Our 1st trip home

Got up at the crack of dawn or maybe even before that. Going home has an excitement all by itself. Had packed up late into last night, but there were still a few things to stuff into our respective strolleys. Achieved this with some difficulty & we were off .... dragging our strolleys to the bus stop at 6 in the morning.

Caught the Vayu Vajra as planned with our usual choice of seats, Shanu clearly stumped by the huge luggage racks on the Volvo. Hero Honda's adverts hyping up the Commonwealth Games baton relay were all over FM but Shanu was more taken up with the Nokia E63 being operated by the guy seated in front of us.

Reached the airport well in time & got my choice of seats, but no window for me this time cause Shanu was all keyed up for her 1st flight. Minor confusion at the security check & I was concerned about how Shanu would fare, but she got through coolly enough. Spent some time browsing through BIAL's retail section .... the only thing impressive, apart from the jacked up prices, was the smell wafting out from the CookieMan store.

For a change SG529 was dot on time .... & we were taken by surprise. Takeoff was smooth & Shanu was all agog about how fast the Boeing had risen after takeoff. Come to think of it, I was too! The usual ear-popping & nausea accompanied the landing at Kolkata.

Petrol prices had been raised 2 days ago & the Kolkatan taxi unions were doing what they do best ... striking. Had to shell out a hefty 600 bucks to get us to the train station .... would have cost me ~200 normally. This is the 2nd time I've been ripped off in Kolkata because of a strike/agitation. Bloody communists .... they have caused irreparable damage to this city & it's work culture over the course of their uninterrupted reign during the last >30 years. It's evident the moment you step off the plane & into the humid air of NSC Bose 'International'. From the terminal building to the state of the taxis to the litter on the streets to the dilapitated state of the buildings .... it screams of the prevailing lackadaisical attitude & babu culture prevalent in this city. What a comedown it is from spiffy Bangalore!

As is evident from my rant above, my attitude towards the East is undergoing massive flux. Anyway, was foresighted enough to have booked tix on 2 trains out of Howrah ... one can't take chances when there's a lady accompanying you. The railways have stopped running trains on the KGP-TATA stretch at night ever since the Maoists derailed the Jnaneshwari a few days back. The administration chooses to play safe instead of crushing challenges to state authority with an iron hand .... frustrating stuff!

Was thankful once the HWH-RNC intercity moved out of the station leaving behind the mass of humanity on the platforms .... things were really starting to bug me now. But the journey brought some relief. For starters, the driver kept up a fantastic pace as we zoomed past CCU's burbs. World Cup fever was in the air & one could see huge Argentinian & Brazilian (no others) flags hung vertically from the tallest buildings in several villages flashing past.

Reached KGP on time. The train was maintaining an impressive pace. Half an hour later, near the WB-JH border, the train slowed down to a crawl & blew a long blast from the horns. Looking out the right side of the compartment, one could see that we were passing the site of the Jnaneshwari wreck. There were 2 smashed locos by the side of the track with clothes strewn around near the drivers's cabin of the one in front. The locos were probably pulling the goods train that had smashed into the derailed Jnaneshwari, several of whose mangled passenger coaches were visible. Not a pleasant sight.

Reached JSR without further ado. Jolly had arrived 2 days back & was at the station. It was good to see them .... I think it's the 1st time I've come home in the middle of the year just for the heck of it. Should be doing this more often.

Next day was Sunday, & all of us trooped off to the church. Beldih seems so quaint in comparison to Bethel A.G. And Cyril Peters' sermon had the small town charm of it's own. The message of increasing women's empowerment in today's society & the consequent breakdown in the social & familial structure struck a chord inside me somewhere, even though we've all been conditioned to think that it's the best thing that could have happened for women since ages. Went off to the graveyard to visit Mom's grave .... it all seems so strange now, the spot is not even recognizable from the time the burial took place.

Next up was a visit to our favorite dosa vendor behind the ol' school. But he wasn't there. Dad says he's shut shop & gone off somewhere since long. With Swami's son having packed up & left for TN after his father's demise & Jaichand appearing to have thrown in the towel, the only vestige of the great Northern Town dosa is the stuff served up by Chhotu, Jaichand's erstwhile helper, who runs his own thela now. Dad says it isn't half as good. If Jaichand doesn't return soon, it would mean the end of a favorite childhood snack for hundreds, if not thousands of peaople. Sad. It was off to Anand next, but I never liked the dosas there.

Monday was spent playing with Chhotu who's lost almost all vision, thanks to cataract. Vini & Papa came over for dinner. Went off to B.S. City on Tuesday & returned on Wednesday with Shanu following on Thursday. It's a smaller city than I had imagined & pretty sleepy, especially with the electricity remainig on the blink for a majority of the time I was there.

Come Friday, it was time to board the TATA-YPR. Got space opposite an elderly Bengali couple who turned out to be pretty interesting timepass. The Uncle somehow brought up the topic of women's lib & had remarkably similar views to last Sunday's church sermon! I somehow don't recollect too much from this journey.

Reached BLR Sunday morning. Got off at K. R. Puram in the hope of saving on auto fare, but got ripped off nonetheless. It had been a nice trip home.