This is the second part of my daybreak outing at Hubli which revolved
around staying at and discovering Hubli station. The first part was centred around the old KSRTC bus station of the city and it can be found here, just in case you care to read about it 
I decided to walk to the railway station in that unearthly hour, as I had no choice; it occurred to me that I could take a retiring room at the station and was hopeful yet again. I've never stayed at a retiring room so far and thought of discovering it.
I had visited the same spot of Hubli about 8 years back and knew that the station was close to the old bus station or in particular the Rani Chennamma statue. But the statue is positioned at a junction of 3 roads and hence I was unable to recollect the exact route. I took my phone out to find the way to the station, only to discover that its battery had run out of power; I had'nt turned off my data network in Goa, made some calls and did some Whatsapping too....I was bearing the brunt of it now as there was no one around to even ask for guidance; I had the entire city centre of Hubli for myself...."These smart phones are dumb in the sense that they consume more power due to their features", I thought.
It was just 3:25 AM in the morning and I was stranded near the Rani Chennamma statue; for a moment I regretted my decision to book a train as the new bus station had conductors and drivers calling out the Bangalore bound passengers. But it was too late and I had no choice.
I was preparing myself mentally to find the way to the station by trial and error method as it was the only option left before me. But, "Huttisida devaru hullu meyisde irtana"??? In the middle of the daybreak, the sound of a railway locomotive honking at the Hubli station, could be heard near the statue and it took just some normal ears to decide the direction from which the sound came. I walked along the road that houses the Hubli-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike office. The road had many good hotels but all of them were shut; the city lacks hotels that offer round the clock check-in and check-out facilities unlike Mangalore, I thought.
It was about 3:35 AM when I arrived at the station which looked really good at night; there was a railway bridge towards my left and it was then, that it occurred to me. The elderly person in the bus had actually asked me to alight near this bridge as it would be very close to the railway station. But as I had failed to decipher him, I had alighted at the old bus station and walked. All the buses bound to Gadag from Hubli, could drop you at the railway bridge, from where Hubli station is a short walk.
I was greeted by the sight of a whole lot of people sleeping on the floor at the station; this is what happens if there are no special waiting rooms for general class passengers, I felt. The people at the enquiry counter led me to the Chief Ticket Inspector's office on platform 1 where the retiring rooms are generally allocated. But I had no luck even here....The person there told me that the rooms are allocated only between 8 (PM or AM) to 8 (AM or PM). I told him that I would'nt mind paying extra and would go for the 24 hour slot, but the man there said it was a waste of money for me as 8 hours had already elapsed. My willingness to spend MY OWN MONEY, cut no ice with that man!!!! Strange......
I was sat on the benches for a while, walked along the platform, up the footover bridge etc. Hubli station has only 5 platforms and the yard seems to be located almost right beside platform 5. I would expect a zonal headquarter to have a much bigger station. After all this, I went to the sleeper class waiting room where there were just 2 people both of whom were in deep sleep snoring. Except for bathing, I finished my morning chores there as I was in no mood to wait for 4 more hours. Later I charged my cell phone fully.
An hour passed somehow...I was bored of playing with my phone too and was worried about how to kill the next 3 hours; it was only 5 AM then. But an idea fired off in my mind, when I heard that Rani Chennamma Express bound to Kolhapur was scheduled to arrive on platform 1 at 5:35 AM. "Why not take a ride to Dharwad"?, I thought. There was nothing that I could do in the waiting room as I would'nt sleep on the floor like how the other 2 occupants had. Brushing and looing itself was uncomfortable as I had never done anything of this sort before. Bathing was fully out of question there. So a trip to Dharwad would be the best way to kill time, I thought.
The strange thing was that a 21 KM ride cost me 30 rupees, something I had'nt expected. But nevermind, the money has gone to the government and not into the clerk's pocket. The train departed at 6:05 AM and reached Dharwad by around 6:30 AM. Dharwad was more like a small town compared to Hubli. I walked around the station for a while and returned to the station by around 7:05 AM, only to find that a train to Hubli that was expected at 6:55 AM was yet to arrive. I decided to go for it and bought the tickets and reached Hubli by around 7:50 AM.
But the night shift guy at the ticket inspector's office was in a mood to logout and asked me to wait for the next person to login. My bad luck had'nt ended there...there were 2 old men seated and they had taken away the only 2 retiring rooms that were available. The day shift guy arrived at 8:30 AM (although his login time was 8) and asked me to get a photocopy of my ID proof.
The photocopying facility was said to be available at the IRCTC food plaza in the station, but I found that it was not open then. I learnt that it does not open before 10 or 10:30 AM..... I walked down to another shop on the road, where the person asked me for a small change of 2 rupees which I did not have. I said I did not want the change back but asked him to accept my 10 rupees note, but he refused. That was when I ran out of patience.
I decided to leave things as they are and tore the dormitory request form that the ticket inspector had given me. I went for breakfast at a Kamat beside the station, bought a newspaper and spent the rest of my time in the waiting room reading it. At 12:50 PM or so, I went for lunch at a second Kamat located opposite to the station and when I returned, the Janshatabdi arrived on platform 1.
I struggled to keep my eyes open until one Hubli South station which seemed to be nestled amidst maize fields. The train did not stop there, but the TTE arrived. I showed my ticket and then crashed. I struggled to open my eyes at 4:40 PM when the train was coming to a halt at Davangere; closed my eyes and when I opened it again, the train had begun to chug out of Birur Junction.
On the whole, Hubli - Bangalore Janshatabdi express was a great train but still arrived 20 minutes late. The scheduled time of arrival at Bangalore City was 9:25 PM but it chugged in only at 9:45 PM.
My colleagues had a good laugh when I shared this with them on 2-Jan-2015, when I got back to work. So thought of sharing it with you all here, as well. Thanks for bearing with me through this long post
I decided to walk to the railway station in that unearthly hour, as I had no choice; it occurred to me that I could take a retiring room at the station and was hopeful yet again. I've never stayed at a retiring room so far and thought of discovering it.
I had visited the same spot of Hubli about 8 years back and knew that the station was close to the old bus station or in particular the Rani Chennamma statue. But the statue is positioned at a junction of 3 roads and hence I was unable to recollect the exact route. I took my phone out to find the way to the station, only to discover that its battery had run out of power; I had'nt turned off my data network in Goa, made some calls and did some Whatsapping too....I was bearing the brunt of it now as there was no one around to even ask for guidance; I had the entire city centre of Hubli for myself...."These smart phones are dumb in the sense that they consume more power due to their features", I thought.
It was just 3:25 AM in the morning and I was stranded near the Rani Chennamma statue; for a moment I regretted my decision to book a train as the new bus station had conductors and drivers calling out the Bangalore bound passengers. But it was too late and I had no choice.
I was preparing myself mentally to find the way to the station by trial and error method as it was the only option left before me. But, "Huttisida devaru hullu meyisde irtana"??? In the middle of the daybreak, the sound of a railway locomotive honking at the Hubli station, could be heard near the statue and it took just some normal ears to decide the direction from which the sound came. I walked along the road that houses the Hubli-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike office. The road had many good hotels but all of them were shut; the city lacks hotels that offer round the clock check-in and check-out facilities unlike Mangalore, I thought.
It was about 3:35 AM when I arrived at the station which looked really good at night; there was a railway bridge towards my left and it was then, that it occurred to me. The elderly person in the bus had actually asked me to alight near this bridge as it would be very close to the railway station. But as I had failed to decipher him, I had alighted at the old bus station and walked. All the buses bound to Gadag from Hubli, could drop you at the railway bridge, from where Hubli station is a short walk.
I was greeted by the sight of a whole lot of people sleeping on the floor at the station; this is what happens if there are no special waiting rooms for general class passengers, I felt. The people at the enquiry counter led me to the Chief Ticket Inspector's office on platform 1 where the retiring rooms are generally allocated. But I had no luck even here....The person there told me that the rooms are allocated only between 8 (PM or AM) to 8 (AM or PM). I told him that I would'nt mind paying extra and would go for the 24 hour slot, but the man there said it was a waste of money for me as 8 hours had already elapsed. My willingness to spend MY OWN MONEY, cut no ice with that man!!!! Strange......
I was sat on the benches for a while, walked along the platform, up the footover bridge etc. Hubli station has only 5 platforms and the yard seems to be located almost right beside platform 5. I would expect a zonal headquarter to have a much bigger station. After all this, I went to the sleeper class waiting room where there were just 2 people both of whom were in deep sleep snoring. Except for bathing, I finished my morning chores there as I was in no mood to wait for 4 more hours. Later I charged my cell phone fully.
An hour passed somehow...I was bored of playing with my phone too and was worried about how to kill the next 3 hours; it was only 5 AM then. But an idea fired off in my mind, when I heard that Rani Chennamma Express bound to Kolhapur was scheduled to arrive on platform 1 at 5:35 AM. "Why not take a ride to Dharwad"?, I thought. There was nothing that I could do in the waiting room as I would'nt sleep on the floor like how the other 2 occupants had. Brushing and looing itself was uncomfortable as I had never done anything of this sort before. Bathing was fully out of question there. So a trip to Dharwad would be the best way to kill time, I thought.
The strange thing was that a 21 KM ride cost me 30 rupees, something I had'nt expected. But nevermind, the money has gone to the government and not into the clerk's pocket. The train departed at 6:05 AM and reached Dharwad by around 6:30 AM. Dharwad was more like a small town compared to Hubli. I walked around the station for a while and returned to the station by around 7:05 AM, only to find that a train to Hubli that was expected at 6:55 AM was yet to arrive. I decided to go for it and bought the tickets and reached Hubli by around 7:50 AM.
But the night shift guy at the ticket inspector's office was in a mood to logout and asked me to wait for the next person to login. My bad luck had'nt ended there...there were 2 old men seated and they had taken away the only 2 retiring rooms that were available. The day shift guy arrived at 8:30 AM (although his login time was 8) and asked me to get a photocopy of my ID proof.
The photocopying facility was said to be available at the IRCTC food plaza in the station, but I found that it was not open then. I learnt that it does not open before 10 or 10:30 AM..... I walked down to another shop on the road, where the person asked me for a small change of 2 rupees which I did not have. I said I did not want the change back but asked him to accept my 10 rupees note, but he refused. That was when I ran out of patience.
I decided to leave things as they are and tore the dormitory request form that the ticket inspector had given me. I went for breakfast at a Kamat beside the station, bought a newspaper and spent the rest of my time in the waiting room reading it. At 12:50 PM or so, I went for lunch at a second Kamat located opposite to the station and when I returned, the Janshatabdi arrived on platform 1.
I struggled to keep my eyes open until one Hubli South station which seemed to be nestled amidst maize fields. The train did not stop there, but the TTE arrived. I showed my ticket and then crashed. I struggled to open my eyes at 4:40 PM when the train was coming to a halt at Davangere; closed my eyes and when I opened it again, the train had begun to chug out of Birur Junction.
On the whole, Hubli - Bangalore Janshatabdi express was a great train but still arrived 20 minutes late. The scheduled time of arrival at Bangalore City was 9:25 PM but it chugged in only at 9:45 PM.
My colleagues had a good laugh when I shared this with them on 2-Jan-2015, when I got back to work. So thought of sharing it with you all here, as well. Thanks for bearing with me through this long post
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