Platform7

After booking tickets to go home for the vacation, it was time to search for the return tickets. The night buses from my place either did not have tickets or had seats only in the last row. I found tickets in the newly extended Hindusthan bus as well as Kallada’s Hyderabad buses. I decided to take the Hyderabad bus so that I’d reach home by midnight and have a somewhat peaceful sleep. But did I get peaceful sleep? Read on... March 10, 2013: Like every time, I was reluctant to leave home as the time came closer. But I had no choice. I had some baggage to carry this time, and hence called an Auto home, to drop me at Kodungallur bus station. There was a KSRTC bus waiting when I reached the bus station – that was RNA164 of Thrissur. The bus looked tired, dirty and poorly kept. The bus was repainted over a year ago, but the shabby work left the bus really bad looking. The bus got crawling out of the bus station just past 1330hrs. The bus crawled out and they stopped the bus outs

It was a dull Monday evening in office – stinging headache and an all time high level of irritability. I walk into my boss’ office – to find out if I could get a “vacation”. Being a probationer, I did not have eligibility to demand one. My boss was kind enough to allow a short vacation – I was excited as I drove home that day. Spent quite some time searching on the internet to find a bus for my trip – I had some interesting offers on line, but decided to take my loved operator – Kallada Tours & Travels, that too the bus to Kodungallur. Booking was done through their website, and I chose a seat towards the back. I was very excited about this journey – since that route gets the oldest buses of Kallada – and I was very interested to find how their maintenance was. March 05, 2013: The day was somewhat relaxed – at one point, my vacation itself was at risk, but I pulled through without trouble. In the evening, my friend in Kallada was online, and I chatted for some time – c

I make a trip home every month – January was an exception, where I went home every weekend. After my last trip home, I was immediately searching for tickets for my next trip. A couple of services were up on my list of “to be tried” services. One of them was Kallada Tours & Travels’ Volvo service to Ernakulam via Kozhikode. I don’t want to reveal the others – but looks like some of them would remain on the list forever. I zeroed in on the Kallada bus via Kozhikode and checked their website – but only the last row seats remained open for booking online! I was sure that the other seats were blocked – not really sold out. Headed to their office on a Sunday, and got the ticket booking through the office – interestingly, the bus was completely empty at that time – mine was the first ticket to be booked! About a week before the journey, the bus was opened for online reservation – the bus filled up in no time! February 15, 2013: It was one very busy day at office – thankfully,