A Long Long Journey

Back after a long long journey to my homeland BIHAR. Well, now my hometown is a part of the decade old state Jharkhand, but I still like to say, "I am from Bihar". Adds a sudden twist to the conversation and strikes fear in the heart of the other person.

For the past 18 days, I have been travelling by train, bus, car, auto rickshaw, cycle rickshaw, motorbike, bicycle and on foot. Altogether I travelled approximately 5500 kilometers in this trip. I met almost all my relatives. It was fun. It was exhausting.

The adventure started a tad too early when we found out that me and biwi will be sharing the same seats. There is this system with the Indian Railways wherein they give one berth to two people. They pocket both their ticket charges and pretend as if they have obliged us by letting us travel on their holy trains. Quite a scam.

Anyways, we made the best use of our resources. Me sleeping the whole journey and biwi guarding our luggage. Not exactly a chivalrous attitude from me but then I had not slept for two nights before that. I would like to thank biwi a ton for the pain she took those two days.

Reached home. Relaxed for some time. Biwi went in the kitchen to help mom and I went out to meet my childhood friends. Being with your chaddi friends is quite a different feeling altogether. You never feel embarrassed to talk about anything under the sun. We had loads and loads of bakar for full 5 days. Talked about our school days and what happened after that. Am missing those 5 days already.

Had a wonderful Diwali with my family. After some 10 years, I was back at home with both my younger brothers for Diwali. Sharing time with your family is one thing you never desire in you childhood, abhor in your adolescence and miss a lot when you are out of your home. It felt awesome to be together after so long.

We went to biwi's home (Jamshedpur) after Diwali. Going to sasural is a treat for any Indian male. You get the treatment deserved by a king. And that too without having to do anything. Sometimes I feel awkward with the respect and pompousness with which I am treated there. I am never treated so royally anywhere else. But then I go with the flow and, invariably, always enjoy my stay there.

From there we drove down to my Dadighar, Ranchi. Met all my relatives there. Was a very happy reunion. Saw dadi after a long gap of 2 years (after my marriage). She had not been keeping well and looked very frail. Hope I can see her again.

Driving back from Ranchi to Jamshedpur through the Maoists infected jungle in the night was an experience in itself. I had strict and clear instructions from Papaji. Drive continuously without any stops and don't even slow down for the potholes and the rough patches. Was an exciting journey.

Next day we left back for Deoghar, my place, as we had to go to my naani's village for Chath. Chath is the all important festival in Bihar and I was there for it after a gap of almost 8-9 years. This trip for Chath requires another post and I will write down my experiences asap.

Coming back from my naani's place, biwi decided to go back to Jamshedpur for a week or so before returning to Bangalore. She had some work there.

So there I was two days alone in the train. But it was a blessing in disguise. I finished reading two books I had wanted to read for a long time now - 'Straight from the gut' and 'Loosing my Virginity'. I will be posting my reviews in a day or so.

It has been three days since I have reached back in Bangalore but I am still to come out of the hangover of my long journey. Hope to come out of it over the weekend and get my life back on track.