Day 8: Time for good byes again...

We packed halfheartedly in our hostel room; part of me wanted to stay back till the end of pulse and the other, couldn’t wait to get on with the rest of the trip.

We bid goodbyes again; Rashmi M and Div were going home. After saying goodbye to Hassan n Munshidh who had come to see us off, thaana, Chabi n I filed into an auto n headed to the train station. Though traveling to the same destination, our group had split (as planed) in two and it was 24 of us on a train bound to vasco; goa! All eager to see what the land of sun, sea n coconuts wud have in store for us…

We’ve all heard about horrors of the Indian railways, the crawling cockroaches’ n rats and the distasteful food and the weirdoes u meet on the way, Goa express was a far cry! But still we studiously chained our luggage to the bunks and had a spare chain to protect our footwear at night! Well, our Indian friends assure us, it’s a necessity if we don’t wanna walk bear foot!

It wasn’t long before we encountered a hijra (eunuch), making her (?) usual rounds of the train. We’ve read about them, we’ve seem them on TV but coming face to face with one of them was a totally different thing! It was both fascinating n scary…

Time passed quickly and before we knew it, it was the end of another eventful, fun filled day…

it passes all too soon!

Day 7: lub dub lub dub lub dub...

In spite of being in AIIMS the last couple of days I didn’t really know wat PULSE was about… with plans to check it out in the evening we headed out to Connaught Place (built during the British raj) to do some shopping for authentic Indian goodies in a neighborhood which had the unmistakable colonial touch… as the day wore on we had gotten the art of bargaining down pat thanks to tanvi, payal n div… trick was to bring down the price to at least half its original n being able to speak hindi never hurts!

We came back just as the rate n rhythm picked up n the campus came alive for the night… the place swarming with students out to have a good time n looking for some major mingling… there was something for everyone… classical music, movies, n of course something for the academics.. we made our way past the endless rows of food stalls to the main play grounds; a bunch of sweaty guys dribbled a basketball, I couldn’t keep track of who was winning, on a court adjacent, a heated game of volleyball had its spectators on their toes… n the huge football field had become a makeshift dance floor! Grooving to the music among friends, the night sky alive with fireworks n lots n lots of laughter; that’s how I remember pulse…