Thursday, October 1, 2009

#2:Jaisalmer: Sleep-less in Sleeper Compartment

Moving at snail's pace , Delhi-Jaisalmer Inter-City Express sleeper compartment is a place for large gathering of uninvited people with complete chaos .You can almost always find strangers occupying your reserved berths ( First major challenge is to reclaim authority that the seat indeed belongs to you! ) .

Chai-walas coming out from nowhere and yelling in an articulate hoarse tone :"Chai-Garam" vibrates ear-drum in synchronized harmonics with amplitude high enough that in between your 'Pink Floyd' song ( Test your Ipod's maximum decibel level here ) one can hear the key-words -'Chai-Garam'.

Caution ( Sleeper Class ):
1. Dont put-off footwear ( Unless you have booked whole compartment or you enjoy walking barefoot)..Coz its a cool business to make shoes invisible in trains ...
2.Sitting next to window with a Swiss watch ,Gold Bracelet, Ring ,Chain, flaunting I-pod or cool touchscreen phone...always keep the glass window down!
Modus Operandi-Train stops @ station>Pros zero in targets>Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
3.Avoid food served in train ...better wait for stations and pick sealpacked food or fresh local food .
At one station we saw 'Palace on Wheels' lined next to our InterCity Express showing-off all the luxuries one can imagine . A stark comparison of Masses and Classes ( 90K per head for entire trip in PoW).
Finally after watching 18 hr long live movie and taking free sand bath( Tiny sand beads coming out from Hair , there and everywhere ) right after leaving 'Pokharan' ( Nuclear Blast Site) we reached Jaisalmer-The Golden City.( Reminds me of 'Aladdin's Theme Song-Arabian Nights ...)

#1:Jaisalmer:Crazy Traveller's Desert Odessey!

Its not easy to plan a trip in a group of 8 specially when all of them are working in an IT company and are struggling with Milestone dates, deadlines ,work pressure and other commitments.

So getting a mutual consensus is like solving Rubik's Cube in 1 microsecond .

Simple solution to this problem: Make a plan > Fix a date> Float a mail> Count final 'Yes Men/Women' > Book Tickets >Pack your bags and just leave this urban jungle to explore something novel ......

Finally only two of us were left and we decided not to cancel trip again this time.( Since none of us had any previous experience of managing a trip or travelling in small numbers ...I was a bit hesitant..)

Thats how two novice travellers( This was Dilip's only SECOND train journey till date...unbelievable ) kick-started their first campaign. Mission -(I m)Possible: Jaisalmer-The Desert Odessey!