Ever since i returned to the national capital with symptoms of cold and other enduring battles the best way forward is to take a strong dose of turmeric which tones down the options of others to dismiss you as maverick.

Time and Timely advice handed by people who seasonally get wise are all about increasing the resistance level as the attempts you made to resist those who wanted to decide your fate are no less . Probably the upper berth travelling in a train coach with ice cream serving that night increased the probability of a cold sight.

Here it is prudent to write about attempts made to get railway reservation and railway travelling which will have an enduring fashion.

Sightings in Rasbehari Road/ Avenue

Sightings in Rasbehari Road/ Avenue

The visit to RBI office in Kolkata amidst queues on either side

The visit to RBI office in Kolkata amidst queues on either side

Having stayed too long in the Bowbazar Post office to broach the subject of postcards and possible breakup of hearts, the time was ripe to rejuvenate myself by paying a visit to RBI which had amongst occupants some visibly ready for eye for an eye. The visit to RBI office was prompted by the need to seek a replacement of a soiled note which i had collected from Delhi Metro when i decided to take its daily boat. You can't blame the Delhi Metro for handing notes of disproportionate sentiment but of late i had been collecting changes that looked too asymmetrical to be accepted by those who were travellers deemed perpetual.

Reaching Dalhousie

It was a 20rs note which had numbers on the top against a paste up coat. I was told to get down at Dalhousie from where i could a get a view of RBI and all those who dared to be drowsy. As i reached the mammoth building, the queue on either side suggested the wait had been enduring for those willing to be exhibiting. Straightway i took the stairs, hoping my job was to seek one note replacement and it would be handy as few would refuse to heed as this happened to be their firmament.

All counters were not in operation and a few which were had queues to suggest some among those manning it were down with some ailment. As for counter number four, there was one lady manning it who seem to be giving a dressing down to a customer on the other side.

First task was to collect the token and having done that joined the queue to bat. Those sitting on the counter took their time to read the notes and make a due entry and hand fresh ones made possible by their long-running inventory. In between looking at the huge ceiling and trying to figure out the cement that went to raise the mammoth building, i raised myself to reach the third floor as that was the only place where public toilet existed without roar. Out in a minute i returned to the ground floor where every third customer had enough time to give a spin to this RBI-waiting lore.

Wait for customers

When i suggested that a large number of customers who seem to be not in the pink of health were waiting outside to gain an entry, some called it an eyewash suggesting that most made up of agents who were out to seek a fresh note wrapping for their clients who were all too familiar with RBI-behaving.  Clients could least afford to stand in the queue for long and due to their inability to travel from far away places like Salt Lake, had positioned agents who got the work done for little wages. Hard to believe this side of the story. But this attempt to  write by no means suggest that these agents should be deprived of their bread and butter; the change to be introduced if possible is to lessen the wait that probably now extends to two to three hours at the gate.

Given the mammoth structure the RBI was housed in, i assumed that optimal utilisation was not being done and given the structure it was in, RBI could afford to move to a small premises and let this be let out for generating revenue surprises. Perhaps the slew of departments/functions the RBI is handling may make it an impossible feat to perform given the advantage of secrecy that this building brings for no song. The entire structure could still be optimally utilised if portion went for RBI functions and rest put on let out junction.

As i took a tram in Kolkata by Puneet Rajhans

As i took a tram


As i took a tram towards nirmal chandra street going past lenin sarani and subodh mullick square, the information put on a board inside conveyed the order the commuters have to maintain while travelling. "To stop the tram kindly ring the bell once only. Passengers are requested not to give the starting signal". Well this was one of many pointers i came across in Kolkata city where on occasions to be equal to the task one has to be witty.
While the Bentinck Street and the Ganga Ka kal Pani is an established feat of the area, the noticeboard in the vicinity was on the serving of hot tea which would keep you in elements to a fair degree. 

Hot Tea

19/9/2011

Special Full - 12
Special Half - 8
Ordinary Glass - 2
Please pay exact money

Tribulations kept away post intake of tea gave you an idea or two to visit the famed Bipin Behari Ganguli Street. Here jewellery shops and furniture stores are in plenty coming with a restaurant that till recently was known as Anmol. It has been renamed Rahmania; opens after 11 in the morning and tea comes for 10rs as against eight last year. With ample time on hand one can also access the Bowbazar Post Office. Inside the Post Office there is a board that shows the destinations from BOWBAZAR Post Office begining with those within the city and those beyond 2000kms.   

From Bowbazar P.O. stations located beyond 2000 kms are:
ahmedabad, bangalore, belgum (read as belgaum), coimbatore, dharamsala, hamirpur, karur, kochi, kollam, kottayam, madurai, mysore, nagarcoil, srinagar, surat, tiruvalla, trichur, trichy, tutocorin, udipi and vadodara .

In the same post office a declaration on swift delivery: "world net express Kolkata to London in just two days". Perhaps a pointer to those who are videshibusy. AS i write this there are some among the net attendees who wish to leave and the netwallah's poser before they disappear with the dossier is: "Are you Hindu?". To this the net crowd declare their foreign origin with authority which should not come in the way of their registering presence in the city caught in a festive fever.     

The visit to RBI office the other day to get a soiled note replaced was a study of sorts. Hope to write on that later.From BBG Street to Surya Sen Street, each has its highs and lows and there are fewer occasions when you come across two entities caught in a wordy duel. Still those on a short fuse could be identified and a better way to approach them is to be all-weather kind.

Reports on rasgollas and other tolas

Reports on rasgollas and other tolas

AS per reports appearing in a section of press rosogollas are costlier by rs 20 a can. Same is the case with misthi doi and sandesh and this would probably be a long-lasting phase. A city that during this season sees hardly any power interruptions has a blessed reserves of water sensation. No hassle for water and the wise talk that follow in areas where there is scarcity, the city has still a lot to cover on the transport front where there are fewer signs of creativity.

Pollution is rampant in areas where private buses and vehicles ply undiluted and here the evolution to a new grade of CNG would be plausible if stakeholders are taken on board and remain visible. Stray incidents of a kid being thrown off a speeding auto or some accidents due to travelling by a private bus come here and there. Best remedy is to take a metro and in stretches where it does not ply and if one has ample time, tram ride can be tried. As for food options, Veg/ paneer rolls come between 10 and 15rs and in areas around lenin sarani, chilled juice, pineapple, orange, come for 10rs.

As for Motisil Street in Dharamtalla some sightings came as follows
 
- dr liu's clinic
- gajkumar bros
- chilled juice pineapple, orange 10rs
- santos tailors with xerox std advantage

A word of praise for Shishir SEN whom i met in RBI and Jagdish Das, newspaper vendor,  Dakshineswar.

The Puri- Howrah ride by Puneet Rajhans

The Puri-Howrah ride

As i set out to leave Puri, the dilemma was on the train i should take or break journey at some station to reach Howrah. Settled for a train which departed at 8.05 in the morning. The fare till Khurda Road was rs7. It reached Khurda road at 9.22. And herein the first visit was to the reservation centre which seem to work at a comfort level desired by its staff. Well, there was no counter as current reservation and all reservations were meant for trains that evening or the coming days. Two to three attempts to gauge the position on Falaknuma Express coming from Secundarabad and heading towards Howrah and Dhauli Express from Puri to Howrah  were met with a tepid response. One does not know what can make the railway staff gain a motivational quotient. Who can motivate them? I am not suggesting the queue of seeking reservations was big; there were two queues of 10 to 15 people each.

Choice between Falaknuma and Dhouli

With no current reservation counter, i took a general ticket true for a superfast train and truly disposed to the idea that either it would be falaknuma express or dhouli express. As i have already stated, during the waiting period,  i was witness to a spectacle of a railway staff trying to snatch a ticket from a passenger. The Falaknuma Express came on Platform No2. A very strong possibility that had i encountered the TTE of sleeper or AC coach, the first thing he would have done is flatly refuse accommodating me in the coach against a receipt that he would have had to issue me. Passengers are entirely to be blamed for taking a general ticket and then boarding sleeper or ac coach with an understanding that no receipt is to be issued and the passenger and TTE have an "enduring journey pact". Though this is not true for all but majority of passengers stoop to this low which gives the leverage to TTE to exploit those who don't wish to engage them in the first place.

The general coach i was in, it was not that crowded as it is normally, still there were scores of passengers standing in the aisle and near the doors. Made a request and shared a seat with a gentleman who was coming from Secundarabad. Till the period i was seated with him, he narrated an incident where GRP seeing the crowd the previous day had taken huge sums from at least 10 passengers.Difficult to verify the incident but there is a clamour that the force meant for railways should be equal to its task of maintaining order. Fleecing the passengers brings a bad name. The entire base to this railway-fleecing-revelation is that they carry a huge load across length and breadth of the country and there would be aberrations howsoever stringent measures are in place. If railways are able to tide over the missing links, beginning from TTEs and Railway Force, some notable praise and wish it can be recipient of . Foremost is that those working for the government don't realise this that at least they get their salary on time and are meant to serve people. If they begin to give blows to people in general coach or those in general sphere of life, they don't understand the world is round, they are destined to have results which won't be sound.

Woman guard at Baleswar

Coming to the Howrah ride, the train left Khurda Road at 10.26, reached Bhubaneswar at 10.55, Cuttack 11.30, Jajpur 12.25, Bhadrak 1pm and Baleswar at 1.55. At Baleswar i spotted a woman guard giving the signal. A little before Cuttack i secured a different seat. One passenger had knife marks on his chest which he explained as a result of a skirmish. At least some had taken off their shirts given the previous night they had spent in the crowded coach. The train reached Kharagpur at 3.30. At half past 6 the train reached Howrah. A word of praise for the drivers of the train which had an engine no 22318. Mind you till 4.30 the train had maintained its momentum and speed. There after it slowed down and due to heavy rush at Howrah, the delay could not be avoided.  Sizeable bananas on the way at Khurda Road and Kharagpur came handy. The mineral water dispensed inside the coach was for rs10. Not sure of the quality, this set of mineral water was by no means adulterated .  And passengers longed to have this set of mineral water.

On a broad scale the journey in a general coach was safe except it was a little taxing. A little over eight hours, the showering of tea with tea bags helped to reduce the physical pain. As for seating the best course is to not leave the seat for the entire journey. A change of seat may warrant a movement, otherwise just stick to the place and all things begin to fall in place.

Coming from Rasbehari Avenue

Coming from Rasbehari Avenue

This piece of writing comes from Rasbehari Avenue. Of the six days in the city, two went towards completing the New Market- Rasbehari Road stretch and back with not much of a botheration. The traffic building every hour, the ride from New Market went past Elliot Park , Calcutta Club (Private Members only), Bhowanipur and Kalighat. Once you get down at Rasbehari Road there is People's Book Centre in whose vicinity is a feat of three typewriters at work at any given time.  Before checking out from Metro, the guest house, efforts were made to seek extension in the area by looking for alternate accommodation. This brought me face to face with the following guest houses/hotels

-Maharashtra niwas
-Venkateshwar hotel
- Mysore Guest House
- transit house and second house

Some among them were beyond the budget and some were booked to enable those residing inside to brood over. Once i took an accommodation in Esplanade with a surety that four to five days stay could be availed the comfort to do stories became possible. As i begin to write about Puri-Kolkata ride, there are still some nuggets about Puri that can't be brushed aside. Jay Maa Kali Mistaana Bhandar was one i could not visit this time as it was closed. If memory serves me correct this is the same mistaana bhandar which one of its staff members took me to in 2009 with a declaration that it was dahi ka karkhana.  For all its charm Puri has among pedalling rickshaws some who on occasions tend to overcharge. Not a case for them to be made victims by authorities; only a simple realisation that they should charge on a reasonable scale. In the temple road about 200 metres from temple a new food outlet has opened serving patties and pastries. Veg or paneer patty is of desirable quality with a desirable pricing. Then there is one small Hanuman temple on the right side of beach road. If possible, one can visit the same.

The Jagannath Temple Information Centre on the left side of temple comes handy if one is making enquiries about trains and other public transport.