Tuesday 30 July 2013

Namaste India - Part 2

So, we moved on, from Amritsar to Jalandhar. We reached there by bus. Aunty Sudha wanted to meet one of her relatives there. We reached there in the late afternoon for overnight stay.

It was a small house with a front garden. And it was there that I saw them............. Fire Flies! It was the first time in my life that I had seen Fire Flies. Lots and lots of them in the plants of that small garden.







It's been 30 years now and I haven't seen a Fire Fly since then.

Boy! what a joy it was to catch them and see them give off their florescent green light. I was completely mesmerized by these insects and spent the whole of the evening playing with them. 

Next day, very unexpectedly curfew was announced in the city due to riots and disturbance. Very urgently we got our bags, and begged our hosts let us go to the railway station. Keeping in view of the situation, it was highly unlikely to get hold of a taxi or rickshaw. Very desperate, short on time, we finally got a couple of cycle rickshaws. This ride was not enough for all of us. So, my mom and Aunty sudha got in one and we put our luggage in the other one. Rajiv, Minnie and myself..... we walked all the way to the station. On the way we were stopped by the Police. Aunty Sudha managed this obstacle by convincing the officer that we were tourists and on our way to Delhi. We were allowed to pass.

The railway station was to be our resting place till morning, thats when the train will arrive to take us to Delhi. Man, what a uncomfortable place it was. Almost all the wooden benches had mites in them. And lots of them. They made our stay at the station miserable. We were scratching ourselves at all places.

I couldn't sleep the whole night, neither did anyone else. I spent my time moving about on the platform watching trains go by after short intervals.

We left Jalandhar railway station in the morning, on our way to Delhi. I think it was a 5.30 hour long ride. We all were very glad to leave that place.






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