The Road to Chennai!!
---This was originally written on Sulekha.
Office is Boring. Surprise, Surprise NO ISSUES. Things are going smoothly. No project manager to breathe down my neck. I have time to kill. Well what do I do? Click on Internet Explorer. Sulekha is my homepage. Click on Weblogs....Scan Scan..Nothing looks very happening. Hey there, a weblog titled "Chandigarh". Aha the City Beautiful. Three full years of my life.Wonderful times. But the blog is too short to help me kill my time. Now what? Think think..Hey let me blog about the cities i have lived in. So hey which city, lemme pick up. hmmm how about Hyderbad. Well it will be too long. (Guys I just love Hyderabad!!). How about Chennai. But where do i start.As PGW says Start from the start. So folks here it is.
Year: August 1992
Place: Udhampur Air Force Station (This scenic beautiful town lies on the Jammu- Srinagar Highway.)
Dad's just got the news that he has been transferred to Chennai. Udhampur - to - Chennai seems like a long way. But we have been brought up in true tradition of the defense forces. So we are always ready to move out of any city after three years. Postings meant a lot of packing and a lot of parties (Read good food!!) and good fun. The plan is deceptively simple. Udhampur - Jammu: Officers Coach (No Trains in Udhampur). Jammu-Delhi - Some Train. Delhi-Chennai: TN Express. Hmmmm Nothing much for a family that is the veteran of some half a dozen postings. Well now for some complications- we have thirteen luggage items including some half a dozen Big Army (Shud i say AF) black truncks.Well we normally do not carry so much stuff but we had a combined truck with some other uncle and our truck was scheduled to start after us. So our luggage included an entire mini kitchen and all our school paranphelia (Posting in the middle of School Term). So an entire series of farewell parties and speeches and gifts later we are on the way to Jammu.
The Coach stops. There is a long long line of vehicles in front of us. There has been a Landslide on the udhampur- Jammu highway. A landslide. Wow, we have been here for three and a half years and we never heard of a landslide on this route. Hours pass. The traffic does not. The landlside is being cleared by the Army. Mom starts getting tensed up. At last the traffic starts moving. It is a race against time. We reach the Jammu Railway station just in time. Well did i say Just in time.Yes the train just starts moving as we reach the platform.
What followed next was a true filmi chase. Dad runs outside the Station to the Taxi stand and says"Hamko yeh train pakadna hai" (We have to catch ABC Train). So in we go and our thirteen luggage pieces. The taxi driver quotes an unreasonable fare. Dad agrees. Our taxi driver drives like crazy. We are out of Jammu. Hey we can see the train. Hey we are parallel to it and racing with it. Me and my sisters go crazy. It is exciting. It is just like the movies we have seen. Mom and Dad are tensed. Finally we catch up with the train at a small town station near Pathankot. Our taxi screeches into the station. It is a five minute stop. We run carrying whatever we can. The driver and the Station coolie help with the luggage. At last we are all in. Count count. Mom says hey it is only twelve. The taxi driver goes back and gets the big black bag. Tired we sleep. Reach delhi the next morning. The train is in the evening. We wait in the waiting room.Ha Ha (I hate Waiting Rooms).
There is more to come. There has been a train derailment. TN express has been cancelled.Dad tries to do something. There is this train called Janata express going to chennai. Dad gets the tickets in that. We go to the platform to board the train. The AC coach has been cancelled. There is no pantry. The train stops at every station and sometimes it just stops without any station in sight. But surprisingly the journey is not that bad. I do not remember anything unpleasant about the journey. Mom says that the Journey was tough. It was very hot and very humid. We were in the second class. There was no pantry car in the train. And the Journey was painstakingly slow. But I just remember the excitement. Excitement of going to a new place, meeting new people and of course the exciting train chase was still fresh in our minds. As we grow, do we lose the capability to take life as it comes and to live truly in that moment.
Nothing exciting happened in the Train (Thank God for small mercies). We Reached Chennai Central 24 hours late. Obviously no one to pick us up. Another hour long Taxi drive to Tambaram AF Station.
So what was the first thing that hit me when i reached Chennai. Well the smell of fish when you reach Chennai Central. :-) A long and hard journey later we were in Tamabaram. How will it all turn out to be..
Office is Boring. Surprise, Surprise NO ISSUES. Things are going smoothly. No project manager to breathe down my neck. I have time to kill. Well what do I do? Click on Internet Explorer. Sulekha is my homepage. Click on Weblogs....Scan Scan..Nothing looks very happening. Hey there, a weblog titled "Chandigarh". Aha the City Beautiful. Three full years of my life.Wonderful times. But the blog is too short to help me kill my time. Now what? Think think..Hey let me blog about the cities i have lived in. So hey which city, lemme pick up. hmmm how about Hyderbad. Well it will be too long. (Guys I just love Hyderabad!!). How about Chennai. But where do i start.As PGW says Start from the start. So folks here it is.
Year: August 1992
Place: Udhampur Air Force Station (This scenic beautiful town lies on the Jammu- Srinagar Highway.)
Dad's just got the news that he has been transferred to Chennai. Udhampur - to - Chennai seems like a long way. But we have been brought up in true tradition of the defense forces. So we are always ready to move out of any city after three years. Postings meant a lot of packing and a lot of parties (Read good food!!) and good fun. The plan is deceptively simple. Udhampur - Jammu: Officers Coach (No Trains in Udhampur). Jammu-Delhi - Some Train. Delhi-Chennai: TN Express. Hmmmm Nothing much for a family that is the veteran of some half a dozen postings. Well now for some complications- we have thirteen luggage items including some half a dozen Big Army (Shud i say AF) black truncks.Well we normally do not carry so much stuff but we had a combined truck with some other uncle and our truck was scheduled to start after us. So our luggage included an entire mini kitchen and all our school paranphelia (Posting in the middle of School Term). So an entire series of farewell parties and speeches and gifts later we are on the way to Jammu.
The Coach stops. There is a long long line of vehicles in front of us. There has been a Landslide on the udhampur- Jammu highway. A landslide. Wow, we have been here for three and a half years and we never heard of a landslide on this route. Hours pass. The traffic does not. The landlside is being cleared by the Army. Mom starts getting tensed up. At last the traffic starts moving. It is a race against time. We reach the Jammu Railway station just in time. Well did i say Just in time.Yes the train just starts moving as we reach the platform.
What followed next was a true filmi chase. Dad runs outside the Station to the Taxi stand and says"Hamko yeh train pakadna hai" (We have to catch ABC Train). So in we go and our thirteen luggage pieces. The taxi driver quotes an unreasonable fare. Dad agrees. Our taxi driver drives like crazy. We are out of Jammu. Hey we can see the train. Hey we are parallel to it and racing with it. Me and my sisters go crazy. It is exciting. It is just like the movies we have seen. Mom and Dad are tensed. Finally we catch up with the train at a small town station near Pathankot. Our taxi screeches into the station. It is a five minute stop. We run carrying whatever we can. The driver and the Station coolie help with the luggage. At last we are all in. Count count. Mom says hey it is only twelve. The taxi driver goes back and gets the big black bag. Tired we sleep. Reach delhi the next morning. The train is in the evening. We wait in the waiting room.Ha Ha (I hate Waiting Rooms).
There is more to come. There has been a train derailment. TN express has been cancelled.Dad tries to do something. There is this train called Janata express going to chennai. Dad gets the tickets in that. We go to the platform to board the train. The AC coach has been cancelled. There is no pantry. The train stops at every station and sometimes it just stops without any station in sight. But surprisingly the journey is not that bad. I do not remember anything unpleasant about the journey. Mom says that the Journey was tough. It was very hot and very humid. We were in the second class. There was no pantry car in the train. And the Journey was painstakingly slow. But I just remember the excitement. Excitement of going to a new place, meeting new people and of course the exciting train chase was still fresh in our minds. As we grow, do we lose the capability to take life as it comes and to live truly in that moment.
Nothing exciting happened in the Train (Thank God for small mercies). We Reached Chennai Central 24 hours late. Obviously no one to pick us up. Another hour long Taxi drive to Tambaram AF Station.
So what was the first thing that hit me when i reached Chennai. Well the smell of fish when you reach Chennai Central. :-) A long and hard journey later we were in Tamabaram. How will it all turn out to be..
posted by Silent Melody | 2:38 AM
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