A Journey To Remember!

by Saroj Khan (Pakistan)

A leap into the unknown Pakistan

There were moments when I said to myself that “I should have listened to the prior warnings.” Life gives you chances to explore the new place and yourself. I took that chance and that’s how I end up traveling with seven girls and 1 boy in a train. We, group of ten were traveling together via train to Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir to attend a conference. And there were several unseen happenings that were waiting for us. It was a last minute booking and catch up with the train so we end up to an interesting bogey of the train. It was pretty messed up, dusty; windows were jammed and opened, there was fan in our part of the compartment which was barely working and there was a small tube light as well which got fused. In middle of everything, we stayed positive and focused on reaching our first destination Rawalpindi Station. The journey finally began; we left Karachi around 5 o’clock in the evening and things were still in under control. We talked, we laughed, we ate snacks, and we were following PSL match commentary on the radio as well. Well, there was no wifi in the train and there were several areas on the way where there were no mobile signals to be found so we end up talking to each other. Everything was going fine and just then our train stopped in the middle of nowhere around 10 o’clock at night. It was pitch black dark outside and scary to look outside the window as there was no residential area around, it was all black out. After few minutes of wait, we got to know that are train’s engine is having some issues so it will take some time to get back on the track. As nothing was really happening much, so we lit up our mobile torches and we enjoyed the paratha, bhuna qeema, chicken masala and spaghettis which was our delicious meal for the dinner. After almost two hours our train’s engine was running and we started off our journey back again. But to be noted we had got two hours late to reach our destination. After a night sleep full of trembles and vibrations we finally woke up in the morning to the beautiful sight of Punjab’s village areas. The green fields were everywhere, men and women are working in the greens, the kids are going to school and many vegetable and fruit vendors were on the road. It was a wonderful sight. Just then we got to know that the train washrooms are out of water. So we waited for the next station so that we can brush at least. And to our surprise the washrooms were locked and chained so we brushed our teeth on the side walk with the help of the water bottles. Well, afterwards we had breakfast and our trained stopped again for almost three hours. It was very nerve-wrecking moment for all of us and the conditions were making everything unbearable. But we kept ourselves together and focused on the destination! Well, after 30 hours of train traveling (which was almost 5-6 hours late as well) we finally reached Rawalpindi station and we were almost crying with happiness that we reached safe and sound. From there we traveled to Islamabad which was half hour drive from there. We settled down at a hotel, we all got fresh and went out to hotel’s dining for dinner and we found out that it had been closed as it was 11 o’clock at night and that’s what happens in the capital. However we went out for dinner and almost one hour search we finally found a restaurant where we had dinner after 32 hours and we ate like zombies! The continued trip went pretty interestingly well but this one travel journey is something I could never forget, though I learned a lot and messed up a lot of things as well from which I have learned lessons as well!