We (ten guyz : Me, Sachin, Mahaveer, Deepak, Kapil Bajaj, Kapil Royal Agrawal, Sambhav Jain, Nitin Gupta, Nitin Bansal, Ajay Somani) went on a trip to Vaishno Devi routed through Jaipur and Agra. I tried to write down my experiences while traveling. Actually we didn’t have confirmed tickets, so journey was a bit unusual. The content below is whatever I wrote in a copy in train. Ignore language errors.

04:03AM  February 27, 2009

I am sitting on a huge box in a train while I am writing this. It seems a lot of things are happening for the first time. We, a group of crazy UG4 guyz, are on a way to a lot of destinations.

Two months ago, when I was at home, I got a call from Pankaj asking whether I want to join them for a trip to Jaipur, Vaishno Devi. I could not think of an answer at that time and replied positively without knowing the consequences. After considerable efforts, people booked round trip tickets from Hyderbad to Jaipur, Jaipur to Jammu and Jammu to Agra, Agra to Hyderbad which were followed by a lot of cancellation and re-reservations as few dropped out.

Seven of us left IIIT at 8:40PM on 26th to catch the Jaipur-Bangalore express at 2AM on 27th. We spent few hours on the station waiting for the train and killing time by playing card-games. BTW, we didn’t have even a single confirmed ticket. Everybody was hoping that we’ll have at least RAC by the time train arrives. Several attempts of buttering TTEs have already failed. The train arrived. We all rushed in to get some free space somewhere. Luckily I was able to find a huge space for 3-4 people. Me and Somani tried to capture as much space as possible by spreading our luggage as much as possible. After half an hour, Sachin declared that we won’t get any seat via any mechanism possible. This is the first time I am traveling without a confirmed ticket.

We at Kachiguda Station

Well, this is a first experience for Somani and Mahaveer as well. Right now we are in two groups of five and two. Mahaveer and Sambhav are in deep sleep on the floor of a compartment far away.

One of the elite members of a “Royal Family” is reading a book called “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” while sitting on a bag placed in front of a toilet. I think you should not read a book with a title like that near a toilet.

Another well know personality, a well know coder, Ajay Somani, is sleeping while sitting on the floor beside the wash basin with a book in his hand. This guy had plans to fly to Jaipur instead of traveling by train.

Deepak, the guy who thinks every girl can be trapped, is, I think, in best position right now. He is in deep sleep beside Somani in a very comfortable situation.

Me (Black), Somani (Grey), Deepak (Strips)

Bhai, Somani, Me, Deepak

Sachin is sleeping (on the floor) in a very dangerous situation. Every time someone passes, I get the feeling that he/she may step on his face and I try to move things in mind to avoid the crash, but nothing seems to work here. His face is towards the walkway (corridor) and feet towards Somani and Deepak, three of them forming a 696 configuration. I think half an hour ago, Somani said, “Three heterosexual people can’t sleep in a space this small“. And as I write this they are sleeping. Draw your own conclusions.

This place is fu**ing stinky because of toilets. The writing (on paper) so far suggests that “FU**” is a word which is very easy to pronounce and type but extremely difficult to write on a paper. While typing your fingers automatically slips to type “FU**” in every other sentence.

On the other end of this compartment, I can see a huge number of people near the charging point (where people charge their mobiles). Looking at the crowd at that place at this late hour, it seems few people fu**ing board the train to fu**ing charge their mobiles.

Its 5:30AM now and we have crossed Kazipet. A few minutes ago, Somani enjoyed a cup of tea in front of toilet (the position where Bhai (Kapil A.) was sitting earlier).

In another event, I woke up Sachin. He successfully negotiated for a space for sitting with a person on SU birth. Now, he is trying to tease Somani. Also, Bhai is sleeping in Somani’s lap.

Now its 6:00AM. I have started feeling the hardness of the surface I am sitting on. Also, the effect of tea I had half an hour ago is fading away. It seems I want to sleep but there is no place to realize that dream 😛

That was all I could write before I fell asleep.

To be continued…