I booked my journey in Duronto express from Bangalore to Kolkata on 25th July 2010.I had a lot of homestead goods to carry with me, which I could have sent by road transport but at a huge cost. In the meantime I came to know of the Railway break-van service which was quite inexpensive. I inquired about the same at the railway station where I was told that I can transport the luggage at Rs.4-6/- per Kg. which was very reasonable. I told them I need the luggage to be transported in the same train as I am traveling so that I can collect them immediately.  They confirmed it and asked me to get my goods booked a day earlier to the date of journey. Accordingly on 24th July, 2010 I took the eight cartons of 180 KG to the station. On checking my tickets the booking clerk gave me the form to fill up. After the entire procedure of form filling, weighing, booking and finally getting the booking no. written on the boxes were done, the porters inside the station luggage-godown (in India and East Asia, a warehouse is called a godown, especially one at a dockside) demanded 200 bucks extra to ensure that my luggage is loaded properly. I brushed it out but the porters threatened me with the possibility of my luggage not been loaded on the same train I will be traveling but may be in some other train, even on some other day. While showing a brave face to them I actually got nervous with that remark and went back to the booking counter to verify the veracity of what the porters were threatening me with. I was assured that my luggage will be loaded in the same train I shall be traveling. They suggested to report at least one hour early on the journey date to see for myself how the luggage is loaded. Accordingly I reported the station by 10:00 am while my train was scheduled to depart at 11:15 am. I was keeping an eye if my luggage was properly loaded. The loaders on doing so again asked for some gratification. Filling pity of their plight I had final yielded to their persistent but humble demand and paid them 50 bucks.

On reaching Howrah station at 40 past 4 Pm I found my Dad waiting for me at the station with a Tata Sumo to receive me with the huge luggage. We went to the Luggage van at tail end of the train to take delivery of the same and showed my booking slip to the train guard. I was dump-stuck when we were told by the guard that since I had booked the goods as luggage I had to take the delivery from station godown and not directly from the clerk receiving the goods. He further clarified that had my intention was to receive the goods right from the break van I should have booked the goods as Parcel.

In fact it was my mistake. I was so long inquiring if my luggage will be hauled by the same train I was traveling which they assured. I did not know the nitty-gritty of railway booking procedure. I had seen two separate counters one for Parcel booking and one for luggage booking. I had been to the parcel booking counter 1st and when enquirabout break-bvan service (explaining what exactly I was looking for), they sent me to the luggage booking counter. Assuming they understood my need I bissfully lined up in the luggage booking counter which is the root cause of all the harrowing experience I am going to narrate now.

The clerk who received the goods informed me that the goods will be carried to the station godown only by the men of the contractor, called the platform labourers and not by any other porter as I would have wished and we are to wait till the contractor finds time to lift the goods to be taken to station godown. In the meantime heavy downpour added salt to our misery. We haplessly were waiting for the angel i.e the platform labourers to come to our rescue. Time was passing away adding woe to our misery and rising tension.

It was already 30 past 8 Pm and we did not find any trace of the contractor. The clerk told me that they will come only after carrying the goods of the trains which reached earlier to ours and there are at least two of such trains. We were wandering from one platform to other in vain with a dim hope of finding any solution to our woe. We caught hold of any group of porters carrying trolley to enquire if they are the platform labourers. While we were lost in mental agony and awfully tired, the driver of the Tata Sumo started creating problem by threatening to leave without us. He was some ho pacified.

Finally we could find one who assured us to help as early as possible. Mean time we went to the godown and met the clerk who assured us to clear our goods as soon as it reached him. The trolley finally reached the spot at about 9.30 Pm and carried our goods to the godown.

At the godown end we are lucky that the manager was helpful. Without entering the details of our luggage in the computer on a first-come-first-in basis, he entered our luggage details manually into his register. Otherwise it would have taken another 2 hours to relieve us, had he stuck to official procedures. But in the process we had to grease the hand of one and all, the platform labourers to godown manager. I had also paid extra 100 buck for car parking inside the station for over staying more than schedule 2 hours.

Finally we reached home at mid night which otherwise would have 6.30 PM. Here also I had to pay 100 buck extra to the driver as late night fare.

While sharing my above nightmarish experience with, I advice that one should not bank on other for help without first understanding what one’s precise need is and then search for solution.

In this particular case I was interested to know if my goods will be booked on the same train I am traveling. But never bothered to know what the delivery system at destination is. I took it as granted that once the goods are on the same train it will be delivered to me on the platform itself.

So friends while booking your belongings in break van of the same train you’re traveling:-

1. BOOK IT AS PARCEL AND NOT LUGGAGE IF YOU WANT TO GET THE
INSTANT DELIVERY AT DESTINATION.
2. COLOUR OF THE BOOKING SLIP WILL BE RED OR PINK FOR PARCEL
BOOKING.
3. IT WILL BE GREEN OR BLUE FOR LUGGAGE BOOKING.
4. COST OF PERCEL BOOKING IS ABOUT DOUBLE THAN THAT OF
LUGGAGE BOOKING.

So don’t be colour blind while traveling in train with huge luggage if you want to be smart and save your time hard earned money.

Well that was my experience….did you face anything similar ????

In one of the threads on bangalore  couchsurfing group, Vidya mentioned about some Bengaluru Pride parade that was held last year and will be organized this year as well. People started talking about it. I was absolutely clueless as to what they were writing about, thought it to be a parade to make the Bangloreans feel proud of their city. A day later I received a mail from Maraa about the details of the event. Finally, I understood it was a parade to support the LGBT communities of the society.

There were a lot of pre-parade events organized by Maraa which unfortunately I couldn’t attend. Discussions started on BangCS about the Parade and Vidya wrote about her experience of attending one of the pre-parade events. Everyone started talking about what they should wear to support the cause. People came out with all kind of  ideas.

Finally the day arrived and I called up Viddy to find out the plan and reached Cubbon Park to find CouchSurfers (CSers) all busy making posters and the rainbow flags. Viddy in blue and pink, Leena in pink and khaki, Googie in orange, me in black & pink…..we were all dressed for the cause…. Ashish got the back of his head painted with the flag and “Here 2 Support” on his forehead. Ashok landed from Chennai just to support the cause.

We went to the venue – National College ground in Basavanagudi. The parade was to start from there and end at town hall, covering a stretch of almost 3½ KMs.

There, we put on a few more props to give. Some of the gang  wore multi-coloured necklaces and  wrapped a feather boa around their necks. Ashish had a red coloured feather boa around his neck, I got a false flower garland and a rainbow coloured feather boa. Some wore tierras on their heads, while some of us wore pink and blue coloured shiny caps, and some had masks!

Finally it was time for the rainbow flags on our hands, necks, and wherever possible.

We were finally ready for the Parade and support those who have the same right in this society as everyone else.

After we were ready we walked towards the place where the crowd had gathered, and found 2 more friends waiting for us – Darshan in Red and Tanya in a brown jacket. Darshan put on a tierra, a feather boa and the flag. Tanya too had the flag stuck onto her neck.

In the activity we made so much noise that we almost attracted most of the media’s attention.

Finally at around 3pm the parade started and we held our posters high up with the slogans -  “No Fear 4 Queer”, “Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai, Hetero Homo Bhai Bhai”  and ” Welcome to BenGAYluru” with a peace sign.

Slogans were shouted by different groups, including us! We met a lot of the trans who were totally enthusiastic about the whole parade.

It came as a surprise, not havng interacted with trans earlier except on the streets when they beg for their living was a pleasure to find that many were well spoken unlike what we get to see on the roads, begging for money. Few of them were fluent in English as well.

It felt nice to be a part of the parade that supports a just cause like this! These people are as much human beings as we are, with a little difference.

A difference that the Indian society is not accustomed to. But just because we are not accustomed to their way of life, does that give us the right to stop them from leading a life they have full right on?????

The parade was peaceful, with the people dancing at the tune of the drum beats. We finally reached the destination – Town Hall. All of the people gathered here and started dancing, shouting slogans and showing their posters with pride.

The gathering had people from all walks of life, all ages, activist, eunuchs, gays, and even us, who believed in their rights.

It does show that though the change is slow, it is taking place. After a little talk by various activists we headed towards nearby foodstands. On the way some of us started getting calls from friends, exclaiming that they saw us on national channels like NDTV, MTV, Times Now, and others. We were no doubt very excited. The CS gang made a change!

Next morning, I was getting ready for office, when Darshan called up informing me about us being covered in TOI and DNA. DNA screwed a little by portraying me and a friend as lesbians, though we are not, but that’s fine, as long as the cause gets its attention.

I read somewhere (I can’t recall the source), about an Indian family accepting the fact that their son is a Gay and getting him married to his partner. This occurred quite a long time back! However that’s just one of the family whereas the majority of the Indians are not ready to accept the change. The religious preachers are against it on various grounds.

I called up my mom to tell her that I am on paper…..initially, she didn’t realize what it was about. Later she went through the Kolkata edition of TOI and after understanding that it was a Gay Parade, called me up.

She asked me what I was doing in that Parade…in a very confused and concerned tone. She felt relieved that I wasn’t like them…..THEM??? What if I was??? She didn’t had an answer. She still has a notion that the homosexuals are perverts who could have lead a normal life like us but they wont… and they are responsible for spreading STDs.

There was a tone of immense hatred in her voice. Though I tried to make her understand that what she thinks is not right, she is not ready to listen.

I read and heard news about the Govt. rethinking on the Section 377 of penal code. Though if any changes are made to it, it will make a lot of difference to the lives of the homosexuals, but it will take a long time to change the mentality of the current elder generations to which my mom belongs.

Note on Photos: I should note that all of the photos in this post, except for the ones taken from newspapers, were taken by the photographer friend, Ashok, who was with us,

As a kid when I first read ‘The Treasure Island’ I created a certain picture of the pirates – a gang of people sailing on the sea who loot, murder and steal to build their heap of treasure.

The interest in pirates never died in me and I still watch the movies related to pirates. It used to be the age of VCRs. We would hire movies to watch and, as technology developed, we moved from the age of VCRs to VCDs and LCDs and finally, to DVDs.

With the advancement of technology, the advancement of crime also took place simultaneously.

The term ‘piracy’ in ancient times used to mean ‘hijacking on the high seas or in similar contexts; taking a ship or plane away from the control of those who are legally entitled to it’ (Source: http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=piracy). The word ‘piracy’ too advanced to add a new meaning to it – unauthorized duplication of an original recording for commercial gain without the consent of the rights owner (Source: http://www.indianmi.org/whatispiracy.htm).

From the booty being in terms of gold, silver and valuable objects it now has advanced to it being in terms of duplication of the original document.

Few months back I read about the movie ‘X-Men Origins’ which was yet to be released. I went to the movie library to rent a movie and found the DVD of ‘X-Men Origins – Wolverine’ already being circulated. I was very excited and brought it home to watch it. The print wasn’t bad and I was really excited to having been able to watch it before the release (knowing of course that it was a pirated one).

Blow me down… I could actually see the strings that held Wolverine when he flew around the sets and the graphics used to create the fight. Okay,  it’s, to an extent, interesting but it butchers the entire fun. I know I should have been patient enough for it to be released but the excitement of getting to watch it overcame me. And yes, I am still going to watch the original version in the theater or if time doesn’t permit, will get the original DVD.

However, the issue is, many a times, even when the original DVDs are available we tend to download the pirated ones just to save our pocket and giving the movie pirates more reason to continue piracy.

All said and done, I am not, of course, going to stop myself from downloading the movies from the net; it’s easily available when I do not have the time to go to the theatres. We have the facilities, we have the source, so why not? The buccaneer are aware of this fact and hence will continue their piracy. However, I do hope there would be a way we could be happy with our pockets while watch the original version as well.