Last few days were all about traveling..Ahmedabad to Ghaziabad via Delhi, from Ghaziabad to Gurgaon, from Gurgaon back to Delhi, on two consecutive days.
Those who travel in Delhi must be aware of the condition of traffic especially during rains. The cabs are costly and auto wallahs are not trustworthy enough with unwritten rules of fares. Not to mention the confusion of twists n turns due to the expanse of the city and number of overbridges to add to the pandemonium. In such a place metro is a great relief.
I had four days in hand and meet four people in and around the NCR Delhi region. My only concern was that I would not carry my luggage via Delhi Metro. But things were not to happen the way I had planned. Last day of my travel gave me the lick of it.
I had planned that I would get down at Gurgaon railway station and leave my luggage at my sister's place in Gurgaon when I will travel to meet other people. But my itinerary changed last moment. I stopped at Old Delhi railway station with my luggage which included one strolly and a large airbag plus my handbag, Although my friend at Ghaziabad had mentioned that travelling by metro would be much cheaper, the very thought of taking the flight of steps at metro stations gave me goose bumps. Therefore instead of going by metro to Noida, I took a direct auto to some place in Noida. Since an auto wallah is not allowed to cross state boundaries my friend came to pick me at Noida to take me to his place in Ghaziabad.
Next day when I was left with minimum choice I returned via metro to Gurgaon. There are three steps for taking a metro..Step 1. Take the ticket and pls keep enough change, lest the person across the window refuses to give you the ticket. Step 2. Go to the check in counter, where you are frisked and your luggage passes through the detectors. Possibility is the lady who frisked me might have missed even a large sword the way she was doing her deal. Infact at one point the lady was completely absent and I passed the gateway without being frisked. Step 3. Take a flight of steps or escalators to reach the metro line. The metro station is so structured that sometimes I had to search for the escalators. Sometimes they existed while at other places they didn't. My friend left me at Noida City Centre Metro Station., from where I had to get down at Iffko Chowk metro station and go to Gurgaon. Not to mention that I had to change the line at Rajeev Chowk Station which meant another flight of stairs. At Iffko Chowk after crossing one escalator which I had to search for because it was blocked from vision by a pillar, then a flight of stairs as there was no other choice and last descended through a lift I took a cab to Gurgaon. Till so far I felt somewhat relieved that I didnt have to drag myself through the flights much.
Last day I had the toughest hour when I had to go to the New Delhi Railway Station, I took the metro from Iffko Chowk and got down the metro at the New Delhi stop. I started searching for a Lift or Escalator, but there was none, Finally, I had to carry my total weight which must be close to 45 kgs. by two flight of stairs, first flight was of 20 stairs , while the second one was another 25 stairs. Once I crossed the first flight, some 7 coolies flocked me to help me with my luggage. I skipped past them thinking that I would be able to manage it on my own. But the moment I saw the next flight of steps I just gave up. With my luggage and bad health it was a nightmare for me. I stood there staring at the altitude, when a coolie , a young boy of 16-17, possibly read my mind. He asked me which train I had to catch. Since I had reached way ahead of time, he told me that he would leave me just at the right spot where my bogie is likely to be. The boy also knew that my train would be boarded at platform no. 14 which meant almost a kilometre of running and two flights of stairs. He left me at the platform and I was really pleased to pay him his due.
I hope next time my visit to Delhi would only be official and not social which would mean minimum luggage, travel only by costly cabs and autorickshaws but no metro.
