Made it to Roorkee...thanks to UP Roadways ;)

Hi, the 'unique adventures' series is back. This time on 'unique adventures', we will be going to Roorkee. For all those, who don't have an idea of Roorkee's location. Roorkee, is a small township in Uttaranchal, 30 km en route to Haridwar from Delhi. It houses offices of various Indian Army regiments (like Bengal Snipers, etc) and an institute of international repute, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R).

Well, the run by road from Delhi to Roorkee is approx 5 hrs. I had to make the trip without any preparation as it was on a urgent basis; hence UP roadways from ISBT (Inter State Bus Terminal) was the lonely option.

The current climatic conditions of Uttarachal played the villainous role for my trip. As I reached ISBT, I came to know that route to Roorkee was blocked. I was told by a conductor of Dehradun-Delhi route bus “bhai kya kare! gadhe haathi baraas rahe hai wahan” (what can we do, when its raining donkeys n elephants there ?).

My stay at ISBT was more than two hours now. Not many UPTC (Uttar Pradesh Transport Coop.) buses turned up and the ones which did, were all destinated to Dehradun (not via Roorkee). I was told that buses meant for Haridwar go via Roorkee. One-two Haridwar bound buses did come but thanks to the Kavadiya season, all were packed.

My eyes locked at the entry door of ISBT caught the sight of one of the buses of the Shatabdi-Sheetal series (Shatabdi-Sheetal series refers to the chain of AC buses of UPTC). And the best part, it was bound for Haridwar. Now was the turn for my legs to perform. I copied the Ben-Johnson style and managed to enter the bus first. An Olympic Gold stands nothing in front of this. Luck has never supported me and this case was no exception. The jat conductor with his gabbar smile strictly told me to deboard the bus as it was fully occupied (AC buses don't allow standing passengers)...and I was on the receiving end, but I saw this excellent opportunity to reach Roorkee.

My boldness factor attained its max value and I refused to deboard. Though, I did ask him to allow me to travel to Roorkee...6hrs standing pose!! Bingo!! he accepted ;)
I entered into the AC cage where I was greeted by already sitting animals with eyeballs protruding to eat me...; a human standing and all animals sitting...all it created was a strange night-club-FEEL. This wasn't the end. Conductor suddenly switched off the lights. I can't translate the horror which I experienced at this stage. 10 sec beyond, a faint night-bulb outside the AC cage came up and by now, my mind was witnessing hallucinations full of ghosts, skeletons and all those lovely beauty pageant winners.

Conductor came to me, gifted me a blanket and asked me to travel by sitting on the gallery floor b/t the seats. I tried to fold myself in every possible way but the space wasn't good enough. Hence, sleeping above the chassis of the bus was my best option. That blanket acted as a bed-sheet for me.
As soon as the bus restarted, by GOD...each n every part of my back vibrated with the same frequency as of chassis. All the Physics laws of inertia and resonance were implemented on my back. For the rest of my journey, my back witnessed those numerous speed-breakers jerks.

3 hrs traveling...half Journey over...after a halt of 20 min at Cheetal Grand (click on right pic to see the logo and plz don't laugh, this can happen to your child too)...journey resumed.

The sleep notion was over for all. My destination was just two hrs away. AC buses do carry a TV for entertainment. Public demanded for that at 3 a.m. What I saw, was something damn creative and fabulous. Have u guys heard of an album namely 'NAYA LIFAFA' by Dhaiya Music ? It houses some really awesome stuff. Some of its creation were – Mera Bhai Thanedhaar, Mere Bappu Bhaya Karwade, etc. Man, the videos were fabulous...actors were chosen with ult perfection...and what to say abt the make-up artist...(will be recived in a separate blog later)
Finally, I reached Roorkee at 5a.m. amidst a cloud burst (with my umbrella lying inside my college bag back in Delhi). Would like to end this episode of 'unique adventures' with few lines -

“Baarish ki rim-jhim se ek aas lagi hai
Uski boondoin se meri pyaas bhuji hai
Jindagi mein mauj ki talaash thi
Aaj is safar se vo kaafi milli hai”