The Traveler

This new one talks and describes of a traveller through my eyes.



It all started with an idea, an idea that would transport a very average human on an almost-monumental trip. The idea was formulated by that human himself, but then, like most things big, it is questioned, not only by peers around him, but also by people who would normally otherwise believe in him. How the hell are you going to do this trip? Alone? Oh god, thats......remarkable. Won't you feel lonely at all? I'd never do this alone man. Doubts appeared from every other corner, from every other person's intricate little minds, from every single one who would imagine themselves in this person's situation. It would still not shake him, and finally, it pulled through. He would have his way, a way of relative stubbornness, of an unshakeable mind to his own.


An idea always has a beginning, a first step toward its execution. The execution, now without doubt, started with research on http://www.indianrail.gov.in/. A day later, he, who from now will be referred to as Steve, went to the Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station, to book his means of traveling the distance that he planned to. Half and hour and a few thousand rupees later, he walked out of the colonial era building, with four printed pieces of paper in his pocket. The railways were always respected, and loved, by Steve. As far as he could help it, he would try to travel by rail, and this wasn't too different. His "monumental" trip, though, would not be completely covered by means of the Indian Railways, but also by other means, especially to places where connectivity of this government body, that had a separate budget of its own in the nation, was low. And he realised, sooner than later, that the first leg of his trip would have to be completed by means other than by rail.


His home was Bangalore, or Bengaluru, a city that had a reputation of growing faster than rabbits could reproduce. It was the capital of the state of Karnataka, the land of the Kannadigas, a people who, fortunately or unfortunately, accepted the "outsiders" - the other people of India. The state ran both of the only two profit making government road transport services in all of India, one, the KSRTC, and the other, Bangalore's local bus service. Anyway, Steve knew that the only "decent" way to get to the franco-tamil town of Pondicherry (or Puduchcherry) was by means of the KSRTC. He always offered open invitations to other people who wanted to join him, and this time, there were two other people who would. So he went, to one of several KSRTC ticket-booking centres in the city, and booked three tickets on the luxury bus service called the Airavath, considering that the roads to Puduchcherry were terrible; the Airavath line of buses were manufactured by Volvo. So it was set, the date that his travels would start was 18 Dec 2007.


18th Dec, 2007, 2200hrs : Steve, and two others, arrived and waited at the City's main bus terminus, the Kempe Gowda Bus Stand. It would be another half an hour before the bus was scheduled to arrive, so they walked into the cafe nearby. Things in India normally had the reputation of doing everything late, though it did not make such a big difference, the bus did arrive ten minutes late. Their luggage was put into the baggage hold of the Volvo, and the space was large enough to carry two full jacuzzis, and got into their seats. Steve had traveled in these services before, and so did one of his accompanists, but not the last one, and so, save the last, they were not surprised that the government run service gave them a blanket and water bottle. The bus left, ten minutes later (twenty minutes from its actual departure time), and began its seven hour journey toward the franco-tamil town. The ride, as expected, was rough.


The next morning, Steve woke up, still shaking from the vibrations, to realise that it was raining outside, and quite heavily. His large glass window had water flowing down its side, like as though it was designed to be a water fountain. It was five o'clock, as communicated to him by his watch. The rain was unexpected when he finalised the date to Puduchcherry, but just a day earlier there was a sudden depression over the Bay of Bengal that exposed the eastern coast to some heavy showers, which Steve was not prepared for. The bus reached Puduchcherry Bus Stand about an hour later, and the rain had let up for a few minutes as though welcoming the three to the former french colony. Steve knew very little tamil, but knew enough that he wouldn't get fleeced by the auto drivers there. He wanted to head to Rock Beach, where a certain Ajanta Guest House was located, where he'd lodged before and knew was a great place for the facilities and the money. Steve and his two travel mates got into an auto, with their baggage - they could just manage to fit in. Unfortunate for the three, the guest house was still not open (it was 6AM), and so they had to find a different place to stay. His limited knowledge of tamil got the driver to look around for any place that would lodge them, and three-four closed gates later, they landed near a building with a rusting sign board that read Sri Krishna Guest House, which for 700 rupees gave a tiny tacky four-bed room. It was obviously far from ideal, but it had to do, just for the next ten hours, as decided by Steve. They slept, for four hours more, except Steve, who woke up at 9 to hire two wheelers to get around. He got a deal for 80 rupees per day per vehicle, and he took two. It would be 12.30PM before they were all ready to leave anywhere. They didn't have much luck with the rain either.


Since it was about lunch time, Steve decided to go toward Rock Beach again, where a restaurant called La Terasse was located. Steve rode one of the vehicles while the other was ridden by the better skilled rider of the remaining two. He had had a meal or two there before, and he found their food to be some of the best he had had for a long time. The day of Wednesday didn't seem to be very friendly with Steve, for it was raining, as hard as ever, and the restaurant had a large "CLOSED" sign at its gate (which he'd later learn that the place is closed on wednesdays). So he and the women went to a pizzeria called just "Pizzeria", and when they were done, though the cheque pushed them back 600 rupees poorer for just two pizzas and some beverages, they were satisfied that those were the best pizzas they'd had in their lives.

The afternoon went to walking around what was locally called Rock Beach, where a rock curb was created along the coast, probably dating back to the french times, for many franco inspired decorations donned the buildings there. It was a beautiful stretch to walk on. They felt a peace in the midst of the many poeple that were already there, a peace that they could possible not find anywhere else anytime soon. The latter portion of the day they spent was back at the dingy lodge. Steve, as planned, got themselves lodged at where he initially (at Ajanta Guest House) wanted to, by early evening. The deal for Rs.900 a night got them a nicely furnished four bed, with running hot water, in addition to air conditioning. And as he'd realized even before arriving at Puduchcherry, alcohol was not taxed and shared the distinction of being sold at the lowest price in the nation. So, as would've been expected by anyone their age, the night was spent with a good movie, good company, room service and alcohol.

Alcohol has the effect of making one sleep in. It was 10 before first of them awoke, Steve, along with a painful hangover. Women, as Steve realized only lately, spent too much time at anything that they believed would by anyway make their appearance relatively better, whether it was an outfit change, or a makeup stint, or even the simple activity of tying hair in a certain way. They were ready to leave only at 1, and they did, finally, toward La Terasse. The food there, as promised by Steve, was exquisite. Steve had fish while the other two stuck to pizzas and pancakes. A good hour later, they were done. They later moved toward Auro Beach, and again, Steve's ten-percent knowledge of tamil helped them get there. Steve describes the beach as - "beautiful, unspoiled, but beginning to get filled by unruly behaviour", and that was what it exactly was. The area was clean, with hardly a presence of any manmade material, and the only reason that turned them off was the unruly male 'horny' crowd. Two hours of the beach did not seem enough for them, they wanted to stay more, but the situation didn't allow them to. So they left, back again, toward the lodge. It was 5PM now. While one of them napped, Steve and the other watched a movie. The latter part of the evening was spent at "Pizzeria" again. This evening, however, Steve decided to stay away from alcohol. Another good movie later, they slept.

The third day was no different from the second in the fact that they'd slept in, again, and the women took equally long (if not longer) to get ready. It almost seemed as though La Terasse and Pizzeria were the only places that would satisfy their appetites, for again, they went to La Terrasse for lunch. A good meal later they left to Auroville, the place of humanity. Just before they got there, Steve and the others stopped at stores that sold textile articles that they'd not find for the price in a thousand kilometre radius. As unlikely as it seemed, Steve was the biggest shopper of them all, spending a whole six hundred rupees on kurtas, while the others spent lesser than half of how much he did, put together, though one of the women did spend a bigger amount on one single skirt much later. So they moved on now, to Auroville. Steve could remember quite clearly, the last time he was there, because a couple of white women "adam-teased" him, while he was looking around for what was called the solar kitchen - it didn't affect him, it was more of a compliment, but what was glaring was the fact that there was a part of the female population in the world that DID indulge in such activities, considering he assumed the activity was exclusive to males. Anyway, when they did reach Auroville's Visitor's Centre, they realized that the president was to arrive the next day, to visit Auroville, and that explained the tight security arrangements, which meant that some places in Auroville were off limits to them, including the solar kitchen. Steve told the others about the visitor's centre that had a very good bakery, about the good food there. And good it was. A caramel custard, a brownie and a lemon pie later they left for the Mantrimandir, the centre of Auroville. It was a spherical temple that represented humanity, and for anyone to live in Auroville as a permanent resident would mean renunciation of religion. The temple was clad with gold plated plates, and was a structure that awed Steve only the first time he was there. The awe stuck to the women only, and pretty soon, they had to leave Auroville. They didn't leave in a hurry, probably because it was their last day there, but it could've been that they were tired from two and a half days of freedom too.

They rode back to the two wheeler rent shop to return the scooters to their owner. Anyone would think that the Puduchcherry episode was coming to an end, but no - one of the women HAD to stop by a clothing store and buy a skirt that gave shivers down Steve's spine - a skirt for an amount that Steve would never spend on for just one piece of clothing. "You had to live up to a girl's name" Steve recalled saying to her. They then returned to their guest house, and did their business to get ready to leave for home. Steve's mission was to check out by 7PM, so that they didn't have to pay for an extra day, and thats what they did. The hotel manager was friendly enough to let them leave their luggage there for the next two hours so they didn't have to lug them around. Another dinner at La Terasse and a "last" walk at Rock Beach later, they were back at Puduchcherry bus stand. The Airavath back to Bangalore was not late, and the crew managed to get every passenger seated and ready to leave in less then ten minutes.

The bus ride back was bumpy, but not as much as it was on its way there. The driver was what could be called special, or rash, depending on point of view, for he managed to get them back to Bangalore by 5AM, while the scheduled arrival was 6AM. The trip was special for Steve, not only because he was able to embark on the first leg of his monumental trip, but also because he had woven the friendships he already had with stronger threads, stronger bonds. Steve admitted he had fun, though he also disliked one small part of while he was at Puduchcherry, and that was that he thought he went there like he was on holiday; he'd have rather thought he was travelling. He never regretted what he did, so, quickly, he dismissed that as soon as it came into his head. Steve promised that he would write about Puduchcherry,and he wouldn't get too far the first time. Pretty soon, he would forget the "miss-you" feeling he had for the sea town, and get on with looking forward to going to where he'd go next, Udagamandalam, or the anglo version, Ootacamund (Ooty).

To understand everything is?

Yes, to try and understand everything is not exactly a good thing, and its not that the quest for understanding everything is a pitfall, but the result of knowing how everything works is. I know not many people who live life this way, and i know even fewer who actually agree with me. "Nobody cares" is what this may be termed as, but this is really what is "good". Ignorance is bliss? Yeah it sure is.

What I would normally do is to try and explain to anyone reading this, as to how I may be right. But then I would be just throwing it away. Now what is "everything"? Does it refer to the world? The nation? The media sure makes the world a lot smaller these days, for I see many people on this side of the world aping people from the other side of the world, which again is something that ensures progress of our "civilization". About this last statement I will explain later, or if u could just ask me. Coming back to the meaning of everything - it just refers to what is in the immediate surroundings. What really matters to us - friends, family, teachers, students, our vehicles, our neighbours and the sort.

I will take this instance to try to drive my point through - the British conquering "our" land. Yes, surely the british have occupied this land for more than 200 years, and have "exploited" this land till there was nothing. They pillaged our land, killed our people, imposed taxes that was pretty obviously (to us) unfair. Nobody's objecting? Of course not, because this is what we "know". A nice little thing to think about - Isn't the present Indian "government" doing the same? I read of thousands of farmers killing themselves for reasons more than one. I read of thousands of sardarjis killed by the order of the "government". But blaming it all on one aspect of history to make "our" country the "better" country seemed herculean - but it happened.
You see, Britain did nothing more than what a government would do for its people. At least a Briton would not accept bribes as openly as the ones who run the peoples offices today.


Now, try to see what would've happened if the whites didn't come here. For all I know, I wouldn't have been sitting here writing this blog in the language that i use as my first. I would probably be traveling to here and far away by horse. My grand parents would've probably stayed back in China making mandarin my first language. There are many more but I will leave it at your liberty to "understand" the "more". Here, i have to commend the education ministry for making this possible, for performing and making successful such a huge task.

I will prove to you that the education we get is saffronized. I am sure, in the geography and history that we learned in our 4th or 5th standards, India and Pakistan and China have fought wars, separately, before. We also learned that Pakistan occupies a part of Kashmir - the north western part, and so does China - the north eastern part which includes Aksai Chin; all of which the Indian government considers as India. The maps printed in India show that the area occupied by the foreigners are still Indian. Go to any other country and look at their international maps. Kashmir that we know of doesnt look like Kashmir anymore.

And we also learned that India won those wars. How the hell do you win a war and still lose land?? The thing is, we - the aam junta, do not know that we have lost land. We refer to that area as "Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir". My God. Grow up!

All this for just trying to push my point through. Such a long explanation is not worth explaining my original point, because I will not be believed. I know very few of you who read this will actually believe me, and there will be others who will go through wikipedia and then believe my story, but not my original point.

Now coming to "why trying to understand everything is a bad thing." You see, by trying to understand the actual history of this "glorious" nation, you may have realized by now that I would've gotten a lot of flak if i tried to explain this point to anyone. My ex girlfriend who's father used to work for the India air force used to nearly kill me for this. One is not normally liked for believing in the truth. But the point here I try to push for is- getting flak for believing in what really happened/happens (a.k.a everything), not for opposing India.

It maybe a matter of point of view, a matter of perspective, but if the perspective on the other side are SO skewed that they could kill me for this, then I think its time someone UNskewed it. If I lived in the US, I probably would be taken away to an FBI prison for propaganda. Luckily, here - like I said earlier - Nobody cares.

Yes, to try and understand everything is not exactly a good thing, and its not that the quest for understanding everything is a pitfall, but the result of knowing how everything works is. I know not many people who live life this way, and i know even fewer who actually agree with me. "Nobody cares" is what this may be termed as, but this is really what is "good". Ignorance is bliss? Yeah it sure is.

Have I made sense? Get into touch with me if you really interested in what I believe.

What runs in my mind is nothing more than an illusion, of what i want the world to be. If it weren't for this quality which we all have, a quality of expecting expectations from things we do, this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but the problem is - we do. some of us want a new dog, a new house, want to get married, want a relationship with that "someone", want money, want friends, want peace - the list keeps on going; and its not that we all have only ONE want, each of us 6.5 billion people have more than one.

To different people, the world appears in a different way. What is "defined" as sane in one culture is completely preposterous in another - i mean, i always thought girls/women with sleeveless clothes are more un-traditional and more open. Hmmm, now picture yourself in a world filled with yellow sand everywhere, with very little or no electricity, with white clad men wearing turbans walking around, in what the world calls Afghanistan, those girls/women are not that acceptable anymore now are they?

Anyway, i'm beginning to drift. What is it we want from this world? To live comfortably? To earn money? To be happy? Its funny we have these wants, because though we know the harsh reality is that one day we wont be here anymore, whether it is because of old age or cancer or the next world war, WE WONT BE HERE, and yet there are these things we seek, these things we start each day with hoping we would get "somewhere". This is exactly the same that most religious books preach. It wont get inside our heads now will it?? It cant, for our heads are SO intricately wired that every attempt to thwart this want of "wants" will delete itself by default. Our brain almost treats it like a virus, and an automatic antivirus software detects it and throws it out. So though we know that we are temporary, though we know that what we want and get is lost anyway, we still pursue these, which isnt that funny now when u come to think of it in a different perspective.

A human mind is about selfishness, a friend once told me. All about it. Just that one quality about us makes us so pathetic, and yet so human. We are all here for the immediate thirst quenchers, the more immediate results are what we look for. The obvious choice between a coke and warm water to quench actual thirst would be the coke by most. And even IF we realize it at the time that the former would actually dehydrate us, we still overlook that very conveniently. The immediate satisfaction got by the coke is a lot better than warm water. SO WHAT if we get obese, SO WHAT if we dehydrate.... SO WHAT? Its better to live a life satisfied rather than not. Right??

What i have written above is not fact, but can be looked more upon as an opinion. To which some people will agree to as SO RIGHT, and some partially, and yet others completely against it - This is fact. To satisfy everyone is mission impossible, and its not like in the movie where it becomes possible. I sure hope the reader is not bored by what i have entered here, since this is a product of my sheer joblessness, and would diplomatically apologise to those who are. ;-)

TAKE IT AS YOU WANT IT. Until next time, bye bye.