I generally do not like to plan my holidays. I feel planning is required in work. Leisure does not need any planning. Planning makes a holiday boring and regimental. The only planning I do is to tell work people not to bother me. The close ones know my whereabouts so that they can reach me if there is a need.
So keeping to my nature, I decided to join a dear friend of mine in Dehradun in Uttarakhand state for a couple of days. Both of us free birds with children settled and having crossed the actual line of middle age, i.e, 50.
One minus point of sudden getaways is finding a cheap ticket! Getting reservation in Indian trains is tougher than climbing the everest. Flights tickets are always skyrocket if you need them on an urgent basis. The only option I was left with was taking a bus.
Excited, I booked for a 12-hour journey on a volvo bus. Everyone in the family was happy for my adventure trip. Adventure, because this was the first time I decided to travel alone for leisure. I travel alone extensively for work but never for a holiday.
This was my first sojourn - solo with a backpack.
One of my friend suggested that I should have used my journalist accreditation card which give me the privilege to travel up to 3000 km in government owned buses without paying even a single paise. I refused, saying it was my personal trip.
Soon, I was thanking my decision. A man, drunk to the glory, boarded the bus. He proclaimed he was a journalist and knew all the top bosses in the government. He fought for the front seat, reserved for journalists. He scolded every vendor who entered the bus to sell their products. He shouted at the driver and the conductor for delaying the bus. However, he could not keep himself conscious for long. The moment the bus started moving, his snoring and the typical Hindi music in the bus started vying with each other for attention.
I became sure that the journey that has become with such colourful note will definitely be interesting!
I settled down with my kindle. Soon, the lights were off and everyone went off to sleep. I also tried to give my eyes some rest. But, before I could actually sleep, I felt a commotion in the bus. It was 02:00 am. Lights were on. We were at a junction in a small town and the driver did not know where he had to go! He got off the bus to ask for directions.
The government bus and the government driver - but he did not know the way to Dehradun. Meanwhile, an over-enthusiastic youth started his GPS. With authority he asked the driver to turn left. The driver, not having a clue, turned left. Now we were on a 10-feet narrow village road with no light and not even a single soul in sight.
The road straight from a horror movie gave jitters to many. Another man started his GPS and now there were two navigators guiding a clueless driver. The first one asked all passengers to wake up: "It is not the time to sleep, but stay awake." He also ordered to the driver: "Do not stop the bus, come what may."
After two hours of adventure, everyone realised that we were on a wrong road. We should have been on a highway but we were on some village road. Anyhow, we finally found the highway. I calculated that in last seven hours we have reached only Bareilly which is only 250 km from Lucknow and should not have taken more than five hours.
Thus the bus became two hours late. In the morning I asked the driver as to why he deviated from the normal highway. His answer was: "I was sleeping and a new boy was driving. He didn't know the way but he didn't wake me up also."
The response should have come as a shock to me but it didn't. Staying in Uttar Pradesh state for long has made me immune to such nonsensical things as they are routine here.
The bus that should have been at its destination at 08:00, reached at 11:00.
I was late. My friend had already reached Dehradun. I was tired as I couldn't sleep a wink. Sitting in the bus for 15 hours all my joints had frozen.
Yet, I was not feeling frustrated at all. I feel the reason why I found everything amusing was the beautiful morning and stunning natural beauty which was there to welcome us as the day broke. I was in Devbhumi (The Land of God)!
So keeping to my nature, I decided to join a dear friend of mine in Dehradun in Uttarakhand state for a couple of days. Both of us free birds with children settled and having crossed the actual line of middle age, i.e, 50.
One minus point of sudden getaways is finding a cheap ticket! Getting reservation in Indian trains is tougher than climbing the everest. Flights tickets are always skyrocket if you need them on an urgent basis. The only option I was left with was taking a bus.
Excited, I booked for a 12-hour journey on a volvo bus. Everyone in the family was happy for my adventure trip. Adventure, because this was the first time I decided to travel alone for leisure. I travel alone extensively for work but never for a holiday.
This was my first sojourn - solo with a backpack.
One of my friend suggested that I should have used my journalist accreditation card which give me the privilege to travel up to 3000 km in government owned buses without paying even a single paise. I refused, saying it was my personal trip.
Soon, I was thanking my decision. A man, drunk to the glory, boarded the bus. He proclaimed he was a journalist and knew all the top bosses in the government. He fought for the front seat, reserved for journalists. He scolded every vendor who entered the bus to sell their products. He shouted at the driver and the conductor for delaying the bus. However, he could not keep himself conscious for long. The moment the bus started moving, his snoring and the typical Hindi music in the bus started vying with each other for attention.
I became sure that the journey that has become with such colourful note will definitely be interesting!
I settled down with my kindle. Soon, the lights were off and everyone went off to sleep. I also tried to give my eyes some rest. But, before I could actually sleep, I felt a commotion in the bus. It was 02:00 am. Lights were on. We were at a junction in a small town and the driver did not know where he had to go! He got off the bus to ask for directions.
The government bus and the government driver - but he did not know the way to Dehradun. Meanwhile, an over-enthusiastic youth started his GPS. With authority he asked the driver to turn left. The driver, not having a clue, turned left. Now we were on a 10-feet narrow village road with no light and not even a single soul in sight.
The road straight from a horror movie gave jitters to many. Another man started his GPS and now there were two navigators guiding a clueless driver. The first one asked all passengers to wake up: "It is not the time to sleep, but stay awake." He also ordered to the driver: "Do not stop the bus, come what may."
After two hours of adventure, everyone realised that we were on a wrong road. We should have been on a highway but we were on some village road. Anyhow, we finally found the highway. I calculated that in last seven hours we have reached only Bareilly which is only 250 km from Lucknow and should not have taken more than five hours.
Thus the bus became two hours late. In the morning I asked the driver as to why he deviated from the normal highway. His answer was: "I was sleeping and a new boy was driving. He didn't know the way but he didn't wake me up also."
The response should have come as a shock to me but it didn't. Staying in Uttar Pradesh state for long has made me immune to such nonsensical things as they are routine here.
The bus that should have been at its destination at 08:00, reached at 11:00.
I was late. My friend had already reached Dehradun. I was tired as I couldn't sleep a wink. Sitting in the bus for 15 hours all my joints had frozen.
Yet, I was not feeling frustrated at all. I feel the reason why I found everything amusing was the beautiful morning and stunning natural beauty which was there to welcome us as the day broke. I was in Devbhumi (The Land of God)!
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