From Chennai to Punjab

It has been almost a week since I landed in Moga, Punjab. I wanted to blog, wrote a few lines, but never managed to write anything much. I have been on the road for long. This trip was more visiting the holy Gurudwaras and the farmlands of Punjab...

But this is how my journey began..

It was my first longest train journey-from Chennai to Ludhiana. Sleep deprived, I knew all I would do is crash and grab all my lost sleep. I boarded the train at 4.45 and slept by 5. I woke up only at 11 to have my breakfast. Soon, I fell asleep again. The day was soon over before I realised. I had one more day to go before I reached Ludhiana.

The next day I woke up early, but realised that there was no pantry car in the train. I skipped my breakfast and lunch. Some nice people around me helped. One sardar uncle came forth and offered me a guava. I had that and went to sleep again. The evening I woke up. At Gwalior station, I got off and picked some samosas. I had a quick chat with the samosa seller and then he told me..madam train will leave now. I turned back and got into the train and the train started moving. The sardar uncles striked a conversation about how I did not eat lunch. I slowly started talking to them. Realised how friendly they were. I was quiet, but then slowly words popped out of my mouth. We started talking about what each one were doing. I told them I was a writer and they were like..you slept all day..we were wondering..oh uncleji, I have been working too much and thought this will be a great opportunity to catch up on my lost sleep. I was hungry still. We got off at Mathura station. Uncle got me a chai and it eased off the cold. I realised how as we crossed different states, the weather, the language and even the taste of the tea changed. It was amazing. One uncle gave me yummy home made parathas to eat. I had them for dinner after two days of bland biryani with some dry peas. I loved the parathas and told uncleji to thank the people who made it..loji, tumjhi thank you bolo. I spoke to a strange, new voice and said thank you, your parathas were yummy.It was a man on the other end. Thank you for your compliment. You are very kind, he said. At about 9, uncles chased me off to sleep. I was wondering why. After sometime, one uncle told me, beta, can I be frank? We wanted to drink and not sure how you would feel if you know and see. I just smiled. Please carry on. Wait uncleji, I will click behind the scenes..chhupa rustam. They all burst out laughing..They told me to be always happy and smiling, like how I was. They lauded me with compliments. One uncle patted me and said you are like my daughter, come home and have parathas. I was really moved. The uncle from Chandigarh read out some shayaris and we went wah wah over it. He took my email id as well. My train journey was almost coming to an end. We walked out of Ludhiana station and uncles took me out to have parathas. It was cold outside. I was waiting for Inder. The parathas had tooo much of butter..too much is an understatement. I would not have had so much butter in last two years put together. Suddenly I was getting health concious. After a while Inder came and we told bye to unclejis..I hugged them out of love...and promised to be in touch..We then drove off to Moga..