Flashback Apr 2003 Mungeri Lal ke haseen Summers

For those who have missed the premier : I am doing my summers with ITC at Munger , north east Bihar famous for its illegal gun factories and dacoities.
From today I start my story , a real life story , a tale of suspense , horror , thrill , joy and one from which I’ll gain immense experiencua ( as the bihari says , all behari words in italics ) in short , I presentua to you my story from Munger .
Every journey begins with the first step , says the SIBM brochure , so the first stepua …its 5.45 and I have to catch Indrayani to Bombay . I just stuff all my luggage into my suitcase and 2 bags and tell the auto driver ….fast janar ahe .
I somehow catch the train 3 minutes before it leaves .A3 –3 copassengers : rich heart surgeons from mumbai ….ok so I reach kalyan Jn . Wait for my Patna –LTT superfast express ….journey uneventful thus far
Now starts the journey to Patna . My co-passengers in 3rd AC .A failed bollywood Movie star , A Guy who has illegal businesses in Patna and a Wholesale cloth merchant with plenty of ties with laloo . All of them tell me the dangers in Munger …how unsuspecting passengers are abducted never to return again , how they use the desi use-and-throw pistols to kill people for money , how deaths are never reported , how gangs of dacoits operate in that region . Then we discuss politics lalua politix , then they tell me to take care of my sammanua , they call me babua and even give me tips on how to buy a good desi gun and how I can buy cheap dope from there and make a lot of moolah .one proper person I meet on the train happened to be the Bangalore labour commissioner : Susheel Kumars Sister , She told me there are good guys In Bihar …but most of them become Bureaucrats and leave Bihar !
I reach Patna Junction at 7am . My next train to Jamalpur is at 11.50 ….5 hours in patna ..what do I do there ? fortunately I had my friends including surbhi and pallavi who told me ‘bout the hangouts in patna .I just visited hanuman Mandir and ate their wonderful laddus ( the claim in english : laddus are made by the skilled artisants of Tirupati …tastes similar …but artisants ? ) and not to forget took hanumanji’s blessings for a safe and successful summer training .
Ghutka is banned but people seem to survive on that stuff … they just ask everyone “ pan khaiyeyega ?” and put some into their own red mouths for the nth time and produce beautiful red pieces of art around them .Patna is a city for the modern art lover .art at its peek .the station is full of …dare I say ..new sounds , sights and smells …not all of them pleasant …I didn’t dare to venture into the tastes .somehow I spend time till 11.50 . Actually it wasn’t as bad as People say it is .
Then I boarded Vikramsila express .. my next train to jamalpur …30 km from Munger . Munger has only one train a day ..so I took the jamalpur train .The train was packed with armed policeman ..they were escorting some commissioners family . These guys began their round of warnings for me …don’t move out in the night , dacoits just kill guys for fun ,their desi guns never miss their mark blah blah .One of them happened to be posted in Karnataka to provide protection to deve gowdas family . I got pally with himand offered Him some hanuman Ji ka prasad . Curiously he told me to eat some of it first . Only later did I come to know that this is how you check if your food is poisoned ..ask the guy who offers it to you t o have some of it !
Then came jamalpur at 6.15 trembling with fear I got down and what do I see ….A huge placard “ ITC MUNGER WELCOMES ROHIT SENOY “ ( that’s the spelling they got ). I enter the amby for the last lap of my journey . What a joy ride ! the roads have such gr8 terrains ….At last I see the board ITC MUNGER ….SAFETY BEGINS FROM HERE .Whatever that means .
Find out this and more in the next episode of Mungeri lal ke haseen summers .
till then ,
milte hain babua