Had got up on time as I'd told my cousins, Santhi and Sindhu to be there by a half past 8, to smoothe the rough edges. Both of them were busy with their chores but had agreed to meet up, on my suggestion, as certain clarity had to be brought about. I could, therefore, not afford to delay them, at any cost, though I'd enough time on hand.
We sat at the appointed hour and went through each of the details and every stumbling block was analysed, remedial measures worked out. Over an hour and a half, we'd arrived at a definitive plan of action to be carried out over the next three weeks and both of them left soon after.
Lekha and I were dropped at the main entrance of the railway station by Sabu and the children. It was the end of our nine day stay that we'd undertaken, to be with Indira kunjamma, Resmi and Kripa-sankar! Whether our stay was meaningful and helpful can only be told by them. Lekshmi had packed our lunch, along with a bottle of drinking water.
The train - the Kerala Express bound for New Delhi - came on to the platform 15' before its scheduled departure but, finally, left a half an hour late. Came across a Bengali babu, off to the Thirupathi temple who was telling me the quaint reservation practices of the Indian railways. He'd tried on line booking thrice for himself and his wife for the journey, only to be provided berths - all the three times - separately in two differing coaches viz. B3 and B4. The railway's logic seemed to defy normal thinking! And there was Sudarshanan Nair - running a 50 year old chit fund in Kanyakumari since 17 years of age who was our fellow traveler. He was going to his sister, at Kakkanad in Ernakulam, on a short break, for a few days. He was an RSS man and was also a district level 'kaaryakarta'. He was an extrovert and conversation with him was very interesting! He has two daughters who're married and is clear about business practices, maintaining relationships. He must be in his late 60s or early 70s.
We'd got down at Thrissur by a half past 5, caught an auto rickshaw to reach the road transport corporation's bus stand and boarded a bus for Guruvayur. The fare was Rs.64/- per individual while the private buses were allowed to charge only Rs.21/-, for the same trip! This is what I call the 'cushioning of the inefficiency'! There were no passengers who boarded the bus, all through its running!! A sheer waste of efforts.
We reached home by a half past 7 after purchasing fruits and other sundries.
Tailpiece.
It's nice to be back and it's gonna be a week's respite from our next round of journey!
We sat at the appointed hour and went through each of the details and every stumbling block was analysed, remedial measures worked out. Over an hour and a half, we'd arrived at a definitive plan of action to be carried out over the next three weeks and both of them left soon after.
Lekha and I were dropped at the main entrance of the railway station by Sabu and the children. It was the end of our nine day stay that we'd undertaken, to be with Indira kunjamma, Resmi and Kripa-sankar! Whether our stay was meaningful and helpful can only be told by them. Lekshmi had packed our lunch, along with a bottle of drinking water.
The train - the Kerala Express bound for New Delhi - came on to the platform 15' before its scheduled departure but, finally, left a half an hour late. Came across a Bengali babu, off to the Thirupathi temple who was telling me the quaint reservation practices of the Indian railways. He'd tried on line booking thrice for himself and his wife for the journey, only to be provided berths - all the three times - separately in two differing coaches viz. B3 and B4. The railway's logic seemed to defy normal thinking! And there was Sudarshanan Nair - running a 50 year old chit fund in Kanyakumari since 17 years of age who was our fellow traveler. He was going to his sister, at Kakkanad in Ernakulam, on a short break, for a few days. He was an RSS man and was also a district level 'kaaryakarta'. He was an extrovert and conversation with him was very interesting! He has two daughters who're married and is clear about business practices, maintaining relationships. He must be in his late 60s or early 70s.
We'd got down at Thrissur by a half past 5, caught an auto rickshaw to reach the road transport corporation's bus stand and boarded a bus for Guruvayur. The fare was Rs.64/- per individual while the private buses were allowed to charge only Rs.21/-, for the same trip! This is what I call the 'cushioning of the inefficiency'! There were no passengers who boarded the bus, all through its running!! A sheer waste of efforts.
We reached home by a half past 7 after purchasing fruits and other sundries.
Tailpiece.
It's nice to be back and it's gonna be a week's respite from our next round of journey!
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