This is a brief description of my journey to Patna during my internship. It starts with me in Gurgaon going to the New Delhi Railway Station.
So this is how it is. Of the known trains that travel to Patna, apart from the Rajdhanis, the best train is called the Sampoorna Kranti Express. And arguably the worst train is the Magadha express. Famous for train thefts, it’s second only to the train that takes 4 days to travel from Delhi to Patna.
If we were expecting it to move from its usual USP of providing worst in class journeys, we were sadly mistaken. So while the time taken for the entire journey is officially around15 hours., the train took its own time to arrive. It came 4 hours late.
We thought we should dump the bags somewhere. I struggled my way to the cloak room from platform 16 to platform 1. With the heavy baggage I was carrying and the cold that I had picked up in Gurgaon, things just couldn't be easier!!
So what do I do on my birthday with 4 hours to spare? Well, I want to eat something nice. We chose Karims, with our strong Non- Veg lobby. Little did I know where it was. The area had poverty, the likes of which I had never seen before. What made it worse were bundles of mutton legs lying scattered all over, with the smoke of them cooking being diverted towards me. I went inside Karims and had a look at the menu. That’s where I saw the most expensive item I have ever seen on a menu, a Tandoori Goat, for Rs. 5800. I got out of the place, as there was too much flesh on the menu for me. All I could have that night for my dinner was a Lassi and a kulfi. So much for a birthday dinner!!
We came back and carried our bags back from the cloakroom at platform 1 back to platform 16. Ouch!! Just then, there was an announcement. Train was now arriving on platform 15 instead of 16.
OK!! I lifted the mountain sized luggage and made my way to the other platform through the never ending staircases. And at 11:50 as my birthday came to an end, 4 hours behind schedule, began the longest journey of my life.
24 hours!
Sleeper Class!!
Delhi to Bihar!!!
We gulped down Cold drinks that were barely at room temperature. Our water became hot enough for a steam bath! The temperature was unbelievable. We were sweating uncontrollably. The train was a nightmare. The last five hours were unbearable. It was one hour to Patna all through those five hours. The train kept deciding to take one hour halts at random stops.
Finally when we thought we had seen everything, a funny thing happened. The train stopped yet again at a random station and as we were chatting, more like crying, a plane took off just 200m away from us. It was a sad reminder as to what we should have done. As we sat in the compartment, sweating, tired, exhausted and thirsty I and Prasad agreed that this was the worst trip we’d ever had. Shadab (another fellow intern from IIM-L), though had a different take. He narrated an incident which made us feel better. Very slightly though.
The train reached Patna (finally) at 8:00PM. We walked up the staircase again, and as a tired and exhausted person I looked up and saw a big smile on Prasad’s face. I looked up and the entire pathway was covered with S Tel boards. I could see the irony!
We walked out and we had a company Ambassador greet us at the station. It dropped us at “Bloom Guest House”. The hotel that cost a bomb per day for each person did not have a lift. And it was on the third floor. As I picked up my suitcases to climb yet another staircase, I said things could not be worse. I spoke too early!!
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