So, I left off at the point where we had just arrived at the station close to midnight. By the time we reached our wait-listed tickets had been cancelled. At this point of time one of my aunts and I really wanted to board the train, as otherwise the jobs of 3 people and the business of another 2 would suffer. As for me, I just wanted to be back by Monday evening. But I also backed down when I realised that there was a slim chance of us getting tickets and I was equally happy to hire a cab in the morning. But maasi still went to talk to some official at the station who gave us tickets in a compartment and told us we'd get seats 2 hours later. Oh well! Somehow through the bickering and sullen faces(mostly by my cousin) all of us decided to wait for the train. There were still a few minutes till all hell was to break loose. And then the train arrived. One look at the compartment and there was a united claim of "I'm not getting into that, no matter what". Amidst talks of acting foolish we exited the station, only to wait for our cab for another half an hour. When we finally got back past 2 am, all we wanted was to eat and sleep.
We had my kind of plans for the next day. Sight-seeing, walking around the city kind of stuff. At the same time my excitement was dulled when I heard we'd board a train from Lucknow the next day, thus making it impossible for me to reach back by the time I wanted to. I got mad because it seemed shopping had become more important than anything I wanted to do. And since I lack the self-control to hide my anger, everyone knew I was pissed.
Our day started off with a visit to Sarnath, a place of religious importance for Jains and Buddhists located a little over 12 kilometers from the city. The first place we visited was a temple that was built by and is currently managed by Tibetan monks. This was followed by a visit to the Mulagandhakuti Buddhist shrine and the Chaukhandi Stupa. With the evening came plans of witnessing the famous aarti that takes place everyday at the Dashaswamedh Ghat. We reached with enough time to spare for a boat trip to most of the other ghats. Well-lit, dark, bustling, deserted-there are all sorts of the ghats along the banks of river Ganga. Our boatman was a friendly fellow who kept telling us small history tidbits. While I would have hated to miss out on it, I can't honestly say that the religious ritual which attracts hundreds to the river bank everyday was my favourite part of the trip. We called it a day pretty early as we had to take a cab to Lucknow the next morning.
When our sullen cab driver arrived almost an hour late in the morning he turned up without a luggage carrier. This meant that the 5 hour journey wasn't going to be very comfortable. We had no choice then except to make do with what we had. The journey was slow, time wasn't on our side and neither was our sleepy driver. By the time we got to Lucknow we would have reached the train station half an hour before schedule, which to me made a lot more sense than visiting that one very important shop that my aunts had visited some time back. But not to one person in our group. And somehow we braved the city's traffic, visited the shop and would have made it to the platform 10 minutes before the train had to depart. But things never happen that easily, do they?
A newly built part of the Lucknow station has 6 platforms a little way away from the main station. We were blissfully unaware of this fact. So while I was running towards the platforms I saw my mum rushing towards me to inform us that we were at the wrong station. At this point we had about 7 minutes to board the train. My cousin found a coolie who found a hand-cart to load our luggage. It was a situation of complete pandemonium. Bollywood comedy movie kind of pandemonium. She was rushing behind the coolie. Her mom was running behind them. My mum and two aunts were driven in the cab to the other station. I ran past them all after receiving instructions to pull the chain, if I board the train. Yes, we knew it's a crime. No, we didn't care. I couldn't see our train for a few moments and I thought we'd missed it. Then I saw it was at the last platform. It seemed like we might just make it. I ran like never before, thankfully found the ticket checker and started blabbering about how my mum is at the other end of the platform and she has a knee problem(both of which were true) so could he please make sure that the train would leave just a minute late? He seemed unsure so I got into the train looking to pull the chain. And then I realised there wasn't one. I ran out to find the others, went past my maasi who was bewildered by seeing me run in the opposite direction and then I ran back with mum. All of us entered different compartments and just as all our luggage was dragged on and the coolie jumped off(God bless that man) the train began moving.
Finally we settled down and by the time we deboarded at the New Delhi station we knew one thing. Despite the ups and downs there wasn't a single incident that we would want to change about our trip. Except maybe the next time I visit the city, I might not have the guts to go saree-shopping.
We had my kind of plans for the next day. Sight-seeing, walking around the city kind of stuff. At the same time my excitement was dulled when I heard we'd board a train from Lucknow the next day, thus making it impossible for me to reach back by the time I wanted to. I got mad because it seemed shopping had become more important than anything I wanted to do. And since I lack the self-control to hide my anger, everyone knew I was pissed.
Our day started off with a visit to Sarnath, a place of religious importance for Jains and Buddhists located a little over 12 kilometers from the city. The first place we visited was a temple that was built by and is currently managed by Tibetan monks. This was followed by a visit to the Mulagandhakuti Buddhist shrine and the Chaukhandi Stupa. With the evening came plans of witnessing the famous aarti that takes place everyday at the Dashaswamedh Ghat. We reached with enough time to spare for a boat trip to most of the other ghats. Well-lit, dark, bustling, deserted-there are all sorts of the ghats along the banks of river Ganga. Our boatman was a friendly fellow who kept telling us small history tidbits. While I would have hated to miss out on it, I can't honestly say that the religious ritual which attracts hundreds to the river bank everyday was my favourite part of the trip. We called it a day pretty early as we had to take a cab to Lucknow the next morning.
When our sullen cab driver arrived almost an hour late in the morning he turned up without a luggage carrier. This meant that the 5 hour journey wasn't going to be very comfortable. We had no choice then except to make do with what we had. The journey was slow, time wasn't on our side and neither was our sleepy driver. By the time we got to Lucknow we would have reached the train station half an hour before schedule, which to me made a lot more sense than visiting that one very important shop that my aunts had visited some time back. But not to one person in our group. And somehow we braved the city's traffic, visited the shop and would have made it to the platform 10 minutes before the train had to depart. But things never happen that easily, do they?
A newly built part of the Lucknow station has 6 platforms a little way away from the main station. We were blissfully unaware of this fact. So while I was running towards the platforms I saw my mum rushing towards me to inform us that we were at the wrong station. At this point we had about 7 minutes to board the train. My cousin found a coolie who found a hand-cart to load our luggage. It was a situation of complete pandemonium. Bollywood comedy movie kind of pandemonium. She was rushing behind the coolie. Her mom was running behind them. My mum and two aunts were driven in the cab to the other station. I ran past them all after receiving instructions to pull the chain, if I board the train. Yes, we knew it's a crime. No, we didn't care. I couldn't see our train for a few moments and I thought we'd missed it. Then I saw it was at the last platform. It seemed like we might just make it. I ran like never before, thankfully found the ticket checker and started blabbering about how my mum is at the other end of the platform and she has a knee problem(both of which were true) so could he please make sure that the train would leave just a minute late? He seemed unsure so I got into the train looking to pull the chain. And then I realised there wasn't one. I ran out to find the others, went past my maasi who was bewildered by seeing me run in the opposite direction and then I ran back with mum. All of us entered different compartments and just as all our luggage was dragged on and the coolie jumped off(God bless that man) the train began moving.
Finally we settled down and by the time we deboarded at the New Delhi station we knew one thing. Despite the ups and downs there wasn't a single incident that we would want to change about our trip. Except maybe the next time I visit the city, I might not have the guts to go saree-shopping.
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