Rural...My astonishments contiunes Ofcourse due to my three mistakes

Hellos,

Wow its been 7 months since i wrote...(Though i am not a big time writer but just the thought of completing what I started. And i could not think of any better experience than talking about the most happening night of my life...31st Dec..I know somewhere deep inside what you would be thinking, New Year Eve in Rural its gotta be rocking...So here it goes

My first New Year Eve post marriage... I had made all the plans to spend it with my wife, made the travel plans, tickets, gifts bought, reasons sought for leave, everything very well thought, just one thing i missed..by boss, he had some other plans... and as per those plans i had to finish my month end process and how this will serve a good time for team bonding and all other gyan ...so in short it was all about spending time with Team...my Team

So with no options left and i been seriously pissed off, decided to have my solace in hotel room itself... but here too life had other plans, my team wanted to go somewhere...have a new year bash. But i was relentless and diplomatic. So made a plan...will go to some super exotic location , finish work so that I can come back in hotel.

So on 31st Dec around 2 in afternoon we left for Bhimtal..yes ladies and gentleman its bhimtal and not nanital (as it was too costly). So after 3 hrs drive from bareilly we reached bhimtal but not before 2 guys puked and one was dead sick. Bhimtal to my surprise was a very good place...a small hill station where human habitation was only around the lake. And being december it was super freezing...It was so cold that the lake will normally form a thin layer of ice every night.



We started meeting by 6. Rather than numbers or brands the only thing on my mind was "what time i leave what time i leave". This was my mistake number 1 : My decision to leave at 9 in night from Bhimtal to Bareilly. Everyone were against the idea but i didnt want to freeze in almost zero temp at roof top party... this was definitely not my idea of new year eve party and this lead me to my second mistake - as there were no buses plying at that time so i decided to take taxi...i just missed the part that in hills on big day in night there would not be a single sane driver who would not be drunk.

But since that day only thing on mind was getting back without thinking anything else i was way to adamant to listen to anyone. So i decided to leave and just 5 kms down the way driver turns back and says "Sirjee apko chodte chodte toh new year hojayega..ab meri toh koi family nahi hai baas ek dost hi hai toh soch raha tha ki uske sath new year bitaunga...magar phir ab apko chodne jana hai... toh agar ap mind na kare toh usee sath lelu" this is just a small part of his long selling story which i eventually could not say no to, as i felt the pain of missing my family. Damn the man was bang on..he knew the pain point.

So now we are 5 ppl, me, driver, his freind, freind's wife and their daughter. Now this driver is drunk... driving the alto like BMW at 120kms in ghat...we actually missed two cars by a whisker and everytime i look at him with a anger he was ready with an answer..."Sirjee 10 saal se gaadi chal raha hu tension not. yeh ghat mere ma baap hai" Some how we crossed the ghat.. i took a deep breath and thought thank god now its better.. only to my horror there was absolutely ZERO visibility... no not because of dark but because of fog.. i mean with fog the road was only white and white...I felt i was in heaven except that sometimes there would be zipping sound which got to me to reality or i should say made me lose my cool...damn even in this fog the hero was driving at 50kms/hr and the zipping sound was of nothing else but trucks passing by..we had a very heated argument catalyzed by famous bad words...and in this anger i made my third and biggest mistake where in i asked him to stop for some time..

Driver along with his so called bestest friend went to a corner and on the road side had two quick drinks..man whiskey that too neat.. it had to have its effect and within 5 mins the car was doing zigzag on the main highway, courtesy driver...twice exactly twice trucks stopped on our face...i was so dumbstruck at that moment didnt know how to react. I gained my senses somehow and decided i will drive.. wow i was trying to be a hero but the bloody driver didnt want to leave the steering. this time i didnt resort to gallis as I realized there was a women in the cab and I overlooked her in first conversation. I was so shocked to see that if the person can put his family 's life in danger then who the hell i was...

And that was the first and last good thing i did... i decided to move alone... But on a main road of UP at 11:30 in night with 5k in wallet.. i was inviting trouble...but i had no other option...with that driver i would have got killed anyways so i decided that i will take a chance.. I went up the lady in the cab gave her 2k apologies for my behavior and left. Life was anyways working on Murphy's law that day and having lost all my thinking power, not only because of the trouble but also because of cold.. yaar its was zero degree and with one sweater and a jacket i was freezing...

So i decided to stand on highway in nowhere land...waiting desperately and loosing hope every moment.. then suddenly the clock clicked and it was 12:00 New Year Eve... I dont know why but had a small smile on my face thought to call up my life (wifey) but then realized its bad bad idea, as she will get super tensed and then end up in fight and god also supported my idea as there was no network...brilliant !!!

Suddenly form freezing state i got spark in my eyes as if i would have seen god,but it was a bus with its lights flashing which were nothing less than god himself. So i jumped infront of the bus irrespective of where its heading.

No no the story does not end here as it was my day the bus last stop was 50km away from bareilly... But atleast i was assured i will reach to that point in single piece. In less than an hour i was in Bateddi...and after getting down there at 1 in night i was not sure what's next. However there was only one priority at that moment... release the pressure of my bladders.. man this zero degree temp makes u pee a lot.

I decided to wait for another bus as had enough of taxi travel for the day ..one gentleman came from dark and says..."Kya kar rahe ho babu ghar jao pehli baas subhere 6 baje hai". I tried to reason with him..as in why, why there is no bus...to which the answer was obvious..its super fogged there and no sane person will drive at this hour...and i understood in a flash what he meant..I already meet one of those insane guys.

Now i was walking on streets to find a hotel..the idea was to find a decent hotel and pls not a "DECENT Hotel" but somewhere i could survive the night. The scene was exactly like one in "Jab we Meet" - "Ratlam ki andheri galiya" except that my kareena was sitting 1000 kms away in hyd and i was in Bateddi...praying "babaji ab is raat ko ab boring banado." In search of hotel i moved form one street to another to only find fog, fog and closed doors.. Suddenly i found a Tempo Trax at other corner. Not sure what to do..whether i should approach or walk in opposite direction but before i could decide i just continued in moment of inertia was standing right infront of that trax.

It took me a minute to realize its a taxi which normally keeps plying between two towns. With little persuasion and lot of money they agreed to drop me to bareilly. So here i was again in taxi with two men, however the story that followed was way way different than what happened earlier.

The guys started with literally interrogation..Where r u coming from? Why u r alone and god knows what all they asked..And since it was now way past 1:30, with no dinner and below zero degree temp i was shivering like anything unable to answer even one question. The driver offered me his blanket which i was very suspicious off (With the evening i had it was justified). However after 5 mins he again said "Sirjee app yaha ke rehne wale nahi dikhte ho...lelo kambal nahi toh bareilly main direct hosiptal lejana padega" With this my phone buzzed, and i was not in postion to oppose, so i took this blanket wished my wife over phone a very happy new year. She then as a matter of wishing she said I hope ur time today was good and i wish all your year be like this... to which i had no words to respond...

I dozed off in 2 mins leaving my life in the hands of those two good men. At 3 in morning i was woken up by one of the guys. I never liked the bareilly or the hotel which i was staying in for last 70 days, It was a shitty place, but that night was different. I was never so much happy to see my hotel in last 70 days as much i was that day.

Anyhow, i paid the good guys, went in my room, sat infront of heater and thank god for giving me such a experience. By this time my phone had 10-12 sms all of my close friends wishing Happy New Year and asking wassup how was New Year in Bareilly... to which i just replied FREEZING & ROCKING !!!

My Rural Visit..Not the first but most memorable one...

Though i been visiting my dad's native place many a times so i thought doing my rural stint would be not be difficult.... and i was so wrong... which i am sure you would also agree

It all started in Mumbai, post the Marketing stint (which other than staying in Mumbai was all about polishness, suave and class) i got to know i would be moved to Uttar Pradesh. I had this weird idea that i might be put up at agra (now i think how in this world i would have got agra when i was suppose to do rural) so i was asked to go to Bareilly..pls not is bareilly and not Rai Bareilly

Landed in delhi on 14th and first shocker came as the cold... man!! anyone would freeze, spl if u r coming from Mumbai..post my meeting with boss i moved to Bareilly and this was the time i had absolutely no expectations...no thoughts just one questions ...How i m going to be there in bareilly till Dec end?

I reached bareilly around 10:30 pm..took a rickshaw that too open one... wow!! was ready to go back at that moment ..sala thandi main toh phat gayi thi I reached my hotel...thought the hotel was good (It had all amenities except running hot water) but since i was already against i cribbed a lot. The very next day 9:00 clock my sales guy was ready at my hotel...ready to take me for my first rural visit..We decided to go on bike and that was i guess biggest mistake... but if i knew it would turn out like that no one would have gone.. anyways

We were travelling at 70-80 km/hr but i thought even velentino would not be able to drive like him..since it was almost 5 degrees i decided i would close my eyes and wait till we reach the town, suddenly i felt jitters as he lost control over the bike on a sharp left turn..and as he was not velentino the bike slipped.. this all sounds regular but what was irregular here was there was a incoming truck coming from other side, and when i opened my eyes i could only see a revolving truck tyre..and before i could react BAM!!.. i banged by right shoulder and arm to the back tyre of the moving truck.. For first time in my life i realized the meaning of blackout..i was sitting on the road and totally unaware of everything...this lasted for some 30 sec and first voice i remember was of my sales guy shouting boss boss...and since i was sitting on road he tried to move me to corner and in that intention he tried to lift me form right shoulder and i yelled in pain so loudly that even it would have been heard in far far away land.

But somehow i got up and first thing i saw was my phone.. the phone my wife gifted me on wedding dont know whyi did that!

After a minute or so i realized i have terrible pain in my shoulder and for a moment my heart sank in feeling what if its a shoulder dislocated...i carefully moved across my hand in different directions to see if its moving or not. and by god's grace it was moving so i knew no bone fracture problems..somehow we moved from there, after assessing the damages, on the same bike :-)

Waise this was also the day i realized how centrifugal force works.

As soon as we reached the town which was just a km away.. i saw a man running towards us...thought my mind was occupied with pain i could not understand why someone is running towards us and from a distance and seeing him my guy yelled 'boss gir gaye boss gir gaye' and i thought wow now everyone will know, and i was so right within 5 minutes atleast 15 ppl were around us someone getting water someone running for a doctor and almost running in all possible directions...Looking at those ppl, for a moment i even forgot the pain also, It was so touching... man i never meet this ppl but just that i m a company person ppl left their own work and ran for me.

Waise i forgot to tell you two other incidents... As soon as i stood up post accident by boss called me, just coincidence and was like how r you doing...and i liked ekdum chill types.. nothing boss just meet with an accident..an accident which could have killed me and since he is boss so he needs to be super cool so he says thik hai..,reach the town and i will call u..

Another incident was my wife calling me at same time and first thing she said was 'Jai Shree Krishna' and was i like hain? wow this has to have some connection

Post this during all my stay i promised i wont travel on bike but then i realised it was just an accident, and if i dont travel then the fear will sink in forever, so i traveled on bike third day again and this time there were no hiccups :-)

The journey post that had been life changing... and i mean it.. be it travel in trains like one shown in swadesh or travel in buses like one shown in fevikol ads but its worth it.The scenic beauty in plains & fields was worth watching...i have never ever seen more than 100 wild peacocks, long muddy roads...the amazing early winter sunsets.

Well there were two more incidents happened...Will put it in next blog :-) trust me u will also say..wow what a trip

Trip back in Time

What started as a mere obligation towards my family, actually turned out to be a very grounding experience...waise before i start i would like to tell u , I really have no affinity towards my relatives...some may be offended with it but thats how it is...why its like tht ..well may be in some other post..:-)

Now coming to crux... i went to Wadner Bholji...its 15 km from malkapur..which is 498km from mumbai and its in maharashtra. I used train, bus and bullockcart (Baiil gaddi) When i reached malkapur i took a bus which was just like the one showed in fevikol ads..and when i covered 14km there was a baiil gaddi waiting for me with my paternal uncle (chachaji)

The one whole bus and BG trip was just like the one we see in movies... and i still remember the swadesh movie - yeh jo desh hai tera song... small children who are scantly dressed running here and there...the whole area seems to be a gazing field for cattles .. it just a picture perfect of harmony between man and beast...

Once i reached my home (small old palace, i can even say dungeon..cause it has 12 rooms though only three r occupied & rest r store rooms and also.. its ready to crumble - its been standing since 1950) it was just the typical family drama where in all relatives would flock to get a glimpse and shower their blessings on me with few tears rolling down.. but i would say it touched me a lot... don't know why but there was a certain warmth in everyone's blessings..

And it was perplexing to see how much the village ahs changed...at one end we have mud houses and no electricity for 14 hours a day and at the other end we have TATA Sky and amazon generators..so the small town was changing or not.. difficult to answer. they use lux liquid soap and pears face fash but still prefer to use the ash as cleansing agent for utensils. So does that mean they r changing selectively or this is force change.. i guess only time will tell..

Then in afternoon came the dreaded time.. Lunch time.. i ate (mirchi ki daal and jawari ki roti) Lentils with lot of spice and maize cooked in indian style.. and i was sure now i would leak form all possible holes. After frequent visits to LOO and few glasses of sweet lime juice... it stabilized.Then i took leave with everyone's heart filled ..like i might not come again but then that's the way INDIA is... Love is always in abundance.. its ppl who don't recognize it and few who do end up abusing it..only few lucky one's can make its glory shine their lives and live with it.

So after two hours of tipsy topsy bus journey i reached my mother's home town...Well though i never wanted to land up there but cause of my wife and mom i decided to go..after 8 yrs.. my point of view was simple.. if they don't care why should i, Ppl also assume that respect is what they should get by virtue of age and not their deeds which is so wrong...And then comes their arrogance and a worse habit of taking credit of all good things and cursing /fault finding with things which are beyond anyone's control..And yes all they are interested is MONEY..

The first thing i was greeted with was, How much u earn ?, How much ur brother earns? , ur wife? and so on ..boy it was like Hot seat with questions flowing form all directions with no life lines no buzzers. Just siting their and hoping for things to come to an end.

Then came the time.. doze of lecture, taunts followed by plastic love..This time i was all ready..I was not gonna lie down and take it from them..I had it for all my childhood and i promised myself of no more nonsense.

And the round of pot shots started through the how Raj Thakre killed his own mentor and father figure.. Bal Thakre.. by formign his own dreaded party. Never in my life i bothered about them but this time i knew why they were being bought in the discussion and i had to take a stance opp to it to preserve my dignity. And it ended in a very heated discussion..

i don't know why i did that.. may be i did wrong but somewhere deep inside i was ok.. no regrets.. was not cursing myself this time and not asking god as why they did this to me..And i also know next time they will think twice before getting into any nonsense..I know all of you would think i did wrong but then point is i think i was not wrong .

Then in all this it was time to take leave...but not without last glitch.. the train which was suppose to reach mumbai at 5:30 in morning actually started at 7:00 am from the source station itself.. the whole night at waiting room with men women children sleeping in any place possible was another experience in itself..

However i realized that god plans everything.. the scenic beauty i got see made up for the painstaking 9 hrs delay..With rains slashing all over the place and climate turned into a typicall Honey Moon climate.. what should i explain more... :-)

Thus sitting there i realised the beacuse of my mother and my lovely wife i had another big lesson of life learnt in best way possible..
Never let ur head rise high over ur shoulders..Everytime time now i spend 500/- in a hotel i would feel the pain that i saw in my villagers (Now i will call it even my village) How i should never look down on any human being as i might not realize it but will leave that individual with lot of life long pain.. and most important how i should always look at happiness of others.