Travel Blog - Journey, Stories and Experiences

Scorching heat and I with nothing in my hand decided to leave for Gangtok , a place named the cleanest city in India, a place most disciplined, a place whose beauty is incomparable. Confused? Read The Last Part Last night in Hotel Jagat Inn in Siliguri I was encouraged by a friend of mine Vivek Gautam who told me his story when he was stuck at a place and had to steal blankets from a hotel to sleep at night. I still remember the conversation. I was alone physically but there were many people with me while I needed support. Again there were the same friends whom I mentioned in my Part 7 of another series when I was hospitalised. I remember Vibha was as calm as she has always been on the phone. She is always like nothing has happened. I started to believe this was normal. I remember Ruqaiya laughing her heart out at my situation. I decided to go to Gangtok from Bagdogra. I called Chandani's father from the airport and asked for the directions from Bagdogra. He briefed m...

"You don't choose your family, you get it", I had read this quote a long time ago and the first thing I imagined that time was my sister. Fighting with her almost everyday grooved this quote because I thought, I really would not have chosen her. My sister was informed about my condition a day after I was admitted. In the cab when I was going to the hospital, I asked my mother to call and tell her but my father said, don't worry, no need to get her distressed, you will be fine tomorrow . I was not sure. While in the hospital that night, I again asked my mother to call her and tell everything. I knew having her beside me would make me confident. The next day she came from Delhi. She wore purple Jockey top and had a calm look on her face. I don't know what she was thinking looking at her brother whose face was all distorted, but she was calm. She was the best support I could have possibly got with anyone's presence. She would motivate me everyday around thousand...

Twenty bottles of plasma (blood), five bottles of albumen, countless bottles of all the nutrients like iron, sodium, calcium were consumed by me. I was surviving on just drips and milk. It was my eighth day in the ward. I was not listening to "He is still weak" now. Two days back at 10 am when doctors arrived for their regular routine round checkup, my sister asked me to lift my hand so that I can warm up before they see. I told her, " Today I will not leave the doctor if he says no improvement to me ". The doctor arrived and asked me to lift my hand. I applied power equivalent to lifting a 14 kg household gas cylinder. I lifted my hands. Both of them upto my shoulder level like Hitler's salute. This time the words that came out of his mouth were different. He said, " There is very slight improvement, but there is, let's see what happens ". My sister was very happy. She could have danced in the ward if allowed to. I was happy to see her, while eve...

I and my sister decided to visit Bhutan on the 24th of March for its international festival and trekking.  Bhutan hosts this beautiful international festival called Paro International Festival and I wanted to witness it. We had made all the reservations for flights and train but left the reservations of Hotels for on the spot booking. On the 24th morning, I arrived at the Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and met my sister, all set to see the spectacular view of the festival that was being organised which looked just like this.     I expected to see people dancing on the roads, wearing traditional dresses and huge dragons on the way. But soon, my sister spoke the words that shattered all the above imaginations. She said, " I won't be able to go, I have some really urgent work in the company, I am really really very sorry". I was like what the hell? Why didn't you tell me before? She said the flights were non-refundable and still I thought we could...

Before I go on to tell you about the other days that I spent and went through, I feel the need to tell you about the patients in my ward. I dedicate this chapter to four patients in my ward, who have left a significant impact on my memory. I never talked to any of those patients because I was not able to speak, but they all had different lives and different situations which forces me to write about them. You will know after reading, why among all these four are the only patients I would like to mention.     The first patient I recall was a woman. She was a healthy woman, wore a nice suit with flowers imprinted on it. She was healthy and was just brought to the ward. As I stated it was an IMC ward which had only critical patients under watch everytime. Even in the night. It was around 3 pm and I was talking to my sister. My sister was reading something from her phone. That lady had her husband with her who was sitting on the stool right beside her. Her husband wore a grey po...

I woke up by the noise of doctors' arrival in the ward. It was a routine check up that happened every morning at 10. They used to check the patients and decide the change in medicines, write reports and speak about the health. I was too weak. I couldn't sit without reclining the bed. My double vision was same as it was two days earlier. I could see everything if my head was kept straight like an owl and my pupils did not move. To see anything I had to move my head and still I would see everything double. I was most concerned about my eyes. I could recall the episodes of, " Monsters inside me" where the narrator would speak again and again that we cannot reverse the damage to the eyes. The doctor arrived at my bed. He checked if there are any improvements. He asked me to lift my hand, which obviously I couldn't. He asked me to fold my hand and then lift it, which obviously I couldn't. He took his pen and kept it in front of me, still holding, and moved his han...

I woke up next morning. It was a long night's sleep, I guess more than 10 hours. My condition had worsened. My hands and legs were almost paralyzed. They had lost all the control from my brain and it was even hard for me to push myself to sit on the bed. Although I sensed it coming, I did not get worried about it. It was the first time I glanced at other patients. Almost every patient was having the tube in their nose like mine and drips in their veins. I was in the right most corner along the wall. Every patient was on the left side of me and it was really hard for me to turn my head to left because it felt like the tube is scratching inside my throat when I am turning my head left due to which later many doctors standing on my right used to complain jokingly that I am ignoring them. I told my father I had to go to pee. It was impossible for me to even get down from bed without anyone's support. He took me to the washroom by holding me with both the hands and every patient al...

The window showed me all the delicacies I had enjoyed in my college life going past me as I was travelling to another hospital from the Max hospital  as I just got to know I have contracted GBS and was GBS positive. Dr Deepak Goyal had advised us to go to another hospital called Himalayan Hospital keeping in mind all the routine checkups so that I don't have to travel too much in that condition and assured me the best of treatment of GBS there as his very good friend and his teammate Dr Manish Mittal will be treating me. The walking was becoming harder and harder for me as the GBS was dominating over me. I had to take a wheelchair for the exit. I sat in the cab to go to another hospital. MISSED PART 1? READ HERE     My condition was worsening but I took my mind out of it and started seeing the roads and the shops where I had spent four years of my life in Dehradun. I saw a shop and a memory would pop up and another crossroad would bring another memory. I was ...

I took my empty bag, I took my jacket, dressed in college uniform I started my ride. I was going to my college to give my final semester presentation for the project I had done in LTI, Mumbai . I was happy about the fact that after today, there will be no exams, no attendance and my college life would be over. I had my days planned. Since I had been on the flight from Mumbai to Delhi to come home, I had planned all my days. I wanted to learn driving at a driving school. I wanted to learn swimming. I wanted to go to the gym. I wanted to go on at least three trips in one month. I had all planned but I guess life had other plans for me.       I gave my presentation to a four-judge panel out of which three were ladies. They were chit-chatting and I don't remember any of them listening to me after I told them the company and brief of the project. My presentation was over as soon as they told me "Thank You". It was a moment of epiphany. My college was over with that s...

Mumbai as you know is the financial capital of India with big buildings and sky-touching hotels and apartments. But as I know, Mumbai is really more than that. I arrived by August Kranti Rajdhani from New Delhi to Mumbai transitioning from 0 degrees to almost 25 degrees. I had 2 sweaters in my hand and an internship offer letter in my bag which I had to show in LTI ( previously L&T Infotech).  First of all, I was kind of looted at the railway station by the cab driver. Well, let's not say looted but I was charged like uber after finalising a lesser amount before getting into the cab. On the way, I got to know that so called kaali peeli taxi  and the ola-uber taxi have become arch rivals on this land. Well, still I believe that you should not get into those cabs and prefer ola-uber only. They really try to play smart and think they can earn more from Non-Maharashtrian. From that point on, I have been living in Mumbai and I hoped to share my experience of Mumbai life with yo...