The travails of travelling

As I sit in my room in the G hostel (yes, I am back to G after wishing a heartfelt farewell to it just a few months ago), overlooking the rain and feel strange for the umpteenth time about the difference in weather between this place and back home (compared to the heat wave there, this place is cold, what with the incessant rains for the past so many days), I can still hear my stomach growl. And enough reasons it has to growl, too. The long journey from home to Kozhikode is just that...long and without anyone to accompany you, it is immensely boring and frigtening, too.

The very first thing that hit me as I entered into the compartment of the superfast train to Mumbai was the bad smell coming out of the pantry car which was right next to my coach. Somehow, I knew right then that the poor stomach is going to get a rough treatment and given the heat wave that was lashing against North and Central India with all its fury at the time, there couldn't have been a worse time for such a thing to happen. As expected, the dysentry set in as soon as the train crossed the borders of Uttar Pradesh and with the last of water bottles over, I struggled to the pantry car only to find it locked.

With no water, dysentry having set in and diarrhoea to follow, and most importantly, no stoppage for the next seven-eight hours (this one was a long distance superfast train, remember!), I had a terrible time and could just manage to somehow stay alive till the next day when water came and with it came the comparatively milder climate of Maharashtra (with the Rain Gods having blessed the state a little earlier). As I reached Mumbai in the evening and tugged my heavy luggage along to the local station to get on to Panvel from where I had to catch my next train, I was feeling better, but just a little.

The next day, however, proved to be my saviour as the wonders of the Konkan railway route once again put me in the poetic and romantic and nostalgic mode. I forgot about my stomach pains for quite some time...lost in the beauty and the memories. The frequent stoppages helped, too, as I could get down and stretch my limbs every now and then and the fresh air that went inside me during each of these stretches worked wonders that no medicine could have.

God's own campus is living up to its nomenclature and I can just imagine the amazement with which the new batch would make their first entry into the campus. Last night, we had an introduction session with whatever little of the new batch that is already on campus (people in for the remedial course or the early arrivals). There are some people who are good, some who are very good and of course, the people who appear to be rotten apples as of now. But then, prejudice is bad for health and I will reserve my opinions till I see more of these people and more of the rest of the batch.