Saturday, January 06, 2024

Just got back to Delhi

So had gone to Mumbai to finish up my leaves before year end. On the day I was supposed to leave, I twisted my ankle real bad. Could not move for a few days. I stayed in bed and lived off Swiggy delivery boys. Then somehow I healed enough to travel five days later. 

I took a bus. It was crazy comfy. The ac was blasting cold air straight at my ankle, which is just what I needed. The bus switched at Gujarat. Two guys next to me were caught with booze and had to pay off the cop. They couldn’t finish their spiked drink in time. Prohibition just leads to black market and corruption, allowing cops to exploit… I love this word, alcoholics. 

At the crossover, I got a nice meal from the transport people. It was a thali with the beautiful soft chapatis of Gujarat. People were friendly. There was apparently a pair of stolen AirPods that accompanied me throughout the journey. I tried, but failed to find the thief. Instead, I found a few people who wanted to use my charger, this is because the bus only had usb a chargers, no usb c slots, and no plug points. 


In Mumbai, I recovered. I met friends almost daily and couldn’t really get around to doing everything I had planned. I was finally sleeping in my own bed, and I was sleeping a lot actually. I planned to play Baldur’s Gate 3, but couldn’t because the PC I had gotten for review wasn’t even a gaming PC, and it struggled to load just the art book. 

One of my friends gave me this kickass balm - Menthodex. It made the pain disappear instantly. It was like an indie mint on my leg. Kickass. The guy has given his direct number for feedback on the label itself. 

I got some toys for kids of my friends, and even got to play with some of them a bit. They are all growing up amazingly fast. Found out some friends are moving to Canada. Discussed future plans with some others, while getting super drunk. Played board games with still others. Heard some future scripts and just sat and talked with some. All in all, had good fun. 

After New Years, I was at a friends place and got really hot and fainted. I have to go to the doc tomorrow as I’m feeling a bit weak and under the weather today as well. 

On the return journey, came back my train. That was fun too. Everyone was using their phone speakers despite the overlapping sounds. There was one autistic guy who was using earphones. The guy next to me was handling his junk constantly, and watching reels loudly despite having tws earphones. I had half a mind to record and shame that wanker but let it be. 

I resolved to travel by bus and train henceforth as much as possible as air travel just removes the journey aspect of it. I heard at least seven different ways to pronounce NES-coffee. One guy was calling water ‘pania’. 

On the first night I got really hungry, and right next to me was a bag fool of goodies I had gotten for friends in Delhi. I simply had to dip into it and chomped down on an entire packet of til gud. 

The food was okay but the packaging was not. The train came on platform 2 but red rail and online services said it would be on platform 6. I reached the station 50 mins before departure but only got on the train 15 mins before it left, because a concerned railway employee directed me to the right platform after seeing me wait for half an hour on the wrong one. I don’t get why at this day and age, getting real-time information on which platforms the trains are on is so challenging. 

That’s all I want to remember for now, will have a smoke and crash. Need to find some lost hard drives tomorrow. 


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