Horemheb's Musings

First Published on 08 October, 2011

It has been a regular routine whenever I traveled in the Kerala Express that whenever I reached Vijayawada Railway Station, I threw a coin into the massive Krishna River as the train chugged along the bridge. A habit I learned from my father, who used to help me throw the coins accurately into the swirling waters below, it is one that is still quite cherished as one of the landmarks of the New Delhi–Kerala train ride. This is a habit I have resumed after a gap of nearly 18 years.

Running about 2 hours late, the Kerala Express has just pulled into Vijayawada Railway Station, and October heat is really turning out to be quite stifling. A strange lemon scent floats around the station, no idea from where, as I am starting the blog-a-thon for this ride.

The last week had been an exercise of the utmost strain. On one hand, the excitement of finally embarking on a journey I have been dreaming of for ages; on the other hand, my studied subduing of passions using my innate pessimistic realism, where I was gearing up for some mishap or other that would get this trip canceled. The trepidation came a shade closer to becoming real a few days before the trip when my father had some liver issues that necessitated a checkup. At the advent of symptoms itself, I had mentally geared myself for canceling the trip, but thanks to God’s grace, it was a false alarm, and he came out of the checkup diagnosed as quite healthy.

My older self would have been gushing with excitement during the wait for the train at Ernakulam Junction Railway Station, not the least as the train chugged out of the city. However, it was with a welcome detachment that I have been able to take this journey, a detachment that I believe would only lend greater sweetness to this dream journey.

It has been an interesting mix of co-passengers so far. The night was replete with several verbal scuffles amongst the passengers based on seating and bedding issues. A foreign tourist couple in the adjacent compartment had a particularly rowdy female who, albeit her stunningly hot looks, was quite scathing in her behavior with other passengers. Then, the old lady who scolded several hikers for talking late into the night and sleeping on the compartment floor. I almost expected her verbal spat with the hot foreigner over the ceiling fan to get really acerbic, but the old Tamilian lady showed far greater grace.

Waking up to the Tirupati hills shrouded in the morning dawn was a beautiful wake-up call for me. Taking in the sleepy calmness of the dawn, I did my routine internet activities, a habit, nay addiction, that I have found to be quite troublesome, as I found that my hands hurt while writing in my journal folder, and an entire evening without a laptop or internet access drove me to the depths of boredom. At least I have my mnemonics to keep me busy.

But now, as the train is slowly pulling out of the Vijayawada station, I can let my excitement out. This trip is not a pilgrimage, though I am, in fact, heading to Badrinath. This trip is not exactly an adventure trip. The best way to describe this trip is as a reconnoiter. A reconnoiter of what, the reader may ask, but that is a question better explored than explained over the coming days and the intermittent posts. After all, any attempt at putting words to my goals right now would only invite ridicule and laughter from near and dear ones who “know” me.

Hence, for now, this post limits itself to a travelogue. Here’s to the hope that the heat does not get debilitating and the lost hours are made up before we reach Delhi. After all, I do not want to miss the Lassi!