Incredible India!!

First of all, I had never traveled outside the four southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra and Kerala. Hyderabad was the most distant location that I had visited. Only geography text books taught me that India is the 7th largest country in the world. But how big is that? I got to know that when I started my journey to Noida for joining NTPC Ltd.

The Tamil Nadu Express train that I was traveling in started at about 9.40 pm from Chennai Central to Delhi. Past the busy streets of Chennai, into Andhra. Ongole, Nellore, Cuddapah and Vijayawada at about 04.00 am the next day. The train reached Warangal at about 2 pm in the afternoon, Napur in the evening and Bhopal at about 7.30 pm. The journey from Nagpur to Bhopal near the Bundelkhand region was very scenic. It was the monsoon season and the rains had increased the greenery everywhere. Grass seemed to grow even on rock!! Fertile lands seemed to spread all over the area. It was such a visual treat to watch!!


Through Gwalior and Jhansi, I reached Agra at about 4.00 am the next morning. Faridabad and the H Nizammudin Stations followed. The traffic near the Delhi circuit seemed to be very high and trains had to stop in order to allow others to cross. Trains too had to deal with traffic jams!! At about 9.20 am we reached NDLRS on platform number 12. Porters wearing red shirts were more than happy to carry my luggage. After denying their requests, I went towards the Pre-Paid taxi counter to book a taxi. A swarm of taxi-drivers surrounded us asking "Kahaan jaaogi bhai?". One even asked "Enge poganum?" I was stumped. How did he identify me as a Tamil? Later I realised that almost all North Indians could identify a person from the South very easily. I decided to book a pre-paid taxi to Sector 16-A, Film City, Noida, where the Power Management Institute was located. It cost my Rs.550, roughly one fourth of the cost of the ticket from Chennai to Delhi. Through the Yamuna bridge and the ITO, the taxi driver took me to Noida.

Ok, what was special during the journey? Though I felt like being in a strange land, a sense of deja vu, engulfed me. Something was similar throughout. Yes, the people, the agricultural land, the dirty drainages, crowded railway stations, bus stops, road-side vendors the bumpy roads(not in New Delhi), all remained the same. India looks the same in every corner. Unity in diversity, that's what people called it and it seemed very true.

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The tough decision..saying bye to Trichy..

Now that I had graduated from NIT Trichy, one of the country's prestigious technological institutes and got a decent job, the tough decision was to leave Trichy. Right from my birth I have lived in this city and it suddenly became very difficult to believe that I got to leave Trichy soon.

The offer letter from NTPC Ltd came in mid-June and there it was. I was supposed to go to Noida for a medical checkup on July 13th and subsequent joining on July19th.
I could not easily digest the fact that I had to leave soon. Many things would never be the same for me again in life. The calm and peaceful life, unabated love and care of my parents, the quarrels with my brother will be sorely missed. NITT, Octa,BHEL Mhss,St.Josephs' school, BHEL Township,Ezhil Nagar, would only bring memories of a happy, carefree life.

But life is like that. You got to move towards greiener pastures. So on 10th July 2007, I set out to Delhi. The 0910 am train(vaigai express) for chennai would start from the Trichy junction. I along with my parents,brother,grand mother set out at around 0730am for the railway station. It was most the painful moment in my life. I had to leave my home. Had to bid good bye to our house which has witnessed almost 17 years of my life.

At the railway station I met my friends Irshad and Prabhakaran who were also traveling with me for Delhi. Deepak and Ratheesh were also there to see us off.The train had come and I had to leave. My mother started crying and my father tried his best not to. With their blessings and tons of advice I bid them a tearful good bye. The train started and there onwards a new phase in my life too. There I was in the train traveling like the Alchemist seeking his treasure..