Platform7

It all began in August - right after the massive deluge hit my home state, Kerala. My students were among the first people to respond with flood relief material - they focused a lot on medicines, and ensured supply of basic medication to the badly affected parts of the state. After the initial response, the students got accumulating funds for the post-deluge rehabilitation work. They contacted a lot of NGOs to identify the needy, and finally a list of beneficiaries was prepared, and based on the funds available, we shortlisted two groups who were the most needy. A lot of relief material was collected as well. We had to find a safe and reliable way to getting the things to Kerala - first up on the priority list was my friend at Kerala Lines - he agreed to transport the material without any cost at the first talk itself - there was no hesitation on his side, and he agreed to make all arrangements.

October 10, 2018:
0930hrs: My phone rings, and its my friend at Kerala Lines. "10 Boxe…

There was only one condition - we had to return to Bangalore on a day service. The only convenient option we had was the Ernakulam-Bangalore service - which seemed to be priced quite high. I quickly looked at options from Coimbatore, and found a service from asianXpress listed with an afternoon departure. They didn't seem to list this service on other days - that made me curious, and i headed to their official site to see if such a service actually existed. It did, and I booked our tickets on that one. The bus departed from Coimbatore at 1400hrs, and reached Bangalore past 2100hrs - acceptable timings.

October 02, 2018:
Coimbatore was a little over 80kms from TW's place. We had decided to take a bus from Palakkad to Coimbatore, and our travel to Palakkad was to be by car. We were dropped at Palakkad bus station a little past 1015hrs. I was on the look out for any bus that would drop us at Gandhipuram bus station - the regular Palakkad-Coimbatore shuttle buses go only until Ukk…

A plan to visit TW's hometown was in the making ever since we got married in May. We did make a customary hurried visit, and had never been to head there all the time - some or the other thing happened every time we planned a journey. In the meantime, TW got employed and her office timings meant we couldn't plan a quick trip either. After going forth and back with the planning multiple times, we finally decide to travel during the extended weekend during Gandhi Jayanti. I wanted a bus that dropped us in Palakkad town for the outbound - this meant our options were limited to either KSRTCs. Karnataka SRTC was the call, since that was the only bus who's timings suited us.

September 29, 2018:
Like every time, I had a very busy day at office - reaching home well past 1800hrs. TW took a cab home, and she reached a little past 1830hrs. We quickly got fresh, and got moving by around 1930hrs or so - for a 2205hrs departure from Shantinagar. I briefly considered hiring a cab to the …