As the winter sets in, Darjeeling got colder. Kolkata recorded lowest temperature in 28yrs on Dec 27, 2012. Getting back home was a distant dream without train tickets. The idea of taking a tatkal ticket from Darjeeling train station was a little crazy! In the freezing cold, we waited from 6am on a fine morning watching Kanchenjunga changing from orange to white colour Luck was not with us, though we got a tatkal ticket from Howrah to Chennai. Megha's tears almost rolled down when we missed our Toy Train to Kurseong, issuing the ticket and payment took more than 30min.
Reaching Siliguri was easy, but a NBSTC bus to Kolkata (Rs.710, 13hrs) was a nightmare, thanks to precarious driving and pothole filled North Bengal roads. Stayed at basic and cheap Youth Hostel franchisee Hotel Sunshine, 167/1, Lenin Sarani (Tel: 9830504248 / 983132459, dbl Rs 350) it is located at Temple Street, a street parallel to Lenin Sarani. Don't stay here unless you have YH membership and you want to be close to the markets. Munching the street food - pudina juice, kachoris, rasagolas, mango lassi, chai and a bit of street shopping- we spent our day on the streets of Kolkata. The guys who repair CFL lamps at Chandini street was a curious scene.
What a better way to welcome 2013? Howrah Mail started rolling at sharp 12 on Dec 31st, watching the fire works across the Howrah bridge we entered 2013. The train reached at the wee hours at Chennai Central on Jan 2nd, 2013. Without wasting a minute, we took the morning shuttle ( Bus No 15B, boarding from the opposite side of the station) to sprawling Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminus, Koyambedu. Chennai to Salem (Rs 245, 7hrs) was slow but pleasant. Salem to Coimbatore 'BYPASS RIDER' was a bit faster (Rs 87, 3hrs). Hefty tolls on these 4 lane roads, but we don't feel the pinch as we travel by government buses.
Good old Kerala SRTC and bad roads! Coimbatore to Thrissur (Rs 70, 4hrs) and Thrissur to Cherthala (Rs 85, 3hrs). After close to 24hrs from Chennai, we reached home after a tiring bus-hoping journey.
Taking a break from our long vacation...before we start our South India expedition from Jan 14th.
What an anti-climax! You travel to the least-travelled regions of India & then you run into the travellers for whom the most-trvelled destinations are their hometowns! I suppose the hop-skip-and-jump routine across TN & KL in buses crowns what was an "unplanned" shoestring across places which most can only dream of going to!
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