Day3 - Delhi

Kashyapa had a tough time securing all the berths together and we had to settle for a 7-1 split. Though the lone berth was in the same compartment, it was a few blocks away from the group. One of us had to go on "Agnatavaasa" during the night. While Tholpi volunteered on the first occasion, I decided to relieve him on the second night.

I was woken up by a fellow passenger shouting "Jhansi". I noticed that most of the people there had already woken up and the lights were on. Since I wanted to see Jhansi fort, I decided to get up and join my friends. Once on my feet I realized that something was wrong. It seemed to be pretty dark outside and many people in the comparment were still asleep. It was then I saw the board outside - "Bhopal". The train was in Bhopal and it the time was still 12:00 AM. I had actually slept for about half an hour and thought it was time to wake up!!! False alarm. I promptly went back to my berth, and fell asleep cursing the person who had shouted "Jhansi".


>> Chambal valley

The following morning was much hotter than the previous day. We reached Delhi at 11:40 AM. It was sizzling hot outside. Well, it was a typical Delhi summer day. Nothing more. We packed ourselves into two taxis (read mobile ovens) and went to Maharana Pratap ISBT (inter state bus terminus). From here we had to go to Kullu and from there to Kasol (our base camp).

Initially I was conned by an agent into believing that there is a direct bus to kasol. He took me to a shop outside the bus stand, to a private operator. By that time, Kashyapa had joined us and we figured out that he was trying to swindle us. So, we came back to the stand and went to HRTC (Himachal pradesh road transport corp) reservation counter. We figured out that the rates were pretty expensive. An ordinary bus ticket would cost Rs 350 and a deluxe would cost Rs 585 !!! Since we had a 14 hour journey ahead of us, I voted for deluxe. Kashyapa was hell bent upon the cheaper one. This made me more particular about the deluxe bus :) We decided to take a vote, but most of them seemed to be fine with either. Very reluctantly, I agreed to settle for the ordinary bus. The bus was at 5:00 PM in the evening. Then we had lunch in a small hotel inside ISBT and drank lots of HPMC apple juice.

After all this, we realized that we were really dirty. It had been 2 days since we had taken bath and we had more than 2 hours to kill. So, why not take a bath? Again, I and Kashyapa had divergent opinions. But this time, the others put their weight behind me and kashyapa reluctantly (as reluctantly as I had agreed to go by the ordinary bus) agreed to accompany us. We went out in the aftrenoon heat in search of a decent hotel. What we finally got was far from that. We rented a room at hotel "Star" for 2 hrs. There was a double bed in the room which was the only place to sit, sleep or spread the clothes. Kashyapa, who refused to take a bath dozed off. Tholpadi, a very disciplined man, finished his bath and performed "Sudarshana Kriya", a kind of pranayama. In the process he happened to break Chethak's cooling glass.

By about 4:15, we left the hotel and walked back to the ISBT. The bus was there, and we realized that it was pretty crammed. I realized that the journey would be pretty tough and boarded the bus only because the deluxe bus was already full. Also, it was impossible to have all our luggage inside the bus. We put a good part of our luggage on top of the bus. The bus promptly started at 5:00. The journey to Kullu was very cramped and uneventful.