Bodhgaya trip

After tiring office tours we [Shobith (KCS), Jeevan Prakash (JP) and Arun (me)] were lucky enough to get some space for personal tour to one of our colleague, Vivek Chandra’s marriage in Dhanbad, The black diamond city of India. KCS was thrilled and he was in cloud nine visualizing his first visit to Jharkhand and Bihar.

Day 1: Delhi - Koderma BB RJD express

we were scrolling railway bookshops and after listening to their irresistible 50% cash back offer (*of course with terms and conditions) we decided to go for some time pass novels KCS settled for Sheldon’s novel after hearing authors credit from us, Jeevan in search of spirituality went for Paulo Coelho’s Eleven minutes and me after some vacillation between Almost single and Life of Pi settled for Life of Pi. We boarded our train from Delhi to Koderma in Bhubaneshwer Rajdhani. Within few minutes we realized that 1K spent on our novels was of no use, thanks to the kvetch one of our co-passenger (referred as Mr.X from now on), may be apt if I say cartoon in North Indian terms. Even before train’s whirl he started his. From Schedule of trains to Quality of food in Rajdhanis nothing was spared. We were presented with facts and figures on ticket fares comparison between Rajdhanis and their poor siblings and the inference was never dare to look out of your book. “It’s time to party” said our IRCTC caterer completely unaware of Mr.X in our cabin who started yelling for poor quality of food when he travelled last time and reason for delay of that day’s train. Mr.X was handed over snacks and he started his derivation of his own theorem after counting on individual prices of the snacks and food handed over to him he was happy to prove,

Fare Of Rajdhani > Normal Train ticket + cost of Food and snacks supplied in Rajdhani.

From add on soups to extra ice creams Mr.X seized every achievable task in Rajdhani. And today we found the answer why Rajdhanis’ get booked much before other trains. Many people in India like Mr.X suffer from Binge disorder.

Day -2 : Vivek’s Wedding

We were happy our train made up to some extent for the delay and we reached Koderma and Vivek’s Bro (clone might be an apt term) dropped us in Hotel Krishna International. ().

After having our lunch in groom’s house we headed to Dhanbad, for Shaadi. Around 7-8 vehicles from xylo to scorpio were screeching through the calmness of Jharkhand roads. Like minded groups were formed whose interest varied from whisky to brandy and vodka to beer have to be taken care of. Vivek’s Uncle was in charge and he opted our vehicle we couldn’t read his mind but one of the two is for sure.

1. He thought we were responsible and matured persons (at least I don’t have a trace of that in my face)

2. He was a savvy to identify real culprits who should be on close vigil.

After herding the vehicles we reached Dhanbad around 9.00 PM. We froze down in front of the baraat hall. North Indian winter is not to be blamed one more International hotel tonight (pretty heavy dose , twice in a row).After some shopping for pre baraat preparations, We headed to Sushaant International trying every geometrical figure possible and every figure conceivable by human mind on the roads of Dhanbad except the route advised by Vivek’s Jijaji. Finally after the baraat starting time we boarded in hotel Sushaant international (International till the reception lounge). After some oil companies patent fights the receptionist agreed that both companies are PSUs so for the betterment of nation they shall imbibe tonight.

With little time to spare and a complete project to be executed our 2 years experience in project management was tried that night. Every tool of time management like prioritization (which dish to open first based on ABC analysis & Pareto analysis), scheduling (time per peg) to self motivation (reason for boozing is to dance) was used. After dressing up with shiny suits, we heard our soul’s cry “YEH DIL MAANGE MORE” so we settled for one more peg.

Though we intended to dance only in baraat we started our teasers in stairs of hotel itself. We headed along with other colleagues in our rhino. This time we surpassed our previous attempts in finding way to hotel we went out of dhanbad and finally we reached after 1 hr noticing silent progression of the bands in the baraat. Jeevan enounced this is not the way a baraat should be and soon band played music and within minutes police came to ascertain silence. Then the dance started again all the way till dance floor. Stars of the day came for Jaimala and we retired for the day back to the hotel.

Day -3 Bodhgaya

We headed to Bodhgaya with our left over antique resource. We started from Dhanbad around 8.00 and reached Bodhgaya by 11.30 AM thanks to intermittent refreshment by sugarcane juice guy fresh from farm. Jeevan’s retrospect started as we entered Bodhgaya, he did his preliminary schooling in Bodhgaya. We were looking for hotels and fortunately we were lucky enough to get a non- international hotel. After a short survey we settled in a hotel nearby railway station for 650 Rs. The spiritual town where Buddha attained enlightenment greeted us in its ruined state. Jeevan wanted us to have traditional food of Gaya we tried Litti, though it tasted fine it reminded me of old cricket cork ball.

We hired an auto (incase if you are short of thrill in your life try this option) with almost 30 minutes roller coaster ride we reached temple complex. Different countries built their monasteries with different style and paintings with their own tradition. We were lucky to visit Bodhgaya on Dec 10-11, International chanting ceremony was organized in Bodhgaya. Monks from Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri lanka etc. took part in the ceremony. From the temple complex we went to Bodhgaya temple, Place where Buddha attained enlightenment. On the way back to the auto guy gave us much more entertainment on our return journey. While Jeevan and I were struggling to keep us intact within auto rickshaw, we were stunned to see KCS performing dangerous stunt ever tried by human (like sleeping in an auto rickshaw in Gaya). May be the influence of Buddha’s preaching (forego desires- desire to live).

Day-4 Vishnupad and return

Since our train was scheduled at 2.30PM, we thought of utilizing our fore noon session. We made a short visit to Vishnu pad, 220 yr old temple. Mythological references say 40 cm long foot print visible in the temple is foot print of Vishnu when he subdued Asur Gaya (in his famous play around the universe in three steps.)

On our way back, Jeevan and KCS bought some Tilkut and Lai, traditional sweets famous in Bihar and we purchased our kambals (winter gear for our night ahead in SL). Planned to get down at GZB hoping the train would live upto its reputation (5.30 AM scheduled time conventional delay – 5 hrs so 10.30 AM min). But Bodhgaya express made its way into the fog on time and we reached NDLS by 6.00AM.

Overall had a nice journey with some new experiences but felt bad for the state of Bodhgaya such a spiritual city with rich history unattended and unpreserved.