July 4 - First journey to Bangalore

My very first journey to Bangalore was from Kottayam on July 4, 2005. Actually I went to kottayam to meet one of my dearest friends Krishnan, who had come from Bangalore. We call him kris, kittan etc. He encouraged me to go with him to Bangalore.

As there was hartal on 5th July, Kris cancelled his return train ticket and was struggling to get a bus ticket on July 4 itself.  Finally Kris got the last seat in a bus. No seat for me and I decided to go by train on the day same time.

Huge rush in the train. No way to get into the train. I was able to hold the handle bar and was swinging outside the train.

Before reaching the railway station, I wanted to use toilet as I drank too much of water. But I was late as usual and thought to use the toilet in the train.  But upon seeing  rush in the train, my whole urine got evaporated I think.  I felt relaxed then..

Let me brief. It was a horrible journey. Most of the passengers were going to Bangalore. As the rush increased much beyond certain level, many of the them got down at Palghat, Coimbatore to catch bus to Bangalore. I decided not to follow them.

Our train(Kanyakumari - Bangalore express) reached Kuppam(Andhra, Karnataka border) early in the morning.  I was sitting on the steps, and  a lot of people just over my head for getting oxygen..

Now the villain of the story appeared suddenly. He was not alone and a lot of ladies were with him.  He wanted his ladies to get into my compartment. So he asked me to come out and let them go in. But those people staying over my head protested. 

As there was no space and I was not in a position to step out, I said 'No'. All of a sudden, I was hit! He hit me on my face, at the centre of my nose. I didn’t say 'Hey Ram.. Hey Ram..' !!

I could not get enough time to completely block that heavy weight punch. But somehow I could just raise my left hand and was able to place my hand in between. Some sort of reflex might have helped me avoid much damage. .  After hitting me, he and his gopikaas disappeared. I think he visited the station only to hit me!!

I reached Bangalore 1 hr after Kris's arrival and reached his place where our friends had lived. There I had a good sleep. On the very next morning, I felt some pain on my face when I got up, exactly where my hand hit on my face. I asked myself.. 'How come I got pain here?'