A Reality Show

I love travelling and have had the privilege of seeing far too many destinations than what I can remember. Almost all of these trips have been enjoyable and have without doubt added to my personality in more ways than I can imagine. However when I have to talk of my just concluded trip I can only say that it was far beyond comparison with any of my earlier trips and that the experiences gathered covered a very wide spectrum. To start with, the planning for this trip began way back in July when it was announced that the 12th Triennial Conference of the Association of Inner Wheel Clubs in India would be held at VARANASI from the 29th to 31st of January 2010. This is the fourth triennial conference after I joined the Inner Wheel movement but some how I did not think it necessary to attend the earlier ones. This one was different by sheer virtue of its location. Varanasi drew me like a magnet in the same fashion as it has done the millions of believers and non believers earlier. Here before me lay the opportunity to visit the world’s oldest living city and in no way was I going to let this opportunity go by. My good friend Nandini was the person who mooted the idea and from then on the talk at any social or family gathering meandered to the impending Varanasi trip.
By virtue of owning a Travel Agency the onus was on me to make the arrangements for the trip. Thus right from the inception to the final itinerary was my baby and I went about doing it merrily. Everything fell into place by the end of October and there seemed to be no loopholes left to be plugged. I won’t be exaggerating when I say that I was so pleased with myself and at times felt smug like a cat that had just wiped off a bowl of cream. Although there were three months more for the trip, in my mind the count down had already begun.
Around the 15th of January, there was a shift in my mood thanks to the prevalent weather in New Delhi. Everyday saw me calling family or friends in Delhi and Varanasi to enquire about the weather and if I heard that it was sunny over there, I would have a golden glow in my demeanour too. The cat and mouse game with the fog began eating my nerves, and so finally around the 24th of January I decided that I am just going to let things take the natural course, for after all who am I to dictate to nature. Nevertheless I was the first to switch on the TV to watch the Republic Day Parade. I do enjoy watching the pomp and glory of all things Indian and this is one day when I am a little more proud of our uniformed forces. (My grandfather served in the Army and my Dad in the Police). This time around I had an ulterior motive and that was to gauge the intensity of the fog and sure enough, the fog did not disappoint me. 27th of January was no better and the news of the hay wire flight schedules was indeed a matter of concern. However I did manage a good night’s sleep.
28th of January was proclaimed as being a great day in Delhi with the fog having magically dispersed. On that happy note I set off from the house to be joined by 10 other ladies at the airport. Our flight was called and when we boarded it, we were truly relieved. However the relief was short lived, for as soon as we landed in Delhi, I had a call from the 12th member of the group informing me that the train would leave from Delhi only at 5am on the morning of the 29th. The fog had brought about a back log and there was nothing that could be done. Although we had an option to go to the comfort of a home and a good night’s sleep before taking the train, we decided against it and instead went straight to the railway station to see if there were any other options. Having mentally tuned ourselves to the worst scenario, we remained stoic and each one of us was prepared for the eventuality. The night of 28th January was not the best of days to visit the Delhi station. It was overcrowded with people sitting, standing, lying and in postures hard to describe. Being a ladies group, we were immediately surrounded by touts trying to play the role of good Samaritans. We stood out like sore thumbs in that situation and would have seemed to the touts as being easy targets. Little did they realize that we were women of substance whom it was difficult to hoodwink leave alone take for a ride.
We heard about another train which would touch Mughalsarai (18 kms from Varanasi) and decided to catch the same provided tickets were available in air conditioned coaches. The scheduled departure was at 12.50am. Since the current booking would only start less than 2 hrs before departure of the train, we had ample time to while away. We were lucky in that we were provided the office room of the RMS inspector where we could sit on chairs. The importance of the cell phone came to the fore that night, for calls were made left, right and centre and thus we came to know that AC three tier tickets were available for the said train. Finally Mala and I prompted by Nandini decided we would go to the booking counter and try our luck. The next half hour was indeed like a film set what with two South Indian ladies at almost midnight waiting to buy train tickets and with touts on all four sides passing comments in Hindi and dissuading us in every possible way. I was indeed so scared of opening my purse to take out the cash for fear of being robbed. However like the Hindi movie finale, good won over evil, for we not only got the said tickets but we also got them together in two adjacent bays. Triumphantly we walked to the rest of the group and for the next few minutes were treated like heroines or shall I say heroes, for I wonder if the men would have achieved what we did. The train left at 1.30am and our joy knew no bounds.
I will never call that night a night mare, for each time I think about it, what comes to the forefront is the good time we had cuddled together in the RMS room. Our sense of humour never failed us and indeed our feathers remained totally unruffled. Our perseverance saw us through for we were surely a determined lot. I think most of us grew up in more ways than one at the end of that experience. Being used to comfort and protection, this may have been the first time that we were exposed to such realities. It was almost as if we had come unscathed from a test by fire. With such a heady start to our trip, I was sure that the rest of the days would be as memorable.
P.S. My thanks to Jasodha, Ramalakshmi, Sucharita, Nandini, Meena, Haripriya, Mala, Rama, Vidya, Sunita and Kamala for simply being with me.