It is slightly cold, but all the travelling had made me tired and sweating, train has just arrived in the station and everyone is rushing to get the first bus out from station, prepaid auto rickshaw stand is buzzing, people are waiting in long queue to get an auto. Altogether the station is crowded, and the time is nearing 11:30pm. No one was there to fetch me, and it was impossible for me to get into that crowded bus, so I went near the prepaid auto stand. The unending queue made me think otherwise. I decided to go to the bus stand near the station, hopefully there will be some bus, and the story begins.
Kannur, my native is known for its political history, one of the rapidly progressing districts of Kerala. Kannur railway station is a fairly huge station with people coming and going all the time, the new bus stand constructed to the left of railway station and opposite to old bus stand was a milestone achievement. The old bus stand was nearly forgotten after the new one started functioning. All the buses that started from the new bus stand have to stop at the old stand but the buses which started from the old stand need not go to the new bus stand. A lot of union problems were there during and after the construction of new stand, and I believe its still there, which lead to such a decision by the authorities. The odds favored the old bus stand and the decision was made, I took the right turn after exiting the railway station.
I was alone and tired, even worse was that my phone was dead. The long and boring journey all the way from my college has sucked up all my energy, but the excitement on reaching my hometown after a long gap gave me some rejoice. The busy station opened up to a dark and silent road, without a second thought I started walking towards the old bus stand. The night was really quite and cold, but I was sure in my decision to not take an auto rickshaw. I could see two people walking way ahead of me, that gave me some courage. I was really nervous from inside, but took special care to hide it and acted more like a macho guy. I know this place like back of my hand, has walked through this road infinite number of times, but never alone and that too at night. Each and every shop is closed, and why would it be opened in the middle of night, I tried to answer all my quires by myself and moved on. I have now walked past the vicinity of the lone street light, and my eyes are now cemented to the lane on which I am walking, even god will be unsure of the things lying there, and I walked slowly.
I am sure that everyone will be afraid of stray dogs, it is not the fear of dogs mainly rather it is the fear of injections we have to take after the dog bite. I am very much afraid of those injections and also stray dogs. Now a days a lot of discussions have been going on in the top level authorities to overcome this stray dog issue. Mass killing of stray dogs was hot debate topic recently. And back to the story, I was praying to god that not even a single dog pop up in front of me( i am an atheist most of the times). The old bus stand was hardly 250 meters from the station but it seemed to be never ending when I started walking. Now I have reached the junction past the petrol bunk, this junction is known by the name of a temple situated there, the faint yellow light coming from the junction street light covered a fair bit of distance and automatically my walking speed was increased. I kept telling myself 'a little more' to curb my nervousness, But by now I have lost sight of the two people who walked ahead of me and some auto rickshaws were flying past me with passengers. No, once you made your decision you have to stick with it, I kept reminding myself that.
Now I have to walk through the underpass which always leaked water from above, and once the rainy season begins you could actually go fishing there. The road literally become pond after a rain or two. This underpass has hosted a lot of protests and dharnas, but nothing really worked for its favor. The leaking drops created a wired sound and it was annoyingly echoed by the walls of the underpass. It was pitch dark inside the underpass, but luckily for me a auto rickshaw was coming from the opposite direction and I managed to get through. All the main frightening points have been crossed and now its just a straight walk till the stand, some street lights on either side of the road provided ample amount of light and I was quite happy with that. It was nearing 12' o clock and I needed a good night sleep very badly. But I was in for a very bad suprize. The old bus stand was closed for some construction work, taring the road I guess. There was not even a single bus. I was shattered, all the courage(for me of course) I have shown went in vain. My calm nature went for a toss, and I am now boiling with anger, anger over myself for making such a poor choice. But the relieving thing was the presence of some people their who have made my same mistake. I went up to them and asked where to find bus, sadly they didnt had any idea about it. I felt like shit, what a bad situation to be in, now I will have to walk back the same distance to get an auto or I have to walk even further to see whether there is bus or not. I thought for myself, walking further at this point of time will be a stupid decision, but going back and getting an auto will surely dent my self belief. Oh that was very bad situation you dont want yourself to be in,trust me. I made my decision and started to walk back with a stupid face. This time I was not afraid to walk through the dark road instead I was thinking about the foolish decision I made earlier. F*#k Me.
Kannur, my native is known for its political history, one of the rapidly progressing districts of Kerala. Kannur railway station is a fairly huge station with people coming and going all the time, the new bus stand constructed to the left of railway station and opposite to old bus stand was a milestone achievement. The old bus stand was nearly forgotten after the new one started functioning. All the buses that started from the new bus stand have to stop at the old stand but the buses which started from the old stand need not go to the new bus stand. A lot of union problems were there during and after the construction of new stand, and I believe its still there, which lead to such a decision by the authorities. The odds favored the old bus stand and the decision was made, I took the right turn after exiting the railway station.
I was alone and tired, even worse was that my phone was dead. The long and boring journey all the way from my college has sucked up all my energy, but the excitement on reaching my hometown after a long gap gave me some rejoice. The busy station opened up to a dark and silent road, without a second thought I started walking towards the old bus stand. The night was really quite and cold, but I was sure in my decision to not take an auto rickshaw. I could see two people walking way ahead of me, that gave me some courage. I was really nervous from inside, but took special care to hide it and acted more like a macho guy. I know this place like back of my hand, has walked through this road infinite number of times, but never alone and that too at night. Each and every shop is closed, and why would it be opened in the middle of night, I tried to answer all my quires by myself and moved on. I have now walked past the vicinity of the lone street light, and my eyes are now cemented to the lane on which I am walking, even god will be unsure of the things lying there, and I walked slowly.
I am sure that everyone will be afraid of stray dogs, it is not the fear of dogs mainly rather it is the fear of injections we have to take after the dog bite. I am very much afraid of those injections and also stray dogs. Now a days a lot of discussions have been going on in the top level authorities to overcome this stray dog issue. Mass killing of stray dogs was hot debate topic recently. And back to the story, I was praying to god that not even a single dog pop up in front of me( i am an atheist most of the times). The old bus stand was hardly 250 meters from the station but it seemed to be never ending when I started walking. Now I have reached the junction past the petrol bunk, this junction is known by the name of a temple situated there, the faint yellow light coming from the junction street light covered a fair bit of distance and automatically my walking speed was increased. I kept telling myself 'a little more' to curb my nervousness, But by now I have lost sight of the two people who walked ahead of me and some auto rickshaws were flying past me with passengers. No, once you made your decision you have to stick with it, I kept reminding myself that.
Now I have to walk through the underpass which always leaked water from above, and once the rainy season begins you could actually go fishing there. The road literally become pond after a rain or two. This underpass has hosted a lot of protests and dharnas, but nothing really worked for its favor. The leaking drops created a wired sound and it was annoyingly echoed by the walls of the underpass. It was pitch dark inside the underpass, but luckily for me a auto rickshaw was coming from the opposite direction and I managed to get through. All the main frightening points have been crossed and now its just a straight walk till the stand, some street lights on either side of the road provided ample amount of light and I was quite happy with that. It was nearing 12' o clock and I needed a good night sleep very badly. But I was in for a very bad suprize. The old bus stand was closed for some construction work, taring the road I guess. There was not even a single bus. I was shattered, all the courage(for me of course) I have shown went in vain. My calm nature went for a toss, and I am now boiling with anger, anger over myself for making such a poor choice. But the relieving thing was the presence of some people their who have made my same mistake. I went up to them and asked where to find bus, sadly they didnt had any idea about it. I felt like shit, what a bad situation to be in, now I will have to walk back the same distance to get an auto or I have to walk even further to see whether there is bus or not. I thought for myself, walking further at this point of time will be a stupid decision, but going back and getting an auto will surely dent my self belief. Oh that was very bad situation you dont want yourself to be in,trust me. I made my decision and started to walk back with a stupid face. This time I was not afraid to walk through the dark road instead I was thinking about the foolish decision I made earlier. F*#k Me.