Wrong train

This is an old incident which is still afresh in my mind. I was supposed to go to Bhopal from Lucknow from Raptisagar express. However things turned up differently because I accidentally  boarded a wrong train (I've perfect explanation for that, but that is capable of being an entirely different post).

As the train left Lucknow station, an elderly uncle asked me if I could swap my lower berth with his upper one and I happily agreed to that. Pretty soon I was dozing off only to be awakened by an argument between some co passengers. The train had reached Kanpur, and it took me a couple of minutes to realize that the new passenger was arguing with the elderly uncle for my seat :)

I stepped in the argument confidently only to realize that I'm in a wrong train. By this time the train had left Kanpur station and was in outskirts of the city. I picked up my bag and rushed towards the door to see if there is any other upcoming station.

The train was moving sluggishly; and since I knew that I was still within the city limits, I decided to get down - from the moving train (yes, I thought so). However as soon as I decided this, there was a small jerk and train started gaining speed. Without any other thought, I immediately threw my bag out and jumped against one of those "Abandoned" houses on the field (yes, I DID THAT!!!); only to find that the train had stopped (the jerk I felt was because train was slowing down).

"Happens!!!", I convinced myself with a shrug, picked up my bag and hurried across the field. Afterwards, hired a rickshaw to reach the road, then got onto an auto to reach highway and then got onto a tempo that took me to main Kanpur station.

I rushed inside the station only to find the Ratisagar Express moving in front of my eyes!!!






















This doesn't end here... upon seeing that the train is still in front of my eyes, I ran with my all might towards it when another guy stopped me "What the hell you think you're doing".
"my train, जा  रही है…  its leaving"
"जा  नहीं रही मालिक आ रही है… its arriving" (now I know how a facepalm with a sigh of relief feels like)!!!

How cold could it be!

Wisconsin is supposed to be one of the coldest places in US; and the winter is approaching very fast. Oh, it's already here! See, how fast that was :)

So, when I was heading back to Milwaukee from DC last Friday, some friends warned me that the weekend was expected to be very cold. I asked "how cold could it be" and the answer was "maybe 8 degrees".

I shrugged my shoulders and thought "Huh, it's same as in India! Its just that Americans speak Fahrenheit, and we talk Celsius. Anyhow, how cold could it be."

When I got off from the plane - I saw that everyone was wearing soft/fluffy/warm winter-wear with gloves/ear muffs/headband/what-not. However, when I get off from the plane what did people see? They saw a guy coming out of a plane wearing half t-shirt & jeans, who should have been covered from tip to toe. They had no idea that the guy was silently chanting the secret-mantra "how cold could it be".

I stepped out of the airport and could see my breath; but still it wasn't cold enough. Why? Because the SUN was still out there! So..... how cold could it be.

It was hardly 2 minutes of wait for the cab outside when I took out my mobile, and started typing "8 degrees fahrenheit in..." and then put the mobile back in the pocket, without even completing the Google search.

Why? Not because I saw my cab.
Because - I couldn't feel my fingers anymore!

Now, I know how cold could it be. Oh, and by the way, 8 °F is little more than -13 °C.

Niagara Trip

We went to Niagara falls few months back, and contrary to the expectation, neither we drove, nor we flew. In fact, we traveled via bus (Greyhound) and train (Amtrak); and that was a good decision.

That trip made me aware of some facts like:
- there are buses that are WiFi equipped these days
- there are trains that have better seats than a movie theater
- there are apps that let you check whether forecast before stepping out
- there are no apps that remind you not to forget your jacket at home just before stepping out. Put simply, I left my jacket at home and weather turned chilly (d'oh stupid)!

If you visit Niagara falls, the no.1 attraction would be "Maid of the mist" (it is a boat ride that takes you almost inside the waterfall). Those who have been there will differ with me, because the best attraction according to most people is "Cave of the Winds" (this is the place that gets you closest to the fall, on foot!). However, I would still say that boat ride was best because I couldn't go to the "Cave of the Winds" :)

When we were heading towards the boat, I looked at the waterfall and said to another Indori "it seems someone released the water in Choral (भिया, लगता है कि चोरल नदी में पानी छोड़ दिया)".

After a small walk, we got on the boat and it started moving slowly towards the horse-shoe shaped waterfall and we got an excellent view of the waterfall; every body was like "awww". The view was really breathtaking.

In some time, we were nearing the waterfall, and started experiencing water droplets on our face. The view was now eye-catching - my eyes were actually catching water drops. The "awww" sound quieted down a bit. Hey, I'm not trying to say that people were scared. No! No one was scared, no one. There was nothing scary at all. Still the "awww" quieted down.

After some more time, I felt that we were almost inside the waterfall, and the boat was still progressing ahead. Few more minutes passed, and the boat was still moving forward. It was water everywhere. Crowd's "awww" was sounding more like "aaaa.....".
I thought I would be able to touch the wall behind the fall any minute now:

Few more minutes passed and the boat was still moving. I almost heard myself saying "ओ भियो, उस पार ले जाओगे क्या?"

I said to Piku "do you like it"? He didn't reply but his mom did. She said "he is down". My heart missed a beat for a second as I frantically looked down in the water. Wifey noticed this and tapped me on shoulder and pointed "down" towards my feet. I didn't notice earlier, but Pikka master had decided to miss the "super enchanting" view and stay down. I wouldn't blame him because even I felt that I've seen enough water for an entire year.

After enjoying enough water for entire year, we decided to get something to eat. So we came to the main road and the first eatery joint we saw was - an Indian Restaurant.... owned by a Punjabi.

Wifey said "now I know why you always referred Canada as Chhota Punjab"!