Memories Never Die

It was All well planned , approx . one month in advance .We were to leave for Puri , Konark and Bhuvneshwar on 14th of August 2008 . On that fateful day , It was raining cat and dogs since early in the morning .We were to leave the campus at 1400 hours . Two of us have Lab classes (Genetic engg , if i remember ) in second half . We thought The prof would allow us to leave the class @ 1345 . But he was hard nut to crack . He turned a deaf ear to our request . Anyway we left the class , at cost of one attendance . The rain had abated little bit . We collected our luggage and took a ride in auto . But Despite all planning God had some other plans . As soon as the auto reached near Mishra Xerox ( hardly 200 m frm campus ) , Auto came to a halt . When inquired , driver told there was no petrol . Wtf . The nearest Petrol Pump was On Bit Mor . Somehow the driver manged a can and a bike and went to fetch petrol .He returned in half an hour , But it was already 1445 hours . Our journey embarked then and we were blabbering and bantering , unaware of what was waiting for us . About 100 m from Kanta toli , we could see a serpentine queue of vehicles . It was a long traffic jam ! There was no sign of the Jam ending in less than a hour . It was 1530 already and our train was at 1600 hours at Hatiya station . All our hopes of making it to Puri was shattered in one go . Some of us lost our cool and started hurling abuses to the driver in Frustration , as he wasted our time in fetching Petrol . Suddenly one of us came with an idea that we leave this auto , take our luggage and , move out of Jam on foot . We agreed , and waded through all the muddy road , We hired an another auto and left for Hatiya , though It was 1550 already We reached Hatiya station @ 1615 hours . The scheduled Departure time had already passed and the train was From Hatiya itself .
When we entered the station , with dejected spirit , I heard One man talking that the train was Late for 1 hour . I cant' tell how relieved were we . The feeling was simply ineffable ! I never thought I will be so happy because of a train being Late . But the such is life . Anyway Train arrived 90 minutes Late , we boarded the train . But there was another surprise waiting for us . Due to some brilliant enterprising idea of Mr Lalu Pd Yadav each compartment had 9 seats in place of orignal 8 . Thanks to Mr yadav , It tok 30 min , For figuring out our berth .After train started discussion started , some of us played card and so on . But as clock ticked 8'0 clock , hunger striked , but we had nothing to eat . All the Little snacks we had , were finished . It was still 2 long hour before we would reach Rourkela and might have some food .Any way bearing hunger , we reached Rorkela @ 2230 hours . All of us were voracious by now . But as we searched food on the station all we could get was 8 ood puris and 2 plates of what they said was veg biryani ( for 7 person ) . All the food vanished in second , but hunger didn't abated . But what to do . We slept then .
When we got up next morning ( 15 August , 2008 ) , it was 0800 hours already . It was still 2 hour before we reached Puri . After having tea , we started inquiring about rooms . Guess what we couldn't find any . The hotels were either full , Or were beyond scope of our budget or far away from the town . In the end we reached Puri , hired an auto and asked the driver to take us to the beach . After , 30 min of traveling the sea was visible . Ohh ! what a exotic scene was that ! Simply mind blowing ! It recharged us and we wanted to dabble in the sea as early as possible . But alas ! we were still a vagabond with no room .We started room hunting expedition again and reached to hotel Puri . After much persuasion and prodding the receptionist conceded that they have one double room vacant and two would be vacant in evening .So we got the room , put our luggage there , and moved towards the beach .....
If you think , It was end of our nightmare , you are wrong ..The remaining part of this nightmarish yet mind boggling journey in the next post......