So here it is, a detailed account of my wonderful excursion.
On the 18th of october 2012, we boarded the AP Express going to Delhi. It was early morning around 5:30 and we all were in our school uniform. Our much caring and considerate principal had reached the railway station too. I was carrying the same big blue bag. After the usual- bye, take care, call us every night and don't skip your meals routine with my parents, I was ready to travel once again with my friends.
Thanks to the constant girl-boy things happening in our school, this time we were allotted separate coaches. Sangeeta maám was our group incharge. She was totally awesome throughout the trip. So after tucking our suitcases below the seats Anika opened a bagful of homemade muffins. They were really tasty! Then we changed to our travel clothes and got rid of the school uniform at last. The guys had also joined us after sometime and we started playing dumb charades. (The Shawshank Redemption and Apocalypto are two movies you should certainly give to your opponents when playing this game).
By the time it was 11 in the afternoon, all of us were sweating like pigs. It was so stuffy and hot inside the train and the wind was doing nothing more than blowing dust onto our faces. So people started buying coke bottles (not for the coke but for the fact that the bottles were icy). I would hug the bottles and somehow try to cool myself.
Later in the evening after we all took a short nap, Sangeeta maám joined us and after we requested her a lot she started telling us ghost stories from her childhood. I have never believed in anything paranormal and it was really hard for me to digest her stories. But then it was good entertainment for quite some time. So while listening to he stories, all of a sudden Lorry gets a message from I forgot who, telling that Gnana had a crush on Jhiri. On hearing that all of us girls started laughing our heads off. Maám got quite curious as to what was happening and atlast we had to tell her about it (I am so sorry Gnana and Jhiri).
Then at Nagpur railway station, maám bought the famous Nagpur oranges and she offered them to us all. There at that station a gang of Pathani boys somewhere between the ages of 18- 20 also got up into our coach. They didn't have reservations and sat near the washrooms all the way till Delhi. Kashmiri people are so striking. They have those long pointy noses, snow white skin and tall builts!
The rest of the day was spent gossiping, sleeping and listening to songs. At night, I and Sambodhi went to the next compartment and slept on the middle berths.
The next morning we woke up early to the annoying call of the chaiwalas screaming "choi choi" in their unusually irritating voices. Nobody drinks chai coffee at 4 in the morning for God's sake! I don't know how but Anika and I end up discussing about test tube babies, the first thing in the morning and to my greatest amusement, later that day I see a huge testtube baby centre!
So it was around 6 in the morning and we all were busy counting the number of people who were pooping on the railway tracks when all of a sudden I see huge words written in hindi all over the walls. The other girls had all read it in their minds and had decided to shut up but I ended up blurting out the words- डॉ ____ सेक्स ____. Omg! I felt so stupid after this and decided to shut up for sometime. Later I find out that these walls are quite famous and almost anybody who has visited Delhi by train has read them.
We reach the New Delhi station at last. We are whisked off to our Hotel Anand in Karol Bagh in three buses. We had decided beforehand as to who would use the washroom when. We were given 45 mins and in that teeny weeny 45 mins, 4 of us had to take bath, dressup and repack. Yeah we were successful in getting ready within the allotted time. Then we went to the Parliament house. It was really cool to go inside that huge colonial piece of architecture. The only bad part- no cameras were allowed. Thanks to Tanmayee's uncle we got this wonderful opportunity to go sit inside the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
It was almost 4 pm by the time we came out and then we were taken to AP Bhavan. Although the place didn't look too good the food was out of the world. We were given various telugu food items in those segmented steel plates. I still don't know if it was the food or our hunger which made us take second helpings. Then we headed off to India Gate. There we took lots of photos. The guys bought the red lighted horns and went about flashing them all over the place. India gate was also where some roadside gavaars tried to take photos of Anika and Kruthi when they were posing and then Sangeeta ma'am had to go and check their phones.
Now comes the best part of every excursion- the railway station chaos. If you remember I had mentioned something about the railway station escapade in our previous excursion in my old post. So something happened yet again. Our train was to come in platform number 6 or 7. The buses took us to the last platform of the station. From their amidst lots of garbage, beggars, eve teasers and many many stairs we were made to go to the first platform. Couldn't they have simply dropped us off in the first platform instead of making us walk all the way till there? Then we were denied food in McD which we were ready to pay for and were taken to Comesum (an eatery outside the station). They told us to leave all our bags and belongings in the middle of the road and the guys were made to look after them. The teachers were screaming at every other student they could set their eyes on. We ate in batches and two were made to share one plate. Then they guys went inside and it was our turn to keep guard over the luggage. We all looked like gypsies. Most of us had started putting newspapers on the pavements and were sitting there. Then after everyone was done with dinner we went back inside the station and climbed more stairs and reached platform no. 6 and waited patiently for the Ranikhet Express to come.
More to come
keep reading :)
Nice! Where's the rest of it??!
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