My first bus journey to Lucknow

Yesterday I had left KSS and was on my way to KSPL in the evening when GP told me that he was leaving for Lucknow that very night itself and if I also wanted to come or not. Since the morning I was seeing everyone at office leave for their homes and was already feeling bad that I did not book my tickets in advance and now everything was waitlist. But when I talked to GP, I instantly decided to leave for Lucknow with him in the Bus. At that time I had no thought whatsoever about how will I return from Lucknow to Delhi, about the tiring 14hour journey in the Bus, etc etc. Spoke to my boss and the PL and was really glad that they allowed me a leave for thursday at such a short notice.

Reaching Bus stand was also a kind of a struggle. Left home at 8pm but caught in a heavy traffic jam somewhere near the EDM mall, Ghaziabad. Finally we decided to walk till the AnandVihar Bus stand since the traffic did not seem to get any better soon. Walked for more than a kilometer to the bus stand only to find that the last deluxe bus for lucknow was full. I was a little disappointed to hear that but now that I had made my mind to go home, I was ready to travel in an ordinary bus even if it meant a 14hour exercise. But out of nowhere, another guy who was to go to lucknow just like us, came to our rescue (sort of ;)). He told us that he had seen another deluxe bus standing at a distant corner of the stand but he wasn't sure if that bus would go at all or not. So we (6 guys in total) proceeded in search of that bus and within 5 minutes we did find that bus to my great relief :)

The only problem with that bus was that it was an AC coach with AC NOT working ;) And since the windows were fixed, it had soon become very hot inside the bus. The conductor opened one roof top window for some fresh air. Also, there were small fans located at every alternate row. Conductor promised us that as soon as the bus starts, hw would switch on the fans. He also told us that out of all the fans 2-3 fans did not work. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that the fan just over me should not be among the non working lot. The ticket cost was Rs. 280. The bus finally started at 10:30pm. And as was expected (i dunno why though), the fan over me was among the faulty ones ;) Hehe. Anyway, it wasn't much of a problem. Since it was night time, the atmosphere was cool. And then GP and I chatted all along the journey, even watched a movie in between to pass time when we were tired of chatting :)

Finally, reached Alambagh bus stand, Lucknow at 11:30am today. And it felt great to be home without any planning and so suddenly when just a day ago I was thinking of sleeping whole day on Holi in Noida. And now the next thing on my mind was to surprise everyone at home ....