To conclude, I would give this a solid 9/10 just for the cinematic experience of a lifetime.

The Double J Trip

This Diwali, we had an extended weekend, thanks to a Friday holiday. So a trip down the memory lane was planned, literally. We were going to visit the 'Sonar Kella' (fort made of gold) in Jaishalmer, made famous by Satyajit Ray's mystery-thriller of the same name.
We started off for Jodhpur via train on Thursday afternoon and reached Jodhpur at Friday dawn. The whole day was spent visiting the sights viz. Mandore Bag, Mehrangarh Fort, City Palace. One of our auto ride was a pure antique. It had stopped many a times during the trip, and during our final return it died altogether [:P]. To give a quantitative value, they charged us 300 bucks per auto. We had booked our train tickets for Jaishalmer for early next day. But it was canceled, and another ticket for that night was bought. Again, this night was spent in train. Meanwhile, I had a sort of food poisoning [:D].
We reached Jaishalmer early next day, and had booking at 'Golden Palace' (with swimming pool) [:P]. We were given two rooms for rest, and had a desert safari later that day (FYI we were a total of six in the group). Earlier we had booked a basic desert safari comprising of a drive to a point, then 2 hours camel ride, then night out at tent in Sam sand dune with function by locals. But this was scrapped, we booked the Mughal Desert Safari. We left the hotel and drove to some sight-seeing points near Jaishalmer (of little worth). Then we were left at the border of the desert, and had our 'Garib Lunch' (literal translation: poorman's lunch), consisting thick breads and mixed vegetables. Then started our 4 hours camel ride. After that, it was very difficult of us to walk upright. Our night was spent in a makeshift tent in the pitch black darkness (it was new moon). There was a show by the locals and we ended our day by playing '29' in the light of a lantern.
We woke up early next day, watched the sunrise, had a meager breakfast and started our return, again on camels. Again after about 3 hours ride, we were picked up by a car and went on some further sight-seeing. In my personal opinion (which no one can stop me from writing, as this is my blog; of course Google can block it), I didn't feel it was worth the hardship. I'd have favoured a nice comfortable night out at Sam sand dune, whose pictures were not quite bad themselves. The whole endeavour, from the dawn the previous day, to our leaving the hotel that afternoon, set us back 3.5 k bucks each. We took the train back and reached Delhi the next day at noon. Also before leaving, we had a brief trip to the famous 'Sonar Kella'.

Yesterday, I also attended my first North Indian marriage. It was of the sister of one of my colleagues. I was dumbstruck by the amount of snacks available there. Each and every kind of snacks and desserts were there for the taking, and different kinds of soft drinks. There was also a dance floor and a kiddy play-area. The 'baraat' came atabout 10.30 pm and we left at 10:45 [:D].

The reader may be thinking, why are there two posts on two consecutive days. This is because, I wanted to clear my backlogs before the big (for me at least) M-Day this Sunday. I am going to run the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon.

The DP Days (2009)

Our office had a shutdown from Saturday (26th Sep, Oshtomi) to Sunday (4th Oct). I had booked my train tickets for Friday (25th Sep, Shoptomi) evening, reaching Kolkata on Saturday late morning. Giving me roughly two and a half days for Durga Puja. But as the days progressed, I became restless and started to realize my mistake. As a result, I took 3 extra days' leave and started for Kolkata on Tuesday (22nd Sep, Choturthi) evening via flight [:p].
So, you can imagine how crazy I am for Kolkata Durga Puja. It was not so even a few years back. But after leaving Kolkata, it has grown on me. Their is a Bengali proverb: 'Dant thakte lokera danter mormo bojhe na' (Rough English translation: People do not realize the value of their teeth while they are still there).
So, there I was at Kolkata on Tuesday night, with the core of the Puja still two days (or you can say one and a half days) away. I had not made any plans with my friends for the Puja Pandal Hopping, as a result the whole of the next day was spent calling up friends in Kolkata bearing little fruit. One of my omni-present college mate came to my rescue, and it was decided our rendezvous will be Shoshti evening near our college.
SHOSHTHI (24th Sep)
Started off early, to negate the Puja traffic. While in the Metro, the feel of Puja began. The lashshomoyee lasses in their brand new garbs, the immovable crowd in the Metro coupe: all adding to the Puja atmosphere. While on my way, a call came from my old school friends. And that's how our group increased from a strength of 2 to 7 [:D]. That day, we covered the whole of South Kolkata and ended with dinner at Hatari. Also during our sojourn, it was decided that we will cover South-West Kolkata, the next day at dawn (Another proof of my Puja crazyness, I was prepared to wake up early).
SHOPTOMI (25th Sep)
As usual, we did not started at 4 o'clock in the morning as planned, rather at they picked me up at 5 o'clock. This trip was an unique one for me. This was the first time I was going Pandal hopping at that hour. In spite of the time of the day, there was moderate crowd at every famous Pandal we visited. This is the stamina of Kolkata-ns during the Pujas. The whole area was covered in two hours (which if we went in the afternoon would have taken a good 6 hours and at night about 10 hours). The rest of the day, I slept [:D].
OSHTOMI (26th Sep)
Now it was time for North Kolkata. I have going on this trip, with the same set of friends for the last 5 years. This day there were even more old school friends in the group. So, as the reader would already have assumed, this was great as well. Trudging through the entire North Calcutta, including parts of Eastern as well, cracking jokes, bantering each other: oh the fond memories!
NOBOMI N DOSHOMI (27th and 28th Sep)
I rested at home. The ordeal of the last 3 days was showing its result. After all, I am not as young as I once was.
Also, I hadn't mentioned about the urban bird-watching during these days. I hope that's implied [;)].