INDIA DEKHA !!

Unbelievable ! I couldn't believe my eyes when i saw men carrying pessengers in their pedal rickshaw outside Jabalpur railway station. Night of September 21, 2008 had just begun and i was to begin my official tour cum on job study of Information technology in the heart of India. Honestly, i felt pain in my legs as that lean man carried me in his pedal-rickshaw.

Anyway on reaching my hostel, i found myself lost in thoughts about the weeks ahead in an unknown region about a thousand kms. far from my residence. Worries of adjusting with the new routine made me forget that leg pain. Luckily my room partner was sweet and talkative like me and i knew from the day one that peace will prevail in the room. Ok, forget everything, you badly need a good sleep after the 24 hour journey - i told myself !

Its so fresh and chilled out - morning in the outskirts of the small town ! I almost fell in love with the place just for the blissful peace as i realized what i had been going through in past ten years or so. What's the use of all the technological advances if we have to sacrifice our peace of mind under work pressure and contaminate our body and soul with ever increasing pollution in the cities ?, I asked myself but found nothing in reply except recalling of the fact that i had to get ready for the lectures - the official reason of my stay here ! The institute building is almost like a palace crying out loud that it has seen much better days in the past. One can easily sense that feeling of lost kingdom in the behaviour of the staff here. Lectures are not so boring as the almost retired lecturers but i think tackleing situations with patience is also a part of the skill upgradtion course. Simply put, its a "lets get it over with" game.

The sun cares for us and sets finally. Evening is cool due to approching winter, add to it the relaxed feel of a typical small town and your senses tells you "THANK YOU" !

So now what ? The usual quest to find some refreshing activity to pass the evening gets tougher as it gets dark a little earlier here. On the Positive side, all the batchmates share my feeling making the quest easier. Having no other plan i decide to catch up with the group of my room-mate in a walkathon with unspecified finishing line. Minimum traffic-of both people and vehicles makes you feel relaxed. I felt too bad while staring at all the well-shaped women in the way and even complained to God that why he is so unjust to females of my region.It was about half an hour walk to the market area from our hostel which was inside army cantonment area.

Walking proved good for the first day to have a feel of the place where i was to stay for the next six weeks but it started to bore me after few days. One readily available option was to play badminton, table-tennis, cricket or volleyball.I never knew that badminton and table-tennis can be fun too, at least much better than watching tv ! Volleyball was another toy to cure my evening fatigue. Its round, tight, hard, fast-jumping and keeps you on toes to avoid getting hit !

It felt like hanging out with a miniature version of the multi-faceted indian society looking at my batchmates - from Punjab, Uttar pradesh, Calcutta and South india. Just think of dealing with rough north indians, sweet-talking Bengalis and diplomatic south indians on the same day and sometimes on the same playground ! One group prefers long walks, one other is always found on the playground, another gets busy booking train tickets to their homes whenever the only computer of the class is found unoccupied and there are one or two mysterious groups too whose activties i could not figure out ! Anyway, the positive side was that i had options to change activities and avoid boredom !

Dhuandhar

Plenty of holidays and nothing to do in this place far from our homes - it gave us an opportunity to explore the heart of india and for me its a long-awaited chance to see the real picture behind the much publicised "INDIA DEKHA" campaign of Madhya Pradesh government. First outing was the famous Dhuandhar falls on the river Narmada.

The journey began and very soon the damaged roads started threatening my joints - get out of the way or get dismantled ! They went on the mission full-heartedly and could definitely have achieved their goal only if Narmada had decided to fall from a more distant location. Thank heavens, its over, statues in the car came alive, out in the fresh air of the riverfront. Dhuandhar succeeds in making itself heard despite the crowd and creates a watery fog in the hot season. Not much of a great site, still its enjoyable as a picnic place at least. Maybe thats why some of us focussed their eyes on certain ladies changing clothes in the open. Its Hard to believe but even i tried to capture those moments with my mobile camera. Some guys started exploring the rocky surroundings but managed to find nothing except their own photos in weird poses. Bargaining for the cheap roadside stuff was quite a fun plus i had to buy some memorabilia cum gifts too. So i got earrings made from the marble rocks around the river.



So concluded the tour without any extraordinary event. Night had registered its presence before we entered the small town with hopes of more interesting tours in the coming holidays.

From the next day all of us returned to the routine - surviving lectures during the day and searching for newer ideas to make the night colourful. Isn't it natural for every human to go for breaking all the rules of the society given a proper opportunity ?

Crash landing on the way to Sin city

It was a dimly lit restaurant full of people committing the crime to relax themselves with the foul-tasting, ill-reputed liquid called Alchohol. I was saying, "Thats enough yaar, its my first time with Beer ! " My partner in crime, a rowdy-looking guy from Uttar Pradesh, was provoking me in harsh words to have one more bottle of beer. I did manage to escape the situation but only after accepting to torture my stomach with a half-filled glass of beer. He kept reminding me, " don't worry about getting drunk, i'll take care of you !" What actually happened was - he seemed to be more out of step than me when we stepped out of the restaurant ! Now i don't recall how it started but we were discussing about where to find prostitutes in this alien city. Obviously i being the shy guy, he took the initiative and asked a pedal-rickshaw man about it. That rickshaw-puller agreed to be our accomplice in the sinful adventure and took us to a place known for prostitution activities. Being somewhat out of mind, i was ready to remove my belt at the tiniest opportunity available and take the beer-induced flight of fantasy to the next level. "Come on yaar, its ok, better luck next time", I told myself on discovering the fact that there's no air-hostess to accompany me and then to land together with me after the fantastic flying adventure.

Do i need to mention that instead of getting to the next level of insane fun, i found myself completely in control on the grounds of reality with shattered dreams lying all around me !