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Shifted to a new place. Sittu & Prateek are my roommates. The rooms are very tiny and there's hardly any space. Bought a mattress & pillow.

Statutory Warning

Now that Sittu has revealed the innards of my Nokia, let me warn all my minions. No one is allowed to touch my phone, let alone use it! Anyone found coming even remotely close runs the risk of gettings his days here on Earth prematurely terminated. BTW, I'm fanatically possessive about a few things in life: my books, CDs & CD player, telescope & my new Nokia.

I'm Mobile (Nokia-6681)--->9886991714

Less time to m-use, more time to s-nap Thus begins the saga, of my photoblogging crap!

Classic Guest House to Swami Residency

Began the day ominously by puking. The junkies that found their way into my stomach yesterday finally managed to find their way out, only from the wrong end! I checkout @ 9:30am and take an auto to Swami Residency in JP Nagar. The trip costs me Rs140. The new hotel is much better. A fellow named Abin is my rommate. He is from New Delhi.

Classic Guest House

The only thing classic about this hotel is its name. The streets are narrow and remind me about the of the dingy bylanes of Allahabad. The room is so small, it runs the risk of exploding if I sneeze. The cistern doesn't work, the fan has no regulator, it's noisy and there is no TV. The tap only occasionally spits water. The drainage doesn't work. It still costs me Rs275 per day. I survive on a steady supply of Dosa.

The Long Wait @ Bangalore Station

Being an unearthly hour (12:45am), many of the passengers had nowhere to go. Unfortunately for me, none of my new acquaintances were so helpless...& that left me stranded in the waiting room surrounded by strangers. Well, the only way of killing time was to try & admire the Jemima lookalike , who, I saw, was also in the waiting room, accompanied by 2 more girls & 2 elderly people. Trying to sleep proved futile, even though some folks showed remarkable innovation in setting up makeshift mattresses & getting a good night's sleep. Some were even snoring! I wasn't so lucky. Jemima lookalike & company left @ around 7am while I decided to search for a hotel @ 9:30am. No sooner had I left the station than a bunch of auto drivers ganged me & asked for my destination. Being quickly intimidated, I asked if I could be taken to an inexpensive hotel. The folks quickly jumped at the opportunity to exploit a new like me. One of them had the privilege of taking me for ...

The Journey

My train reached Howrah 10mins late(3:40am). The departure was delayed by 20 mins(4:10am). Thanks to a train accident only a few moments ago, it took us 7hrs to cover the first 60kms. The accident had happened at some place near Kolaghat & we saw the twisted coach as we went past it. The follow opposite me was Lieutenant Arvind, an NDA product. He was a very affable and suave guy who had a way with breaking the ice with perfect strangers in no time. We soon made friends and started chatting about how the NDA guys (& that includes him) would frequent Fergusson College for some greenery! Thanks to Arvind, I managed to get acquainted with some girls from the NE who were also on their maiden trip to Bangalore. One of them was Tara, a very pretty and bubbly girl accompanying her aunt & cousin to meet someone there & spend a week there before heading home. The other girls managed to make friends with her, & Arvind being the catalyst, we were soon a bunch of lively and noi...

Leaving Kolkata

Dida had come in the afternoon while choto mama came in the evening. Didi & Diya also came in the evening. I was getting restless as the Net had failed to give me any good news regarding my reservation status for either of my tickets. In desperation, I dialed 139 for the status enquiry. I heaved a sigh of relief as the SL berth was finally confirmed. A few moments later, the 2A birth followed suit. Meanwhile, Bua da had also come for a visit. He offered me some vital advice...advice Dad would have preached had he been there. Diya was her usual lively self and went about with her antics. I had played Tchaikovsky and Chopin on my CD player as it would most certainly not be used for a long while. All sorts of things were being dumped into my bag & suitcase till they could sustain no more. Still, the relentless stuffing continued. Shilu pishi also came for a visit. Last minute activity kept me as busy as a bee till I finally had the luxury of listening to what they had to say...
Indian Railways is truly Indian. The Passanger Status page fails to live up to its name. It's now highly unlikely that I'll be able to cancel one of my tickets.
Phoned Ritesh (deep cruise). Ritesh & Ritesh leave for New Delhi on the 14th by rail. They fly to Bangalore on the 17th.

Nostalgia hits BIG time

I was @ Arun mesho 's place. Nice to see so many famaliar faces. We had a feast. Mashi can cook really well. Shoma didi & hubby came in the afternoon, along with their daughter (what a darling she is!). Opened an LIC policy. Came back home late night.
Blogger's image upload tool via the web is too crude. The Google people could learn a thing or two about innovative and slick interfacing from Flickr .