My first trip to Raigarh which has encouraged me to write few of my experiences...

I was in a tremendous pressure to come to Raigarh, as the consultant (same module as mine) in Raigarh wanted to have an overlap of atleast two days to give a KT (Knowledge Transfer) to me, here KT is a word which really attracts people’s attention who don’t know about it… So who don’t know about it let me explain a bit… KT in IT industry means to share their experiences in the company and how much they are going to lose after they will leave it and all bla bla bla other than what was really expected…. so KT is nothing but to create an environment where people will realize that u r leaving.

Now to let my fellow colleague achieve his dream of getting out of the site, I booked my ticket from Mumbai to Raigarh via Kota and Delhi… But here comes the typical misery of a consultant’s life where he always get crushed between two projects one which he is leaving and the other which he is joining. The one which he is joining pulls him like he is a bolly wood star or a Cricket Player whom if they get, will increase their TRP ratings… and the one from which he is going will start remembering everything which even a consultant cant think can be done from their own module… I don’t know why it always happens that the last few days the work done will be more than it is never before… So here as usual I became a scapegoat and extended my stay for two more days… which has shortened my trip and forced me to take a direct flight to Raipur (the nearest so called Airport). I sacrificed my trip to my home.
So the day has reached when I got free (Now please don’t ask how I got free? That is something every consultant wonders after getting free.) So I booked a flight from Mumbai to Raipur. The day has arrived when I carried my luggage and started, after putting that luggage on my shoulder I realized for how long I have been staying at a same place…. The more the weight of your luggage the longer is ur stay… I reached airport before time, as a precaution, thinking that Airport will be under tight security, but to my surprise I was 2 hours before and was afraid that reaching so early should not raise any suspicion among the police standing over there.
Indian Airlines was the flight I booked (You will feel very homely in that as the staff u see, will look like your guardians), so the time has arrived when they started distributing the boarding pass. I kept my luggage over the weighing conveyer belt where it weighed 15kgs extra and the person sitting at the counter told me to pay for 10kgs rather than 15kgs. I was feeling happy till he told me to pay 1782 Rs… Hssshhhhh that was the amount which valued more than the luggage which I was carrying.. Hmmm but still I paid thinking that some day somewhere and from some project this will get re-imbursed… But in my company U will realize that leaving that money is less painful than passing through the panic exercise of claiming and getting approvals and finally getting it credited to ur bank account. I told them to put a Fragile sticker as I was concerned about the liquor bottle in my Suitcase, I don’t have words to explain the situation when one Uncle (Indian Airline staff) have stick the fragile sticker and thrown my suitcase on the conveyer belt. I was wondering why he has wasted that sticker, he could have saved it. That happened in front of me, don’t know how they treat it when the luggage’s don’t have their masters.
Now I boarded the plane, when it started, it made some suspicious irritating sound, which reminded me off going on a adventurous trip to Raigarh, the sound made me feel like jumping and coming out of the plane…but pretending to be very brave I was sitting there and praying, the plane was on runway now, it was about to take off, suddenly an announcement made everybody stand on their seats… The plane was going back to the bay…. I felt like I paid few thousand bucks to have one round of an airport… in a so called Air India Boeing ____ but sooner I saluted Air India as they took the flight back to the bay because the captain’s father expired and they have so much of concern for an individual (this can be a topic of debate, but I don’t fall into that) that the Pilot was being replaced by another one and our flight got delayed by nearly 3 hours…. I landed up in Raigarh, no signs of it being a capital, but I dint know that it was the best city in Chhattisgarh… as the other cities were yet to come my way. I called up the guy who was suppose to pick me up… he was shocked to hear that I reached, and to my surprise before time as per him… Here people swear by the train timings as they get always late by 6 or 7 hours…. So no wonder he was shocked to find me there only 3 hours late… Now my wonderful journey has started, the guy took me to the Guest house where I thought to take rest but from there also he told me to start early to catch a train which was suppose to be at 5:55 PM… I don’t knw why they always stick to the timings when it is for dropping somebody but not vice versa….
I reached the platform and hired a coolie to carry my luggage to the compartment where I reserved my ticket….. Hey!!! this time people on station were so happy as the train was arriving on time… I can’t guess the number of people who have missed the train because of it running on time that day, I could guess it as the train was empty and while booking the ticket on internet it was almost reached waiting list.

While working I always use to dream that I should go to my village and sometimes I use to dream that I should go to a place where I will get peace… I promise you that god has granted both my wishes simultaneously and I am here in Raigarh…

Thanks to God who has created such a good place and thanks to his people who has preserved it.