Exploring North-East ........sharing my own experience

This trip was never planned and it’s not a new thing with me. I prefer making plans on short notice aur fir just pack your bags and nikal jao. Sometime over planning can delay your trips and this is the last thing I want...jab mood ban jaye fir kahe ko kabraei.

It all started on 14th of July, 16 when I and Kamlesh met at AI lab to discuss the progress on his paper. Suddenly I threw him the idea of visiting Darjeeling to celebrate our success in the final exams (we both got 9).  In no time we were looking for all sorts of websites to get an idea about visiting the place. The images looked captivating. After few googling, we found a direct train to NJP from Ranchi and the best part...tickets were available...around 122 of them. .We didn't waste any more time and went down to the counter and booked two tickets for around 900 bugs. Half an hour ago, we were not even sure of meeting each other and now we both were ready with our tickets booked to explore the hills of North Bengal and Sikkim. We were  excited about all this. We saw more and more pictures of the place and each one of them added a bit to our ecstasy. I did some shopping for the trip and got myself a new bag pack. Our train was scheduled to leave Ranchi at 5:45 in the morning. I packed everything a night before and booked a car in advance to fetch me from BIT Mesra to railway station. At around 4.30 he came and dropped me at the station at around 5.15 where I was joined by Kamlesh 15 mins later.  We both boarded our train. It horned couple of time and slowly left the station.

Day 1: Welcome Darjeeling

Train journeys have always been exciting for me...be it the beautiful villages I get to see throughout the journey, the busy stations with so many people or the random talks with the co-passengers. This was no different than others. At around 5 in the morning the train reached Siliguri station. After inquiring some of the co-passengers familiar to the place, we discovered that getting down at Siliguri is better than going to New Jal Paiguri as it had better connectivity with Darjeeling. We got down at the station. We walked straight out to the main road where we found many vehicles on share basis to fetch us to Darjeeling charging Rs 150 per head. We had to wait for around half an hour to get the 10 seater all occupied. Meanwhile we enjoyed tea and biscuits .Our luggage was kept on the roof and was wrapped in plastic to prevent it from the rain. It took around 3-4 hours to reach Darjeeling stand. As the Sumo climbed up and up the hill, the view from the window grew more beautiful. We took out our camera and tried capturing the moment. The roads grew narrower and narrower and each time a vehicle approached from opposite side, i literally closed my eyes in fear as the driver stirred toward the edge of the road. The circling roads made me felt a little uneasy. Chain ki saans aayi jab finally we got down at Darjeeling station. All the way we saw the tracks of toy train which is another option to travel to Darjeeling from Siliguri. It is estimated to take around 8 hours and leave siliguri early morning by around 8 but i guess the joy of travelling will be a different experience all together. Since we were low on time, we preferred the quicker option.

After reaching the top, the first priority was to get a good hotel at best deal. We checked the nearby places. Be aware of the local agents and try to avoid them. We decided to have a breakfast at an eatery and search the web for better results. We entered a good looking restaurant with a lovely lady sitting at the bill counter. We enquired if breakfast was available. Few Litti from the journey was still left with us. We ordered Puri Sabji and Paratha. Most of the items looked expensive than usual. As we were discussing about finding a hotel, the owner offered us to look at the rooms they rent. We checked it and it was satisfactory. The room was well furnished and had wooden flooring. Fan was missing. I guess people don't need them there any time of the year. After a little bargaining, we manage to make a deal at Rs 1600 per day and as we were four of us, it didn’t hurt our budget. Most of us were tired and decided to take a nap before planning a local sightseeing tour. Meanwhile I switched on the TV and saw the highlights of euro cup. By 11 am, all of us were ready. We decided to stroll around the market and explore the place on foot. We started on Hill Cart Road. The locals informed us to visit the zoo which is a 15 min. walk from our hotel. The narrow streets of Darjeeling looked very busy early morning. All the essentials are fetched to the city via small trucks or vans and are then transported to various spots through humans carrying items on their back. We checked in the local market known as Chowk Bazaar and saw many biharis in the shops. We had a nice chat with them and they gave us useful tips about exploring the place. The left side of the road lead to the valley and gave an awesome view. We stopped at one of the railings and just adored the beautiful nature. The happy valley tea estates gardens running all the way down the hill and the circling roads with small huts and the long and straight trees mesmerized us. The misty fog floating in the air added to its beauty. I wish i was a poet to describe the place more beautifully. Clicking many selfies and pictures we traveled through the streets. On the right side, we saw a board on a way going up indicating the zoo. We took the stairs and climbed up. There were many dhabas at one of the turnings. We decided to have something. I ordered chicken momos for Rs 50 a plate. I devoured it in no time. Another 50 m walk up the hill, we were at the gate of the zoo. It charged Rs 40 per head as entry fee. The place had good collection of animals. The best part about the zoo was the Himalayan mountaineering training institute and the museum which had collections of items used by Tenzing Norway and Hillary. There were many other things of interest and a model of the Himalayas. It took us around 3 hours to completely explore the place. We thought of visiting the tea gardens next. We talked to the local gadi wala and he agreed on taking us to the tea gardens and dropping us back to our hotel for Rs 400. He first stopped at Tenzing Rock. This was the place where Tenzing practiced rope climbing as a kid. The next destination was tea garden. We thought the car will take us down through the green gardens via road as we saw while strolling the streets but to our disappointment, he dropped us 5 km away at a tea garden point. We took the kutcha road and travelled few meters down to get a better view. After clicking some pictures we went up to have a taste of the Darjeeling tea. Although i am not a big fan of tea, the taste excited my taste buds. They were selling the stuffs for Rs 320 a kg. I got some packed for my home, hopping this may make my mom and dad happy. It was already around half past 3 by then. We decided to take some rest and explore the famous mall road in the evening. 

Mall road is among the most popular hangout places of Darjeeling and you can find lots of hotels nearby at chowrasta. Surely being at a hot spot, the charges can shoot up during peak season. We left our hotel at around half past 6. We took the directions from the lady in the restaurant. We were supposed to trek up the road. We kept on asking the locals to verify if we were on the correct path. As we came closer and closer to the place, the quality of crowd kept improving. You can spot a lot of north Indians there, spending their summers trying to avoid the hot weather back at home. The market was well decorated and lit with lights. There were shops selling arts, woolen clothes, antiques, pictures, food, beer etc. etc. We kept moving ahead checking out all these. The drizzle in the air with the street light in the background gave it a romantic look. There was a big screen at the junction previewing a live euro cup football match. Many people had gathered there to witness it. I wondered what fun it would be to have such screen at the college campus. We too sat there and witnessed the first half. The drizzle started to get heavy. After strolling around for an hour, we came down to our hotel after having a light dinner at the market. Next morning we were supposed to catch an early morning bus to Jaigaon, the last city in India at Bhutan border. I set the alarm to 5 in the morning. While seeing the pictures we clicked the entire day, I didn’t remember when my eyes closed and I went to sleep.

Day 2: Mission Bhutan

As I have the habit of getting up early, I was assigned the role of reserving four seats in the bus to Jaigoan as someone told us that they sell tickets on first come first basis. I packed my stuffs and went to the bus stand which was 10 min. walk from my hotel. Early mornings are beautiful everywhere .The busy roads looked quite and deserted as if they are also sleeping .I asked few locals about the bus and they informed me that it will depart at 7.30 in the morning and will arrive at the station at around 6. I went to the nearby chai stall and had a cup of Darjeeling tea talking to the locals. Some of them told me to wait till the bus arrived. At around 6, a small mini bus painted in blue arrived at the bus stand with the letters …DARJEELING TO JAIGOAN …written on the front glass. I went running to the conductor and asked him to book 4 seats. He told that he could only give me seats at the back as all of them were reserved the day before .I asked him if I could pay the money and he can give me the tickets as that will assure me of my seats but he insisted that he had made a promise and will only give the tickets when the bus leaves. I believed him. I had more than one hour to spend. I went back to the place I saw the tea gardens yesterday and sat there for half an hour. I wished I had my guitar with me. I saw couple of ladies doing morning exercise. I asked one of them to click my pictures on my cell. They acknowledged. I preferred not to disturb them any more. I got a call from Kamlesh. They too had checked out and are waiting at the bus stand. I gave them the seat number and told them to occupy it. By quarter past 7, we all were there in the bus. I saw many disappointed face returning back as they didn’t get a seat. Jaldi utne ke kuch to faide hai…I thought. Discussing began among us. The topic ran from politics to sports to Bit. The driver started the engine at 7.40. Feeling of landing a foot in a foreign land made me a little excited and anxious.

We were supposed to reach Jaigoan via siliguri…the same route which we took while coming. But the bus chose a different path than the road used by small SUVs. It started raining heavily and I took the window seat. I could feel the freshness and coldness in the air. There were sharp turns and few blind ones but the  driver handled all of them with his expertise. Slowly and steadily we came down the hill. Our first halt was a small village where we had breakfast and tea. The bus slowly climbed down along the river Teesta. The coronation bridge is an example of khatarnak engineering. The view from the bridge was unforgettable. After couple of hours, we were into the plains. The driver surely got excited after that and drove at a Michael Sumakar’s speed. The next halt came at a dhaba on a highway where we had our lunch. It started raining heavily as we ate our lunch. The sound of water falling on aluminum sheets felt like music to the ears. Somehow running across, we entered the bus and it left for its next destination. Hearing the music on the earphone I didn’t remembered when I felt asleep in the bus. When I woke up we were among the tea gardens. It was still drizzling outside. Around 4 in the evening the bus reached Jaigaon bus stand. We took an auto to reach the Bhutan border gate. We asked the driver if he had any idea about making the pass to enter Bhutan. He gave us some useful tips and also informed us that the weekends are holidays at the immigration office. This made us a little worried as that day was Saturday. After getting down, we ran toward the office, hoping there was any little chance of getting through the paper works, but to our disappointment, everything was closed. The officers informed us that the pass could only me made on Monday. Standing at the Bhutan gate, we were all upset and confused about our next plan. Waiting a couple of days didn’t seem a viable option. People informed us that we could roam around inside 4 km of Bhutan without any pass. All tired from a long bus travel, we thought of first checking into a hotel, getting a shower and then deciding about the next plan. We checked in a nearby hotel which charged us Rs 900  a day. It was at a walking  distance from the Bhutan gate. After deciding about the cons and pros, we decided that it will be futile spending couple of days here and hence we should move ahead toward Gangtok tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, we can explore Bhutan till 8 in the evening. We went to the booking office, close to the chowrasta near Bhutan gate and booked tickets to Gangtok for Rs 200 per head. The guy informed us that the Sumo will be leaving early morning and we should be ready by 7 in the morning at the picking point which was just across the road. After our tickets were done, we decided to explore Bhutan. I was surprised the way we could so easily cross the border. There were Indian Forces on our side and Bhutan forces on theirs. They hardly took efforts to even check us. One step more and I was in a foreign land. Though India and Bhutan were hardly, 100 meters away at that point, we could see a huge difference, not only in the people attitude, but in the architecture and the hygiene. Bhutan looked so clean and disciplined as compared to our country which seemed a mess looking from a distance inside Bhutan. We explored some of the places inside. We were definitely not at the same comfort level which we were while roaming around India. We became extra vigilant that we should not be caught doing anything wrong here. We tasted samosa from an Indian restaurant and had a little chat with him. At around half past 7, we came out to our own mother land. The busy crowd welcomed us and to be frank it comforted me. We then explored a little more of Jaigoan and finally went to our room at around half past 9. Next morning we were supposed to catch a Sumo to Gangtok at 7. Setting the alarm to 6 we slept in the comfortable bed of the hotel.

Day 3: Travelling back to Gangtok

I got up before the alarm and checked the time. It was 5.15 in the morning. I tried sleeping more but couldn’t. I switched on the geyser and the TV. Kamlesh was still lost in his dreams. I preferred not to disturb him. By 6 I was almost ready when the mobiles start noising. Kamlesh got up in haste and snoozed the cell. I told him to get ready as we may get late. We checked out at around 6.45 after double checking the room if we had not left anything back. As we stood at the stand we saw some ladies trying to get their luggage off an auto. Being a gentleman I am, I preferred to help them and placed their luggage under the roof safe from the morning rain. We talked a little. The four of them were from Gangtok and were coming from Bhutan where they went on a pilgrimage. Coincidently they were travelling in the same vehicle with us to Gangtok. As a curious visitor I asked them a lot of question about Gangtok and their life style. They too didn’t seem to get bothered and enjoyed the conversation with us. Our Sumo was delayed by 10 min. At around half past 7, it drove in and stood at the stand. Some locals came running to give their service by picking up our luggage and keep them on the sumo’s roof. We had minimum bags and so we politely refused. It was nearly 15 mins into the road when it started raining. The driver played cool Bollywood songs which went nicely with the mood. We came through the same road via which we went to Jaigaon. I searched the net for the way and found that 90% of the route was same for Darjeeling and Gangtok and it only separated some distance ahead of siliguri. The only halt was at the same dhaba which we stopped before. There were already so many tourists feeding their appetite. We had to wait to get a table. The place was cheap and the food was tasty which I guess is the reason it is so heavily packed. Had our lunch we waited for other co-passengers to come. Meanwhile we took some snap. By 12 noon we entered Gangtok and were welcomed by a beautifully designed gate. The first ad which you will notice in a big size poster was “MANFORCE CONDOM” .I guess that sums up kind of crowd visiting the city. The car slowly crawled through the clean and well swept roads of Sikkim. After another 30 mins ride up the hill, we reached the stand. One of the ladies was to share a cab with us to the main road where she advised us to take a room as it will closer to most places of interest. We switched to a mini car which fetched us to the main road. In the way we checked out the nearby markets and the cute girls walking around. The carwala dropped us near MG Road. After bidding bye to aunty, we started our quest for a good hotel. We checked few of them around and finally settled at hotel which gave us a good discount and offered us a room at Rs 1100. The owner was a Bengali and seemed very religious with many goddesses’ pictures at the reception desk. The place was colder than Darjeeling. We planned to visit nearby places after couple of hours of rest. At 4 in the evening, dressed in a yellow hoodie and a basketball short I came out to explore the beautiful gangtok. Some kids at the Darjeeling tea gardens praised a lot about MG road and so we chose to explore the place first. On entering the street, the first thing we noticed was TOURIST INFORMATION CENTER. We thought of giving the place a visit. The diplomats were helpful in guiding us the best way to visit Sikkim. They informed us about the morning visit to Tsomgo Lake and Baba Harbajan Singh temple and asked us to do a pre-booking to make a permit. Nathula pass would be closed due to rainfall for some time and so it will be a miss. The pictures of the lake looked captivating with snow covered hills around. It was a picture from the winters. They also gave us a small handbook free of cost containing all important information about Sikkim Tourism. All geared up with lots of data and info we exited the place. Plan was to stroll down to the nearby cable ropeway and take a ride this evening and get a bird eye view of Gangtok. The charge per head was 110 bugs. We had to wait for nearly 20 mins for our turn. Meanwhile we enjoyed the view from top having tea and snacks. The cable car was a small red color compartment with a max. capacity of 20 tourists. We all got in and occupied the windows on either side. To our bad luck, a dense fog came around and reduced the visibility. We could hardly see anything below from the top. It gave us a feeling of a flight taking off. The to and fro journey was of 15 mins. At the end we realized that it was certainly a waste of money and not worth the price it was charging. It started to rain a little heavily outside and so we waited. It began to grow dark outside when we came out. The place started looking more beautiful in the lights. We slowly walked through the streets of MG Road looking around various shops and restaurants. Then suddenly something happened which literally shocked me. A small Nepali guy from front came to us and asked,”Bhaiya ladki chahiye kya??” I was stunned and speechless for a moment and then politely refused him,”Nahi bhaiya..kissi aur ko puch lo”.  I never expected that to happen especially on Mahatma Gandhi road. Kamlesh then shared his own experience of him in Delhi when his friends narrated their naughty experiences to him. The place was similar to the mall road of Darjeeling; with similar shops both the side of the street and people from every corner of the country. I could hear some speaking in Marathi, some in Bengali, others in some south Indian language and many in north Indian Hindi. We took an empty bench and sat there chatting with a sip of tea at our hand. The place got livelier with every passing minute. It was a perfect place to play a guitar and then roam around with a hat asking for money. I guess if I had brought mine, we could have certainly made at least some.

The tourist center informed us to book our tickets before 7 in the evening and we would need an identity proof and two passport size photographs. We entered the booking center with all the requirements and were almost done with all the formalities when a beautiful lady entered. She must be around 30. She had small dark eyes with a sharp nose and thin lips. She looked a bit in haste and a little tired. She said that she wanted to book a similar trip to the lake early morning but was not comfortable sharing a seat with some stranger. She proposed to pay double and get a full seat at the front but the travel agent refused which made no sense to even me. My first reaction was that the guy did not understand the proposal made by the lady as they should be concerned only about the money which she was ready to pay. I tried convincing him on her behalf. She was touring the entire north-east alone and the confidence and body language surely impressed me. I had a little conversation with her before we left after collecting our receipt. I hoped to see her again early morning at our trip.  Walking up and down the hills and the early morning journey had made us tired. We grabbed a piece of sandwich from a local store and headed toward our hotel. At around half past 10, I comforted myself in the cozy quilt the hotel provided us.

Day 4:  Exploring Gangtok

We were supposed to report at 7 at Psongo lake bus stand. The tourist information Centre had asked us to call the number mentioned in the receipt to know the registration number of the vehicle supposed to pick us. We had read that the place will be colder and so we grabbed a jacket with us. We took a cab from our hotel to the psongo stand .The cabbie was a cool guy and we had good interaction coming all the way. After getting down we thought of having the breakfast. The stand had a good small canteen within its campus. We were their first customer. I ordered Maggi and a plate of chappati and sabji. Then we started searching the mentioned registration number in the stand. There was no sign of it. We tried calling to the number when a guy asked us to come at a different pick up point. I got a bit angry as this will cost us more 100 bugs unnecessary. I talked to the traffic cop standing nearby and asked him to scold the driver for giving us wrong information and order him to come to the stand to fetch us but the driver was himself much bigger dude. He even didn’t heared the cops and was constantly nagging about coming us to different spot. The cops advised us to file an FIR against the driver for cheating the tourists. He promised us that the vehicle will not leave us for lake without us and they will take strict action against our complain. I would have done that if I was alone and had a little more time but my friends didn’t wanted to get involved in all this and so at the end we hired a cab and went to the spot. The vehicle was standing there with the driver. He apologized and gave his own reason. I checked my co-passengers. There was already a family sitting in the middle seat, husband wife with their young little son. They were from Patna. We chatted a little. They told us about the package they took to visit the place- Rs 15000 for a group of three for Darjeeling and Gangtok. It was far less than we ended up spending in our own trip. The only disadvantage of these package trips are that you will lose your freedom and had to be aligned with the trip advisor. One more family was supposed to join us but perhaps they were late. I checked the permit taking it from the driver. All our photographs were pasted on top with id proofs and name .There was a temple nearby .I thought of visiting it to kill the time as the driver informed us that it will take more half an hour for us to start the trip. I climbed up nearly 200 stairs. It was Bhole baba mandir with a big red flag fluttering in the air. I sat there for some time adoring the view from the top catching my breath. I talked to the locals who were busy preparing some plain area on the top by carving the hill. After clicking some pictures for my memory I climbed down. The family was still not there. We talked again from the lady sitting in the middle seat. She was a professor at Patna B.Ed. College. I asked her about the training programs they had for the teachers. She mentioned psychology as one of the important subjects. She then mentioned her other day visit to south Sikkim. The kid was cool and we talked about his passion and sports. The other family finally came. They too were three with a girl kid. The family started interacting with each other. We became a silent listener as we had very little to contribute to their family talks. Yesterday in the evening I thought of meeting the cute lady from information Centre. I hoped that she too will join us for the day trip but the reality was us caught with two families. Sometime I wonder if there is god for us. In nearly half an hour after the journey began, we found ourselves in a foggy wonderland. The roads got narrower with quotes from BRO written all over them to drive safely. The vision reduced to 10 feet and it started raining too. I loved it. I took the camera out and recorded everything giving a background commentary. Noise from the backseats also grew a little. The fog finally got cleared to present a view of the huge Rocky Mountains and circling roadways. We saw a glimpse of the lake at a turn. It looked beautiful. Reflection of the mountains in the water with the sun in the background made me remember my paintings. I always imagined such places in my mind but now I was here witnessing them in reality. We didn’t halt there and planned to stop here while coming back. Our next halt was at Maya’s tea point. It was getting colder and they were also renting jackets at 100 per piece. The other family was least prepared for the climate and they had to borrow a piece for everyone. Some of us ordered Maggi. There was an old aunt with her daughter. We chatted with them about their lifestyle and the problem they face in their day to day life and the behavior of the armed forces around. Maya and I gelled nicely and we had a little joke about Kamlesh. After the small break, we boarded again to stop at Baba Harbhajan singh temple. I already had read about the place last night. It’s based on a story of an Indian soldier who gave his life in the service of the nation. The view got more beautiful as we approached the place. It got breathtaking at the spot. At around 200 meters climb from the original temple, there was a huge Shiva statue and a waterfall on its right side. We always read about Ganga coming out from Shiva’s hair but we could actually visualize it here. Hopping and jumping through the stones we made our way to the top. The water was really cold. We explored the place for half an hour trying to capture the moment in the digital world before coming back to the mandir where we had coffee. There was another mandir, popularly known as old baba mandir few kilometers away from the main temple. The driver asked us extra to take us to the place. Most of the us preferred to give it a miss. Thus, he drove us back to the lake. The view of the lake from the top of mountain was beautiful. It took around half an hour to come back to the lake. One of the attractions of the place was the yak ride. Those were beautifully decorated in colorful clothes. I just preferred to get myself clicked sitting on the animal which cost me 50 bugs than to ride it. After having some snacks, we moved to return to Gangtok. By 4 in the evening we were back. After getting back the network on cell, Kamlesh booked us two tickets back to Ranchi the next day. Fortunately we got confirmed seats. The train was from Siliguri. To get an idea about travelling from Gangtok to Siliguri, we went to the tourist information center where we were received by a charming young lady dressed in black. She described us two ways, one by government bus and other by sumo car. Her voice went well with her shiny eyes and beautiful smile. We kept on asking and asking…I guess boys will be boys at the end. She advised us to go to the siliguri stand and enquire. We took a share taxi to get our tickets for tomorrow morning to the stand but have to return empty handed as no prior booking was done there and the man asked us to come early morning the next day. We returned back to the hotel after grabbing the same sandwich we had last night.  The next day was Yoga day and I was excited to see the celebration seeing the preparation from last few days at mg road. Setting the alarm at 5 in the morning, I went to bed.

Day 5: Rain Yoga and our return

Noise from rain woke me up. It was around 10 mins to 5. I got up to cherish the view and pulled the curtains off the window. It was heavily raining outside. I was concerned about the preparations of yoga day and wondered how it will take place. Kamlesh too had planned to attend the event. We were to leave for Siliguri by 9 am. I had planned to come from the event by 8 and then get ready to leave. I tried waking up Kamlesh but he reasoned the rain to not wake up. I took the umbrella and went down to mg road. They have tied a huge tripal to protect the kids from rain. Students from different corner of Gangtok started assembling there. I tried to save some from the rain by sharing my huge umbrella. The kids seemed energized as usual and I had good time talking to them. Sound of gayatri mantra reverbed the whole place. Parents holding umbrella came to drop their kids. Few ngos and fitness organization had too reported. The event was schedule to start at 7.30. I tried capturing the moment with my cell. Few visitors like me also joined the event to witness it. A short looking guy came to the stage and spoke something in the local language which made the kids go gaga. He then made every one of us some assans and told everyone to do rain yoga that day. I enjoyed the event under my umbrella. Yoga was followed by a classical dance by little kids. Dressed in orange sari with Indian makeup made the kids looked cute and adorable. Their dance was cuter than they themselves. At such a small age most of them had mastered Kathak and were so confident at the stage. The parents could be seen around the stage with their phones under the umbrellas. Indeed a proud moment for them. They received huge appreciation from the crowd. I went to the stage to click their pics. Then their teacher guided them back to backstage. The event ended with a speech. I left in the middle. It was close to 8. Kamlesh was still sleeping at the hotel. I already had packed my stuffs last night. We checked out at around 9 to catch a cab to Siliguri stand. As we approached the stand, we saw a bus leaving for Siliguri and shouted to stop it. Fortunately the conductor saw us and stopped the bus. We ran some 50 mtr in the rain to finally enter it and me as usual took the window seat. I kept looking outside trying to capture all of this as me myself was not sure of visiting it again. The thought of the trip getting over made me little sad but at the same time going back to the hostel made me a little happy too. I had been to many trips in the past, but this one was really the special one among all. Be it the nature, the people, the roads, everything was different and a new experience for me. We got down at Inox cinema at Siliguri to catch a movie as our train was scheduled at night. Fortunately we caught the show UDTA PUNJAB which was already in the news for some time. As it was a weekday, the crowd was thin. We enjoyed the movie and then went to a nearby restaurant to have lunch. The station was around 2 kms . We could have taken auto but we needed to kill time and so we preferred walking. Checking out the place, we slowly moved ahead. We reached the station and waited till our train arrived. The train was on time. We boarded it. I was tired from the journey and so went to the upper berth and slept and so did Kamlesh. Next morning we landed back to Ranchi and then headed toward our own ways.