Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Journey

A lot has changed over the past one year... people amongst us have gone places, India has won border Gavaskar trophy, the masters ve reached the summit in tennis and cricket, LTTE is gone, temperature has increased, rain has decreased BUT one of the biggest change in my life is 'MY U SPL TRAVEL IS GONE!!' What great times they were. There were many facets of the U-Spl travel. Blessed I feel to be part of that grp coz civil 2k4 had the majority presnce in uspl frm south delhi. And the guys who made up the group was worth studying as a subject in itself. Allow me to describe the sequence on different days. Best for me were the days of the start of the year (not 2005/6/7 n 8!!). coz no one had got his room and the grp used to be in full strength. "You need to be at the stop @ 7:40 to be sure that you catch the bus" sandy told me 3 years back. His advice came after much thought as usual. He had seen me missing the bus often and repenting it later. It was 7 minutes walk for me from my home to u-spl stop. But often the walk was fearful, not for anything else but for Sandy's mis call!! Coz wenevr it came it meant that I missed the bus. But things were not that bad either. More often than not I was there on time to have the best of times. If there was a cricket match the previous day (international or DCE level), it WAS to be THE point of discussion for the next one hour. Prime participants Bhatti, Akash, Kunal, Pratyaksh, myself as per the presence. One fine morning even Mr Kirar was there from Jamnapaar!! and later Mr Lahiri joined the group too!! For the rest of the days, it was timepass discussion as usual. The crowd in our bus stop varied with days with monday being the greenest. But as the years progressed everydays started becoming the mondays.. :-).. on other days people were scarce. The prime feature of monday was the number of people and moreso the number of bags. The only saving grace was the better occupied ladeej seats. And yeah, often one could see Mr Samant sitting by the side of window on the first/second or third seat ahead of conductors'. Occupying seats on Mondays was the herculean task. Sandy as ususal was quick to realize this and shifted his base to the earlier stop!! Clever by a yard indeed.. Anyways, somehow we used to settle and start our chatter. Moti bagh came and the bus used to get more occupied. By Dhaula Kuan Mr Nehra used to make his great entry. After Dhaula Kuan it used to be a breezy run amid the woods on the empty road. Apart from Mondays, guuys used to become more steady now. Hooked in with their head sets or some novel or norman lewis. The bus used to pick some really good speeds and on some empty days it used to become the case of parts vibrating like anything!! However the most interesting part was for the person who had missed the bus. The top slot for bus-missing would come to either me or akash.. and then started the most tricky task of catching the bus back before punjabi bagh!! A race against time which needed military planning, strategy and time keeping. One faulty decision and you wont be at punjabi bagh on time. It looked like an eternity to reach p. bag sans u spl. Superselector, gizmos have been the popular points of discussions throughout the journey. Rohit used to be immersed in sleep :-), me, nehra and akash in tikki waali bets or match discussion. with sandy it feels like spending an eternity in bus. Eggjactly at 8.10 with an error of +5 min, the bus used to come at a screeching halt in patel ngr and enter the scene Mr KT!! On days other than mondays my dose for life coz otherwise the rest of the journey 'd ve been dull. KT used to come, get the chord done and 95 fm starts humming. On the days when 2k4 civil grp was big, everyone now was deeply absorbed in chitter chatter and on other days it was the case of novels n fm. Come Karampura and enter Mr. Kirar!!! By now every pj was treated with full hearted laughter. At punjabi bagh, we often got the opportunity to see special creatures which later became president of college!! Also it used to become clear if the missing fellow was to catch u spl or not! The density also often increased. By the time the u spl turned a smooth left at Wazirpur, it used to be 0835. Hayat to Wazirpur was possible in 35 min flat only in u spl. By the side of metro we breezed through to Kohat to Madhuban Chowk. By now often the u spl used to be pack to the brim. This is when the seated persons realize how comfortable they are! Nuts and bolts at the door ensured that the guy at the gate would get the morning attendance!! Vivek, sumit Oberoi often wud ve stepped in the bus by now. Now the u spl became a commuter bus. It is like a long journey before Mad C and short commuting sprint after that. By now the chat becomes more college oriented. The left turn to the Rohini Depot 2 and breezing through the Sector 17/16 and making sure that we were at college gate by 0858!! 2 more min for class!! People used to climb the bus even at the college gate to have a ride till the roundabout in front of admin!! The best part was the ticket checking at the stop just before college!! Once the checkers entered inside the college with the bus!! It is not that the bus reached Hayatt on time.. many a times it came late but then we had the awesome fantastic run via naraina!! Me, sandy, akki and prat used to track the time taken from Hayatt to wazirpur and it was in stark contrast with that of good old mudrika!! I dont know what you guys might be feeling by now but I really feel missed out in the morning! The boring bus ride to office.. I really mis the u spl, the atmosphere,, the crowd, the V factor (sandy, akki, kt n nehra r u reading).. It really used to be a picture perfect begining for the day... The days were even more fantastic during exams with the grace of the GOD himself from patel nagar metro stn! Endless discussions, last min revision ohh sorry first time seeing the topic used to be the order of the day!! How can me, sandy n prat can forget the bearing issue!! (it was in the rtv though but still..) At the end of it I wonder why is it all gone!! I am sure I have missed lots of things. It was 4 yrs of bonding which I have written in just a mail... Still wonder wether those days will come back again.. Missing the best times of my life...

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