........journey to Lucknow - a crude travelogue
21st December 1996, sharp 4.30PM, Guard raised the green signal, sudden jerk and chug-chug! The train chugged into the winter evening mist. Slums and smelling streets went passing by. Slowly we said TATA to Bangalore. A few of us caught busy with dumping luggage safely, it was the beginning of our journey to the conference : IT products of the 90's. For many it was a journey to the intellectual excellence and for a few it was the journey to meet their near and dear ones – if not many, people from Lucknow know it. Seven and half hour journey, it was the stinging and unpleasant smell that reckoned us the arrival of Madras/Chennai railway station. (The then called Madras.). Unlike Bangalore, Chennai/Madras was found to be very hot and humid even at 1 O’ clock midnight. 22nd Dec 2004, 4 O clock in the morning, after a few ups and downs, we managed to get into the Koramandal express. Songs, Dances and Anthakshari made the journey lively and exhilarating. AWS got engaged in trying to fin...