Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Delhi-Agra-Delhi-HOME..

Day 1

Travel From Punjab To Delhi

Reached station at around 8.30 am and found out that the train arrives on platform 2, we get to it and wanted to catch up on some breakfast, we had poori alooo and bread, was pretty cheap on the wallet. Oh ya during the wait at station there was announcements happening of trains arriving and departure, the announcement was very funny about a train that goes to a place which sounded like Baginda and the way it was announced was so so funny, “Ting Ting Ting.. Train No..Blah Blah Amritsar to BAGINDA amirtisar BAGINDA express arriving shortly on platform no2..”, this went on an on though we had a great laugh about it for a while then it started to get on our nerves, that lady will just not shut up, it is a recorded message but still “SHUT UPPPPP LADYYYYYYY”. We even recorded it for bugging everyone later :-).

Ok train arrives 20min late but hey its cool its just 20min not 20 hrs. We reach Delhi station at around 6pm.. Now comes the task of finding an accommodation at Delhi.. we get out of the station and we are surrounded by the auto and taxi people, oh my GOD leave us aloneeeeeeeeee pleaseeeee, anyways one taxi guy comes all the way along with us till we are out of the station and tells us that its Durga Pooja time and tough to find accommodation and takes us to a Delhi Travel Bureau. We had to find a place to stay so we thought lets give it a shot, we get in and enquire about the stay and we wanted to visit AGRA too.. so we looked for a package deal, and after lot of blah blah he came up with a package of around 4.3k per head for a 2 night stay at a AC hotel, travel to AGRA in a Tavera SUV AC and drop to airport on the last day, though it was a killer amount we agreed to it and took it, ok we need to go to the hotel booked, he arranged a taxi for the same which we had to pay Rs.100 and guess what it was just 200 to 300 mts away, how the HELL are we suppose to know that.. so we had to pay Rs.100 for the taxi, what a shot in the head.

We arrive at the hotel, thank god it’s a nice hotel and very good rooms, we got 2 rooms, we were 5 of us and one of us was to leave back to Bangalore the next day itself coz he had to attend office, he decides to go to his relatives place for the night which is in Gurgaon.. We settle in the hotel and plan to visit some place in Delhi.. First we check out for a taxi for the guy to travel to Gurgaon which we found in the hotel itself and we let him off to his relative’s before we stepped out of the hotel for a stroll in Delhi.. oh ya forgot to mention the Taxi fare to Gurgaon.. Rs.650 hee hee ya 15 to 20 kms away I guess… ok he is gone and we are on streets of Delhi, wanted to visit Palika Bazaar but unfortunately it closes at 7.30 and it was already 8 so we walk to Cannaught Place and find a Pani Puri Vendor hmmmm hungryyyyyyy, we took pani puri and it was really good, cold and yummmmyyyyyy, cheap too Rs.10 per plate, good, then we found the entrance to the Delhi Metro Station, station called Rajiv Chowk, yoooooo lets check out the metrooooo, we went picked up tickets to a place just 3 stations away just for the heck of traveling in Metro Rail, and we get to the station, WOW really cool station, really felt we were out of INDIA :-) clean and awesome, Keep it up Metrooo… we get into the train which was almost empty coz we went further away from city coz crowd to those places was very less.. had a great trip, really nice clean and FASTTTT, we reached the station in almost 10 min tops, we got out and went and took return tickets to the station we came from Rajiv Chowk, got back, and it was great, now just waiting for the same Metro to arrive in Bangalore ASAP.

Dinner time, where do we go??? I want to eat non veggg… we keep going round and round to find a place to eat, atlast we found one restaurant called ALKA or something, ok lets eattt, this is what we had, 2 beers, 1 screw driver, 1 glass coke, 1 full tandoori chicken, 4 plates biryani, OH MY GOD biryani really sucked… they don’t even give raita with it, we ordered for a plate of raita and they give a bowl or CURD which taste like milk YAKKKK, ok we finish the dinner and wait for the bill, HA HA here comes the BILL Rs.1600 wonderfullll…. Paid and got back to room without talking much coz you see all are still in shock hee hee, ok time to sleep, have to catch the cab scheduled at 6am to AGRA, good night…

Day 2

The WONDER Day

All up by 5.30 and ready for the trip, CAB arrives on time.. greattttttt… we are in the cab a big cab for 4 of us.. that was comfortable.. then we receive a call from the agent that another person would like to join us for the agra trip, a Firang US girl.. we ask if she would share the price for the trip which he says NO. So we say NOOOOOOO.. I know we are suckers but hey we wanted to have fun and a stranger in the group can spoil lot of fun, we didn’t wanna take any responsibility and lose out on anything we planned, though we had nothing planned ;-) anyways we were offff to AGRA..

At around 9.30 during the travel all very hungry, so we asked the driver to stop at some place where we can have breakfast.. ok says the driver and stops at a place which looks like a palace.. MY GOD ARE WE GONNA GET LOOTED HERE TOOO… we get in and get out of the place within min and ask the driver BOSS take us to place which is small and not a palace coz we are farmers not KINGS.. cool we go to another place small like a dhaba and have aloo parata and tea, boom even at that place it cost Rs.240.

AHole driver, doesn’t drive above 80, come on dude its open high way step on it, but no we keep going watching all other vehicles overtake us and go, hmmm we reach Agra at 11am, a place called SIKANDRA, place where Akbar was buried, nice place, went in checked it out and was out by around 12.30 or so, next stop THE TAJJJJJ, we get to the place by around 1pm, we wanted to take a ride on the rickshaw from the parking to the entrance of the Taj, he told Rs.5 per head, but it was a nightmare, seriously, as soon as we got out of the cab, atleast a million people surrounded us, owners of rickshaws auto and horse jonkans, my got all of us got IRRITATED, they are literally jumping on us to get into each of their vehicles, mannnn we got pissed off totally and decided to walk to the entrance, there was this one auto guy who kept following us as we walked bargaining bargaining and you will not believe if I say he came down to Re.1 per head and finnaly he was ready to take us for free, there will be some other catch we knew and we were so pissed of that we decided not to take it under any circumstance and walked to the entrance. OK there we find a huge queue, we go stand in the queue, one person comes to us and says that he can take us in very fast without queue and we have to pay him Rs.200, coz we were so irritated with everthing we denied it and decided to go by the queue itself, one of us went took the tickets and we stood in it for almost half and hour to 45 min till we had the pleasure of entering into the WONDER place after going though the security check and stuff… anyways it was worth every min of waiting and all the irritation… MAN it was a wonder, as soon as we entered from the main entrance all our mouths dropped at the beauty of THE TAJ MAHAL.. it was awesome mind blowing sight, though I have seen it before it was still a MIND BLOWING view, we spend lot of time at the TAJ, the Yamuna river view, everything was really as my friend say SUPER BA.. all were tired by then and we hadn’t had lunch too, so we slowly move out and buy some taj mahal models from a govt shop, I bought a small one made of marble and my friend bought 2 huge ones, and we were off to the cab, it was almost 4pm by then and we had to take a call, if to visit Agra fort or get back to Delhi and catch up on some place in Delhi, coz Agra fort could be seen on the way also from outside, so we decided to get back to Delhi, we saw the fort from the outside, ok now lunch time, the driver takes us to a place for lunch, we have some roti and some curry and again another Rs.600 bucks, my god I thought Bangalore was costly, HELL NO its NOT… anyways we get back to DELHI ya our driver right.. AHole we reach Delhi at around 10pm anyways we went to India Gate and it was perfect time, it was all lit up and looked GREATTTT… Felt proud to be an Indian…

Ok we get back to the hotel and wanted to catch up on some cheap dinner, so we walk to the station from the hotel, there was these street hotels where they sell roties chicken and stuff, we decided lets have from there, wanted to save something in wallet, got to the place, hardly any place to sit, but Adjust madi, we ordered 3 plates of chicken rice and one plate of veg rice and a small chicken dish, ufff nice dinner, get the BILL please, OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDD Rs.950, 950???? What the helllll we checked the menu and chicken cast 180 bucks per plate, lost all the respect for DELHI at that moment, lucky one of my friend had so much cash with him, we paid off and got back to hotel cribbing all the way about Delhi, it was HELL of an experience, anyways next day had to catch up on flight so we were off to sleep, good night

Day 2.5

Good bye NORTH INDIA

Got up by 9am, you see all josh lost hee hee, 3 of our flight to Bangalore was at1.45 pm and another person to Chennai flight was at 12noon, so we all decided to go together coz the cab was to drop us to airport according to the package taken, cab arrived on time around 10.30 and we left to AIRPORT, had breakfast there, sandwich Rs.50 each but no complaint about that coz it was really nice sandwich. Ok flights arrive on time all we got back to our destinations, reached Bangalore at around 4.30 pm and checked out for taxi to 2 destinations, 2 of us were going to RM Nagar and another to Hennur, each cab cost 330, so we decided to take one cab to Hennur and he said he will drop us home in his car, wise decision buddy, had a BANGALORE dinner yooooooooo, we had soups dry chicken starter 3 chicken fried rice and bill was somewhere near 250 its Cheap, got back home at 7pm. GOOD NIGHT

Thanks for reading… Appreciate the patience you had..

Friday, October 19, 2007

Punjabi Wedding (WOWWWW...)

These are the events that happened during my visit to Kapurtala (Punjab) for the wedding of my Friend.

Day 0

The day before we left to Punjab from Bangalore.

At my friends place 5 of us including the groom planned for a bachelor party. Bought a bottle of Champaign and at around 11 in the night we made the groom pop it open and showered it over him, yoooo the last of booze over his head before someone new is goona give an angry look at him before doing the same thing again J . Well it tasted more like yeast water though but we all enjoyed it, then we were off to bed coz had to catch the flight to Delhi next day early morning.


Day 1


The Travel

All up by 4.30 in the morning and ready to leave for the big days, we had booked 2 taxi to go to the airport, we had told the taxi to arrive at 5.30 coz flight report time was 6.30, as usual 5.30 passed 5.45 passed we make a call and get the response as they are on the way, close to 6 one taxi arrives, we put all our luggage and our self into one and go to the airport, walla we are at airport in time. We check in our luggage and stand in a queue almost a Km long for the security check, make it to the departure lounge and waiting for the flight to arrive, “Tink Tong” flight delay half hour due to bad weather at bangalore.. ok lets wait and have a tea and pick up a bottle of water, we go to the tea shop pick up 4 teas and a small bottle of water, boom Rs.140 gone (ridiculous), anyways flight arrive we are on board, off we go HELLOOOO Delhi.. We arrive, another Friend arrives at Delhi too from Chennai to join us for the wedding, all arrive at almost same time, pick up our luggage and off to the pre pain taxi counter (Need to take Taxi to New Delhi Station for catching the Train to Punjab), 2 taxis 16 Km away boooomm Rs.420… let goooo, we reach station at 12.45 around well train is at 2pm, cool 1Hr15m wait no problemo lets catch on some yummy Delhi lunch, well that’s what we had in mind, went to railway canteen pick up dosa and cutlet, well lost all respect for the fooood, didn’t know whether to swallow or spit it out, another boom Rs.162 there it goes, since it was so cheap we didn’t wanna waste it so we all swallowed it.. Then we move to the platform we are suppose to catch the train, grooms relatives had also arrived who were catching another train to same place though, now they pop open some food items they got for lunch, “Now you Talking” the stuffs they brought out was FOOOODDD, really awesome samosas poories pickles etc etc, we hogged like mad pigs that was fun… well after that, relatives train arrive 15 to 20 min late and they leave and we start our long wait for the train.. 2pm passes, 3pm passes still waiting not a place to sit.. 4pm passes still waiting, now having a doubt if the train will arrive or notttt.. anyways train arrive around 4.20 and we are innnnn, yeeee off to punjabbbbb… ate all the crap that came through vendors that was fun too.. we arrive at Punjab around 10.15 in the night.. bride’s relatives waiting to receive us at the station (Jalandar City), we get into cabs and off we go to the accommodation place booked for the groom, it was a pretty nice place adjacent to a temple, called it Darmshala, well we arrive there and we see grooms Brother in Law feasting on a can of beer, oooohhh mamaaa party beginsss, we order for some more beer and before entering the place itself we begin the party, anyways didn’t have much energy to go on and on so just had a couple of sips and we go in, Dinner is served, well all are hungry and the food was AWESOME, roti dal panner something dahi jeera rice, letsss HOGGGGG, again hogged to the brim and off to the rooms, settle down for a while and we hear singing… hmmm lets go check it out, and there grooms relatives filled in a romm with many women getting their hand filled with mehndi and others hitting the dhol and singing away to glory, could make out they were teasing the bride and groom;… whatever, enjoyed it for a while and offff we went to sleeeep at around 1am. Good night…



Day 2

Shagan Day

All up by 8am around, well something I liked about the marriage, we didn’t have to get up too early for anything, all functions were late unlike the south Indian marriagesss, anyways finished up the morning routines and ready to get some calories into the body, yeee breakfast timeeee, well breakfast was Aloo Parata and meti Parata dahi and pickle, aloo parata was served with a large cube of butterrr, welll welll now that’s what I call taste, it tasted like heaven.. went on and on close to 4 paratas, one of my friend got high of the butter and went to bed and was lying down and singing songs, have seen him go on with barrels of booze but not seen him as high as that, that’s breakfast, then ready for the function scheduled at 12noon, ok all ready, groom dressed in shewani, looked really cool, and off we went to a hall booked for the function, we arrive and function begins, some exchange of gifts between the bride and groom relatives happen. Mean while booze is being served on one of the table, yooo here we come tableeee, and had some drinks and ready for some lunch, had a light lunch coz you see butter and parata takes time to digesttt heee heee, ok before that the bride arrives too, snap session in progress during lunch, ok after that time to lose some calories, how?? Well Mr. DJ play on some tracks to move our ass, yes dance time, all get on the dance floor and off all jumping in bahgra rap style, lot of fun lot of calories lost, party over and off we are back in dharmshala, well well what do we have there, lots of horses dresses up and people dressed up in costumes of RAMA SITA and all the characters of RAMAYAN, it was a function happening in the temple, and it was colorful and awesome, it was like a Parade of events from ramayan, between we had some chakkas doing a ball of dance and also some typical bangra dancers, was fun, ok all went by and we are back in the dharmshala, at around 11 pm there comes a group of people dancing into the place with a woman carrying some kind of pot on her head, they call the function as “JAGAO” (Wake Up), all of us jump into the group of dancers and dance dance, then sisters of the groom picks up the pot and keeps it on their head for a while, says it good luck or something like that.. after which the group leaves and singing in the hall begins just like the previous night but last for just sometime then wrapped up, now we take the dhol into out captivity yuuu huuuu time to wake some neighbourss, all of us get to the room and sing away to glory loud and louderrr, we sing all type of song from rock to devotional, we end the singing party at around 2.30 am and guess which song we end with… WE will WE will Rock you and guess what was the instrument we used for the music, the door to the room, and I’m sure even Bakasura would have woken up from sleep with the noise, great fun and back to bed, good night…

Day 3

Sehra Bandi Day

Every one up by 10am.. ya I know 10am what a sleep after a rough throat breaking night, and back to breakfast time, same stuff as previous day, Parata and butter and curd, yum, hogged well and the first function of the day starts.. its putting haldi on the groom, ohhh yaaa all his relatives starts to put haldi on his face legs etc for a while and then gives charge to us, ATTACKKKKK we all get in, take the haldi and rub rub rub kardi re hum rub rubb all over him making him look like the villain in SIN CITY the yellow guy him hee hee, was fun, but unfortunately after the function I had to wash him out too clean, well it was like playing holi where the victim was just 1 this time, had fun, ok then after that function we are ready for lunch, lunch was arranged at the bride’s place so we walked up to her place and had lunch then off we all friends went for a walk looking for LAZZI looked all over and since it was a SUNDAY we got non, though since we walked through a market place so we picked up couple of dresses and stuff and back to dharmshala. All there getting their clothes ironed so we got ours ironed too, and off we went to get dressed, all ready, some wearing jeans and shirt some with blazers etc, and best part was every one got a shall red in color looks like a dupatta to put it around our neck, indicating we belong to the groommm side, great idea… All ready and set, groom is in the temple getting himself poojaed by his relatives, they tie a turban on his head then put a plate like thing on his head with gods embossed on them, and put on some garlands made of currency, hmmmm interesting… a horse arrives fully decorated and ready to rock, dhol people arrive too along with a band, ooohh aaahhh LET THE MUSIC PLAY and it begins, groom climbs on the horse along with his nephew and the music beginsss all starts to dance, we all join in and dance away to glory totally having great fun all the way till we reach the marriage hall, once reached we dance some more.. Now begins the fun part, the bride people come over to take the groom in and we don’t let him get off the horse, all relatives of the bride comes in and convinces us and finally pulls him down from the horse, at the entrance door of the hall a ribbon is tied and groom must pay off to get the scissors to cut himself into the hall, well we knew this will happen so we had a backup scissor with us using which we cut the ribbon, they formed a wall not letting us in, we friends puched everyone in and tried to get in and they started to spay canned form all over us everywhere, it falls on grooms eye and he gets wild doom daaam baam all pissed off and bride’s relative cools everything down and welcomes him into the hall, we go make him sit on the chair and wait for the bride to arrive, there she comes all dressed up carrying more than twice her weight stuffs on her, and come to the groom where he greets her holding her hand and make her sit next to him. Not over yet, garland session on, when they exchange garland we suppose to lift the groom not letting her put the garland and her brother and others must help her put it, well they succeeded, anyways it was turn of the groom to garland the bride now and before anybody could wink their eye he had it on her, way to gooo dudeeeeee, all said and done photo session starts and we are off to the dinner table, we have our dinner and wait wait wait at around 12 in the night all are off to the bride’s house, that’s where the “Phera” they call it happens where actual marriage ceremony happens, rounding around the fire and stuff, that’s over by 4am in the morning, 2 of my friends were so tired they went back to sleep, 3 of us waited to watch what happens next, ok time to say good bye by the bride to the family, buuuu huuuu huuu all crying and crying and out of the house and into the car, zoooooom off to the dharmashala again, where grooms mom invites them and does some pooja for them and they are off for the night, we get back to the room and we are off too its almost 5am and next day we have out train at 9, we set us the drop to station with a relative of the groom and went to sleep, good night…


Day 4

Bye Bye Punjab

Woke up and all ready packed and set to leave, cab as told comes in for station drop at 7 and we are off to the station.. 5 of us and going to Delhi back, we have 2.5 days in hand more for Delhi Agra Visit, that will be my next post.

Had a GREAT time at Wedding and it was AMAZING MEMORABLE EVENTS that I will cherish for life