We left the homestay at 6 am. Our flight was with Air India
and was scheduled to be at 8:10 am. I didn’t get a window seat in the flight. I
would have loved to have one as the views of the Himalayan mountains from the
flight are stunning. Bru got a window seat and managed to get some cool snaps
of the glaciers. So one again, a good bye to my favourite region in India. Till
next time!!!
Monday 16 February 2015
Day 14: Leh Kalachakra
Today is the 3rd day of Kalachakra. The first 3
days has only prayers and the Kalachakra teachings starts only from the 4th
day. Since we will be leaving Leh tomorrow it’s my only chance to visit
Kalachakra and see the Holiness. Still I was not all sure whether H.H will be
present for the prayers. Even if he is present it is still not known if it is
possible to see him live at all.
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The prayers were scheduled to start at 7 am. By the time I came out of the homestay after breakfast it was already 9:30 am. I was not sure how to reach the venue. The venue is around 8 km from Leh. The homestay owner told me that there are share taxis from Leh gate. Only thing is that I didn’t know where Leh gate is. I thought it should be somewhere near to the main gate. A strange thing then happened in between. I dreamed of someone showing me the route to Leh gate from the main square. In the morning, after breakfast, one of the guests at the homestay showed me the route to the Leh gate. It was the same route as I dreamed!!
Though I didn’t understand a word of the prayers, which I
guess was in Tibetan language, I felt relaxed and happy to sit there and listen
to it. It was more or less like I was in trance. A bit exaggerated, of course!
Overall I felt really happy to be there. Some of the foreigners were lying and
sleeping during prayers. Though some volunteers informed them no to do so, some
of them didn’t care. I didn’t like it. To the Tibetans H.H is equivalent to
God. And to be in his presence is like a lifelong dream for most of them. By
lying and sleeping in such a religious function is in my opinion lack of
respect. If they are feeling tired then they should rather go back to their
hotel and sleep. By showing disrespect to the religious function they are
misusing the special privileges they are given as a foreigner.
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The prayers were scheduled to start at 7 am. By the time I came out of the homestay after breakfast it was already 9:30 am. I was not sure how to reach the venue. The venue is around 8 km from Leh. The homestay owner told me that there are share taxis from Leh gate. Only thing is that I didn’t know where Leh gate is. I thought it should be somewhere near to the main gate. A strange thing then happened in between. I dreamed of someone showing me the route to Leh gate from the main square. In the morning, after breakfast, one of the guests at the homestay showed me the route to the Leh gate. It was the same route as I dreamed!!
By the time I reached the venue it was around 11.15 am. The
prayers were going on, with H.H in charge of the ceremony. He was sitting on
the stage with other monks inside a glass panelled room. The guest could see
him only through the big screens put outside the glass rooms. Since I was an
Indian I could sit only with other pilgrims far away from the stage. The seats
are arranged in such a way with foreigners and VIP on side of the stage. Monks
& nuns in the front and then the general public at the back.
I was a bit sad that I couldn’t see H.H live. When I chatted
with one of the volunteers, they suggested that I try to be on the side of the
venue at the end of the prayers. H.H will be leaving through that way by car
after the prayers and then I could catch a glimpse of him then. I decided to
try my luck. I walked along the sides of the venue. As I was dressed more like
the western tourists with my SLR camera hanging on my neck most of the
volunteers mistook me for a NRI. So nobody stopped me and I ended up in the
foreigners section. I sat there till the end of the prayers.
At the end of the forenoon prayers I walked back to the edge
of the venue. H.H passed by on his car on his way to his residence for lunch.
It was a strange feeling to see him live again. I was taking snaps and at the
same time not at all aware of what I was doing. I felt happy and glad that I came
here.
In the afternoon after lunch I came back and sat on the same
place. But this time one of the volunteers got curious and checked my pass. He
requested me to go back to the public section as I am not allowed to be in the
foreigner section. I went and sat in the section he suggested. Then one of the
women police officers told that this section is only for nuns and I should
rather sit in the section infront of it, which was actually for the foreigners.
I showed her my pass and told that I am an Indian. She said its ok and I can go
and sit in the foreigner section! Again by some crude luck I ended up in the
foreigner section for the afternoon prayers.
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After the prayers I again ran to the edge of the venue to
catch a glimpse of the H.H. Again it was a sweet strange feeling of happiness
as he passed by on his car. I was really happy that I got a chance to see him
again.
In the evening Bru & I walked around in Le hot do one
last shopping. For me it is to scan around the hundreds of beautiful
handicrafts in the Tibetan markets. Bru went for the Chilling to Sangam rafting
(approx. 3 hrs) during the day. I also wanted to do that. But for me more
important was to visit the H.H. Also I have already overspent the budget for
this vacation. We had a small dinner in one of the corners of the Leh town. Our
last dinner at Leh!!
Day 13: Sumdah Do – Alchi - Leh
Today is an easy day. As we had cancelled our hike to the 2nd pass we were more or less free today. Sid came to pick us up at 9.15 am. We then drove to the Alchi monastery. Ringchen got down on the way to go back to his village.
Alchi is one of the oldest monasteries in Ladakh. The
monastery was crowded with monks and nuns due to the Kalachakra. It has 2-3
temples with different deities of Buddhism – Manjushri, Buddha, Avalokiteshvara
etc. None of the temples were renovated since it was built in the 2nd
century A.D. So the paintings on the walls were almost dark coloured. Still you
get the feeling of somewhere in the old times when we stand inside the temples.
Afterwards we moved to Leh. Deep got down at the entrance to Leh. And Sid
dropped us at Gangba. It was nice to be back to something familiar again.
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After finishing the drink we went ot have dinner at a roof
top restaurant in the main square. While waiting for the food I felt some
uneasiness in the stomach. Midway between the dinner I told Bru that I would
like to go back as my stomach is feeling uneasy. We decided to go back to the
homestay. When we reached the homestay both of us had problems with loose
motion. I think the culprit could be the first restaurant where we had our
drinks. I doubt the glass was not clean. Luckily the problem was not severe.
Day 12: Sumdah Chenmo – Sumdah Do
As we decided not to climb the passes today we started our trek late. After breakfast we left the village around 9.30 am. Our destination for today is the village of Sumdah Do which should take around 5 hrs. Deep said that it’s a continuous descend to the village and we will have to cross the river on foot sometimes. But the rains yesterday night made our trek not so easy. The water level was more than usual and that too faster flow than expected. The walk was not so tiresome, but it was a long one. We had to cross the river many times on foot as the path did not exist on the side we were walking. To cross te river we had to take off our shoes and then cross holding each other’s hands as the water was flowing at very high speeds. The depth was also above knee level and at times it went up to the hip level. The freezing waters made the crossings difficult. But overall it was fun as we never really in a dangerous situation other than getting wet.
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Like yesterday we had to climb up and down the river banks
many times as the routes were not existing. Finally we reached a small wooden
bridge where the route parted into two. One goes to Alchi via Stakpsi La, which
was our initial plan. The second one goes to a tarred road towards the village
of Sumdah Do. We had our lunch there and walked along the road to Sumdah Do. It
was really a boring walk as walking along the road is not interesting.
We reached the village around 3.30 pm. Again a small village
with 8 houses. The homestay was in a beautiful house with very large rooms. The
hosts were really nice. They prepared tea and snacks for the evening and a pure
Ladakhi dinner. AS with every homestay the
home made food where the highlights of our trek.
Day 11: Hinju – Sumdah Chenmo
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In our case the Hinju villages is at an altitude of 3800 m.
That means that we have to climb ~ 1200 m today. We started our trek at 6:40 am
and by the time we reached the village of Sumdo Chenmo it was around 5.30 pm in
the evening. For me it was a terribly exhausting day. We reached the base at
around 8-9 am. It was a slow climb from then onwards. The last 300 m climb was
the most gruelling. I was struggling to keep my breathing steady. I had to stop
every 15-20 m distance for about 2 minutes to normalise my breathing. The
others didn’t had any such problems though except Deep everyone else was
struggling. Bru and Ringchen moved ahead at a constant pace. Deep moved along
with me. Many time I really wondered whether I will make it to the top or not.
I am not sure whether I was struggling due to altitude sickness. I didn’t had
any symptoms of it other than the breathing problems. I think what affected me
the most was the fitness issues, especially at high altitudes, than due to
altitude sickness. It was a long and steep climb. Though the steepness may be
comparable with Kongmaru La @ 5300 m in Markha valley, what made it exhausting
is the zig-zag long distance climb.
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Finally we reached the village of Sumdah Chenmo at around
5:30 pm. The village had around 8 houses altogether. In the last village there
where 18 houses. So this one is a pretty small village in a valley. There is no
electricity in the village and the place we stayed was a small Ladakhi house.
We all stayed in a room. Small, but beautiful, in typical Ladakhi style. We
were all completely exhausted.
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The adventure didn’t stop there. At night we were all
sleeping in the small room in our homestay after dinner. Our dinner consisted
of soup, dal, vegetables and rice. It was raining outside in the night, which
is not usual in the Ladakhi region was it gets very less rain per year. After
sometime the roof started leaking near where I was sleeping. My sleeping bag
was getting partly wet and all pandemonium broke out. The owner of the house
came in and placed a vessel so that the water
doesn’t wet the carpet anymore. Still it took quite some time for him to
stop the leak from the roof. Finally it was time for the adventure to call it a
day and we all could go back to sleep.
Day 10: Wanla – Hinju
The place where we stayed was at an altitude of around 3,300 m. We walked around 13 km yesterday including the climb of the Prinkit La pass. Today there is no pass to conquer. Just walking and a slow climb to 3800 m. We started at around 8 am. The sun was already out in the full strength. It became really hot as the day progressed. It was a long walk in monotonous landscape. Almost all the time we walked along the dirt road connecting the villages. I found the walk really boring. And more over it was very tiring and exhausting. The road was so barren that we couldn’t find a single tree for shadow all along. We felt like walking in a desert under the hot sun. Altogether we walked around 15 km today. Finally we reached our homestay in Hinju village at 12:30 pm.
The village is very beautiful, surrounded by huge mountains
and mustard field in the valley. The stark contrast of the reddish barren
mountains and the yellow flowers of the mustard field was very beautiful. We
had our stay in a typical Ladakhi village house. The houses in the village took
turns to host the visitors so that all are equally benefitted from tourism. I
found this really wonderful.
Our host was a very old lady living alone. Most of the
village was empty as they have gone to Leh for the Kalachakra function. It was
a simple house with just one room and a kitchen. There were matts on the floor
where we sat and slept. In the evening Deep & Ringchen helped the lady in
preparing the diner. Altogether it was just the kind of homestay that I was
expecting when I decided for the homestay trek. The dinner was made of
vegetarian momo’s. Along with Deep & Ringchen even the neighbours came in
to prepare the momo’s. It was a nice dinner in a local Ladakhi home.
Day 9: Lamayuru – Wanla
Today is the first day of the trek. Hoping for the best.
Trekking in Ladakh is a different ball game. It’s a bit risky due to the low O2
levels at high altitude. Even if one is reasonably fit, how the body responds
to the high altitudes is a critical factor. So acclimatisation plays a very big
role here.
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The last 2 days of rest definitely helped us in the preparation. For me a 3 day rest before would have been ideal. The guys from Ladakh Calling – Sid and Deep – came to pick us up by 7:30 am. Then it’s a 3 hr ride to Lamayuru monastery along the Leh – Srinagar highway. AS before the landscape was stunning. At the beginning we were along the Indus river. After some time we reached the meeting point of Indus with Zanskar. The Indus was blue in colour and the Zanskar was muddy. So at the meeting of the 2 mighty rivers the river was multi-coloured. The two rivers after joining runs as the mighty Indus downstream.
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The last 2 days of rest definitely helped us in the preparation. For me a 3 day rest before would have been ideal. The guys from Ladakh Calling – Sid and Deep – came to pick us up by 7:30 am. Then it’s a 3 hr ride to Lamayuru monastery along the Leh – Srinagar highway. AS before the landscape was stunning. At the beginning we were along the Indus river. After some time we reached the meeting point of Indus with Zanskar. The Indus was blue in colour and the Zanskar was muddy. So at the meeting of the 2 mighty rivers the river was multi-coloured. The two rivers after joining runs as the mighty Indus downstream.
We reached the Lamayuru monastery at around 11:45 am. One of
the oldest monasteries in Ladakh, the legend says that the whole place was
under a lake before. The lake flowed away when the monk prayed for a place to
build the monastery. Whether there is any truth in the legend or not, the whole
place is surrounded by moon like landscape which is completely different from
the surrounding landscape. Again an unbelievable breathtaking landscape!
After visiting the monastery we started our Lamayuru - Alchi trek at around 12:30 pm. The clouds in
the sky helped in reducing the heat. On the way to Lamayuru we picked up our
porter. A young guy named Ringchen, who lives in a nearby village. He was also
going for the trek for the first time. Our bags weighed around 18 kg and I was
wondering whether he will finish the trek with this heavy luggage.
The trek was not so easy as expected as I was doing such a
long trek after about a year. I know it’s a cheap excuse as it’s all about
fitness and conditioning. The low O2 is another factor, or the most important
factor, and it made our going slow. We started at around 3500 m altitude at
Lamayuru, climbed down and then climbed up again. We climbed to the highest
pass for today at 3800 m – Prinkit La. It was not easy going I should admit. As
expected I was also the slowest. But somehow I managed it. With the first high
altitude pass conquered, from then on it was just descending. We stopped on a
small river bank for the lunch. The water was so crystal clear that we could
directly drink from it without any concern. Then we proceeded further to the
village Wanla. We stayed in a neighbouring village to Wanla.
We reached there around 4 pm. The homestay accommodation was
very luxurious than we expected. The whole house was really big, must be one of
the very well off families in the village. Our room was bath attached with a
heater for warm water!!! The village had electricity from 7 pm – 11 pm. The
family was very nice to us. It’s a small family with a baby and a grandfather.
We had a good rest in the evening. Though I have to admit it was not the kind
of accommodation that I was expecting from a Ladakhi village; this was a really
luxurious homestay.
Some info to the homestay treks. The homestays have their
own association in Ladakh. Each village has a list of houses that have agreed
to be the host for the tourists. It’s normally displayed at the entrance of the
village. And the owners take turns to play hosts to the tourists according to
the order in the list. In that way each house will get the chance to be the
host. In case of arranged trips like ours, we do not pay the homestay directly.
Our cash dealings are only with the tour agent. They pay our rents to the
association directly and they in turn will distribute to the villagers
directly. I found the system really nice as it definitely had an impact on the
lives of the villagers and also it gives all of them a chance.
Day 8: Leh
We do not have any plans today other than relaxing and last
minute shopping for the trek, which are mostly food items. We went to the town
again at around 11 am. After having our shopping for the trek and also
wandering through the Tibetan market for some handicrafts we had our lunch in a
silent corner. Then we went back to our room.
I decided to stay there the rest of the day. Bru went to see
the Leh Palace and the Nymgayal peak in the evening. I spend time packing the
bag for the trek and taking some photos. We had our lunch as usual and had a
chat with other tourists, majority of them Indians.
Last night there were a group of young Indian tourists in
the homestay. At the night they were singing loud till late. In the morning
when the boys from the homestay were cleaning I saw some alcohol bottles
outside the room. Obviously they were drinking and singing. I felt really
angry. I couldn’t understand how one could come to a homestay and drink and
sing, not at all bothered about the family who gave them the room or about the
other guests there. The new generation!!! Is this the culture and the manners
that our future generations are going to get?
Day 7: Leh
Today is a day for relaxing, especially after the long bus journeys. We have our trek starting tomorrow as per the bookings. But both of us are so tired that we wanted to postpone the starting date by atleast a day. Stan from the homestay said that rooms are available if we want one more night. Now the only unknown piece is whether we can do the postponement at the trek company. We have to find that out.
We went to the trek company, Ladakh Calling at around 10:30
am. Sid, the agent was very nice and helpful. He agreed to the postponement by
a day as he also felt that we should have proper rest before climbing. Once
that was confirmed we went to the town to repair the spectacles of Bru. Later
on we went to the nearby Buddhist monastery to get the gate pass for me for the
Kalachakra initiation function by His Holiness Dalai Lama. It required passport
photos in addition to a copy of the id for registration. I got the pass without
any trouble. After lunch we went back to the homestay for a light nap.
In the evening we climbed up to the Shanti Stupa overlooking
Leh. It’s a beautiful view of the city from there. I think a visit to Leh will
not be complete without a visit to the Shanti Stupa. We then had a tea at the
café there. It reminded me of my last visit here with Am last year. Time runs
so fast!!
Day 6: Manali to Leh
Our bus left Leh at around 2:30 am in the morning. It was a
long journey. I don’t think I have ever done such a long non-stop bus journey
in my life. Though it was not crowded like the government buses that we had
travelled it was still very cramped for an 18 hr journey.
The Leh-Manali road is around 480 km long and it passes through one of the highest motorable roads in the world. It climbs up to a height of 5300 m altitude. It goes through 5300+m altitude passes at least 3 times. The road winds up and down giving spectacular views of the Himalayan mountain ranges. The roads are not well paved most of the time and in some place it’s just dirt road with potholes. The roads hardly had the width of a truck, and being a 2 way road made the travel extremely dangerous and scary at times. But the journey through the mountains, passes, valleys, riverbanks, plateaus are so beautiful that given all the risks and discomforts, it still is worth to take the trip at least once in a life time.
The Leh-Manali road is around 480 km long and it passes through one of the highest motorable roads in the world. It climbs up to a height of 5300 m altitude. It goes through 5300+m altitude passes at least 3 times. The road winds up and down giving spectacular views of the Himalayan mountain ranges. The roads are not well paved most of the time and in some place it’s just dirt road with potholes. The roads hardly had the width of a truck, and being a 2 way road made the travel extremely dangerous and scary at times. But the journey through the mountains, passes, valleys, riverbanks, plateaus are so beautiful that given all the risks and discomforts, it still is worth to take the trip at least once in a life time.
The bus made two long stops in the 18 hr journey for
breakfast and lunch. The high altitudes means the air was thin and I started
getting headaches afterwards – a clear symptom of altitude sickness.
The long journey was very tiresome. If I had known this
earlier that it is going to be so tiring then I would have skipped this part of
the journey altogether and flew directly to Leh from Delhi.
We reached Leh at 8 pm. We took the taxi from the bus stand
to the Gangba homestay where I had stayed last year. It was really nice to see
some familiar faces and to be in the familiar atmosphere again. The family was
as friendly as before and I was surprised to see that they still remembered me.
We took a shower and had our homemade dinner. Afterwards we just sat there and
surfed the net, posting messages and photos. Finally it was wonderful to just
relax and not worry about anything.
Day 5: Manali
We reached Manali around 4 in the morning. Too tired and
exhausted, our initial plan was to take a share taxi to Leh. The information I
got was that it is an 18 hr journey to Leh along the mountainous Leh-Manali
highway which is about 450 + kms long touching upto 5300 m altitude. Though we
were travelling for 12 hrs non-stop we decided to take it.
We somehow found a room to put our luggage and take rest for the day. After putting the luggage we went out to have our breakfast. The town was too crowded with honeymooners and the tourists who were escaping the summer in North India. We managed to get a booking for a minibus to Leh which is starting at 1.30 am in the next morning. We returned to our room and slept till 6 pm. Both of us were very tired from the horrible journey to Manali. We had now nothing else to do than having our dinner and wait for the bus
But nothing went to plan. There was no share taxi available
as all of them left by 2-3 am. Due to the Buddhist Kalachakra festival at Leh,
where H.H. was giving teachings all the buses/taxis were going full and all
were moving only towards Leh. Only a few of them were returning as they were
not getting customers to travel back from Leh to Manali. So altogether the
number of share taxis available was less. The only option left for us was to
catch the taxi next day early morning.
We somehow found a room to put our luggage and take rest for the day. After putting the luggage we went out to have our breakfast. The town was too crowded with honeymooners and the tourists who were escaping the summer in North India. We managed to get a booking for a minibus to Leh which is starting at 1.30 am in the next morning. We returned to our room and slept till 6 pm. Both of us were very tired from the horrible journey to Manali. We had now nothing else to do than having our dinner and wait for the bus
Day 4: Dharamsala to Manali
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Our bus to Manali is at 4: 40 pm today. After breakfast we
just walked around and sat at a restaurant at noon. Then the rain started
pouring down. That announced the arrival of monsoon at Mcleod Ganj. It rained
heavily for about 1.5 hrs. We went back to the hotel after the rains subsided.
Packed our bags and went out to the bus station to catch the bus to Manali.
Our nightmares with public transport started again. We
booked tickets for a delux bus. But when the time came the bus that arrived was
an ordinary bus. I had an argument with the conductor of the bus. He said that
there is no delux bus and this is the only bus to Manali at this time and we
can take it or leave it! I was very angry. After our last bus journey to
Dharamsala, both of us were really pissed off. I didn’t try to talk with Bru, and
as we had no other option we decided to take it. A 12 hr journey in an ordinary
bus was staring at us and both of us were not at all looking forward to it.
Once the bus started climbing up the winding roads the ‘show’ started. Many of
the passengers started getting sick and after a while many of the people were
vomiting all around the place. It was one hell of a ride. And it was just a
beginning!
Day 3: Dharamsala
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Day 2: Dharamsala
Not much was planned for today other than walking around the
narrow roads of Mcleod Ganj. Mcleod Ganj is about 10 km from Dharamsala. The
whole place is covered in less than 2 km radius. The highlight is of course the
temple, monastery and the office of His Holiness.
The traffic along the street is hopeless. It has hardly the
width of a car and all the tourists coming with their fat SUV’s makes the place
too crowded even to walk. To add to that are the drivers honking all the time.
There are basically 2 roads running parallel from the main square towards the
temple. One is called the temple road. Both roads are one way roads. All the
craft shops are situated in these two roads
We just walked around the roads in the day time. The hotel
owner suggested that we should do the ‘Khora walk’ in the evening. The walk is
around 2 km circling the temple and the monastery. The Buddhist monks do it in
the evening in the clockwise direction. For them it is a prayer walk circling
the temple and H.H. We also did it in the evening. It was an absolutely
beautiful walk along the narrow paths through the woods lined with Tibetan
prayer flags, mani stones and prayer wheels. The absolute silence, the
beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains and the spiritual atmosphere helped
to calm my mind from the madness in the last days. At the end of the walk we
visited the temple where a large statue of Buddha could be seen. Afterwards we
had a dinner in one of the roof top restaurants. I didn’t enjoy it much as it
was noisy being on the side of the street. In addition the staffs were greedy
and unfriendly.
Day 1: Jalandhar to Dharamsala
We reached Jalandhar around 9 am next day. It was not at all
a comfortable ride. I was so tired that I had a dead sleep in between. At
Jalandhar we had breakfast and then checked for the next options. There is a
direct government bus at 11 am. Or we could go to some nearby ‘stop’ and get a
bus to Pathankhot where the buses are more frequent. We decided to wait and go
for the direct bus to Dharamsala. No more adventures!
The bus left in time. May be because it is a government bus.
For the first time something worked in time.
A rarity in India! It was again a very long journey. Travelling in local
buses gave Bru a good feel of the real Indian life. Did he enjoy it? I don’t
know. But I felt that this experience should be there for anyone visiting to
know the pulse of the country.
We reached Dharamsala around 5.30 pm. Since our booking was
in a hotel in Mcleod Ganj where the monastery of H.H. Dalai Lama is, we took a
taxi to our hotel. The hotel sits in a valley. We had to climb down around 50
steps to reach the hotel. Not so comfortable, especially when you have around
15 kg backpack. But the rooms had a beautiful view of the valley. We had the
rooms on the top floor. Finally after almost 2 days of travelling we have a beautiful
landscape and peace in mind! I think both of us earned it!
Day 0: Flight to Delhi
It’s June 2014. The flight to Delhi was long. It had a stopover
at Mumbai. Total flying time may be around 4 hrs. But together with the check
in it was a long journey. I left home at 9 am and by the time I reached Delhi
it was 4 pm.
As planned, Bru was there at the airport. Though there was
some initial confusion with respect to arrival terminal we managed to find each
other. The only problem was the heat. The temperature was around 40 deg C, dry
heat. Though you don’t sweat like in the south, you will feel like you are
walking in an oven!
The little time I spend in Delhi, I did not enjoy it. The crowd, the dust and the people - not my idea of holiday conditions. We decided
to go to the railway station to check for the train timings. Our booking said
the train is from New Delhi (DLI). But when we reached there they said it is
from old Delhi! I think it just the beginning of what is to come. We took a
taxi to old Delhi. Since Bru is a white guy he immediately became the magnet
for people selling things and beggars. Also the prices for everything we asked
shot up in split second. Taxis, shops etc charged more than double. And that
made my bargaining attempts tighter. As the money without bargaining was not
much in foreign currency, Bru was not much concerned. But for my Indian salary,
it was not a comfortable number. So I had to do the donkey work of bargaining
with these greedy vultures all the time. Na! I didn’t enjoy that either!
We reached old Delhi railway station at around 5.30 pm. Our
train is only at 8 pm. So we thought to have some food and Bru suggested
McDonalds! Not our favourite, but somewhere clean and air conditioned. We got
into the train in time. It was very very crowded and noisy. I couldn’t find our
name in the reservation chart. I had booked the tickets online – first time I
did that in ages. I decided to wait for the ticket controller and check it. The
train was full and we waited in the corridor with all our big backpacks. The
train started moving. I went to the next compartment and checked with the
controller regarding our reservation. The all the trouble started. He said the
number on the ticket is just waiting list numbers. Though they have charged for
the ticket, it will be refunded to my account as the ticket is not yet
confirmed. Or in other words we are completely screwed! I asked the controller
if he can help us in some way, by paying fine or by extra charges for atleast a
seat instead of a bed. But he was very
rude. He said we are not supposed to board the train without confirmation and
we should leave the train in the next stop! Even after repeated asking he was
not ready to help.
We got down at the next station. Some small unknown station
in the outskirts of Delhi. Then Bru started vomiting. It seems the food from
McDonalds didn’t do good to his stomach. I started getting worried. As per plan
we have to somehow get to Dharamsala next day. I walked to the ticket counter
to check with the station master for options. Since it is a small local station
we can only get general class tickets for trains. Also our next train is
atleast 3hrs away. Nothing looked good.
Then someone suggested going to the Metro station nearby and
catching a metro to the Kashmiri gate which is 3 stops away. From there we
could catch interstate buses. We went there and purchased a ticket for a bus
though a ‘backdoor’ ticket agent in a non A/C bus. The tickets for A/C buses
were not all available and our only option was to take a bus to Jalandhar in
Punjab and from there take a bus to Pathankhot, and then one more bus to
Dharamsala. I think its one of the worst bus routes we could take and at this
last moment that was the only option available. Nothing sounded good.
The bus driver said the bus will leave in ½ hr. It was
already 9.30 pm. In India if one says ½ hr it has a completely different
meaning. By the time the bus left the station it was 1 am!!! These people are
born cheats. They simply say ½ hr to get customers and wait till the bus is full.
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