Sonda (near Sirsi) is one of my favourite pilgrimage spots, simply because of the scenery and silence. It had been a year since i had been there, making me ever more desperate to visit this beautiful place again. Thus i decided to go to Sonda the very day our vacations were declared ie Dec 10th. But again, there was exam duty and all other mundane responsibilities to finish off and patience finally bore fruit on 24th of Dec. when i finally managed to proceed to Sonda. I wanted to keep my luggage minimal and thus with two small bags and few books i left home at around 10:30.. While walking out of my house towards the bus stop, wind blew from behind. It was pleasant and i (being a firm believer in omens) knew that this pilgrimage was going to be a very good one.. I missed a bus to court cirlcle by a few minutes and decided to wait for few more minutes for another one.. During this "waiting time" an old man enquired about me and when i responded he began to talk about many many things. Old people generally want someone to hear them..This old guy had found me, i thought. I stood there for about 10min. With no signs of a bus coming, i decided to take an auto to court circle. Sitting besided the auto driver was pretty nostalgic. The driver had managed to fill the auto with 6 people.. Getting down at court circle and hurriedly negotiating the traffic at chennamma circle i finally managed to reach Hubli Old Bus Stand..
The stink of evaporating urine and almost every wall painted in red, thanks to the constant spitting of ghutka are the distinguishing of out Bus Stand. I stood at Platform No 7( wondering where was THE PLATFORM). Soon a bus to sirsi and i alighted it. The journey had begun. I had committed a few mistakes the first time i had been to Sonda. Although i had got myself involved in many religious activities i had spent considerable amount of time gossiping with others. This time i wanted to stay silent and stay away from making new friends. I had spent about an hour recollecting as many religious rules as i could..
The bus stopped at Tadas village.. I opened a book from my bag and started reading.. But the silence was not to last long enough.. A woman got into the bus with her crying child. That scene was common enough for me..But when the bus left the child started screaming loudly.. All the passengers were irritated by the screams of that child.. We had thought that the mother would console the child.. But she was simply ignoring her child as if it were sleeping on her lap..All the passengers complained to the conductor and the poor man went to the woman and asked to shut the child's mouth.. The woman, on the other hand, replied that the child wanted an ice candy and she had not bought one.. So it was crying like that.. She then asked the conductor to console the child!! On hearing the conductor's consolation, the child started screaming even more! I was right behind that woman and was now losing my patience. I wanted to slap that child and the mother.. But somehow managed to control myself.. We all had to bear that child for another 2 hours and that woman finally got down with her child near sirsi!! About an hour later i got down at sirsi old bus stand..
The stink of evaporating urine and almost every wall painted in red, thanks to the constant spitting of ghutka are the distinguishing of out Bus Stand. I stood at Platform No 7( wondering where was THE PLATFORM). Soon a bus to sirsi and i alighted it. The journey had begun. I had committed a few mistakes the first time i had been to Sonda. Although i had got myself involved in many religious activities i had spent considerable amount of time gossiping with others. This time i wanted to stay silent and stay away from making new friends. I had spent about an hour recollecting as many religious rules as i could..
The bus stopped at Tadas village.. I opened a book from my bag and started reading.. But the silence was not to last long enough.. A woman got into the bus with her crying child. That scene was common enough for me..But when the bus left the child started screaming loudly.. All the passengers were irritated by the screams of that child.. We had thought that the mother would console the child.. But she was simply ignoring her child as if it were sleeping on her lap..All the passengers complained to the conductor and the poor man went to the woman and asked to shut the child's mouth.. The woman, on the other hand, replied that the child wanted an ice candy and she had not bought one.. So it was crying like that.. She then asked the conductor to console the child!! On hearing the conductor's consolation, the child started screaming even more! I was right behind that woman and was now losing my patience. I wanted to slap that child and the mother.. But somehow managed to control myself.. We all had to bear that child for another 2 hours and that woman finally got down with her child near sirsi!! About an hour later i got down at sirsi old bus stand..
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