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UBC Day 5 : Live Blogging From Agra Station…

Hi from the city of the Taj Mahal. I am at Agra Cantt railway station, going back home from a 4 day workshop here. It is hot and humid and I can’t wait to sit in the cool comfort of the train. I am pretty early and the train is a bit behind schedule.

For the first time I saw a lady porter. Wish I could have captured her in my camera. A woman propably in her thirties, wearing a red kurta with the railway porter’s badge on her arm. A tough choice of profession for a woman.

The best thing I like about Agra Cantt railway station is that the overhead bridge connecting the various platforms has a slope and not the stairs. It is so very convenient. I wonder why there are staircases to connect the various platforms at stations when everyone travels with bags and suitcases here.

A lady came up to me to help her search for a call which she had received at 3.25 pm on her mobile. She explained that she is not familiar with new numbers and English. A good deed done for the day.

I am writing this post from my phone, which is a first for me. The sensitive touchscreen makes it a bit tedious to write a long post. I am writing this paragraph for the third time. Dont know where the earlier two attempts have vanished. Aah! Just did a bit of R&D and found both the earlier typed paragraphs at the end of the post!! Just remembered Smitha and Deeps who have been blogging from their phones from such a long time. Hats off to you, ladies.

While I was busy observing the things around me (you see, one needs to be vigilant enough to note the blogworthy happenings), I didnt realize that my train’s arrival had changed from platform no. 2 to platform no. 3. I realized only when the train was arriving at platform no. 3. Fortunately, didnt had to walk much to find my coach. What a bliss it is to be sitting in the air conditioned coach.

A family of 4 is sitting opposite me. The teenage sons are busy arguing over who would occupy the upper berth and who gets to use the Tablet first and have involved the parents in their bickerings too. The husband is super active while the wife is simply observing the 3 men without any expression. She smiled warmly at me after I had settled on my seat but has no smile or a word for her family. She is intriguing me. A beautiful and a well educated lady, she appears to be. One can never know what goes on in somebody’s head or what’s their true story. An hour into the journey and she has just murmered a ‘thanks’ when the younger son while offering a pack of biscuits to her said ‘ladies first’. And now she has gone off to lie on the side berth. She truly seems to be upset and/or unhappy. Ah! The travails of life.

Should post this now ASAP. Hope it happens without any hassle. Cant wait to reach home. KG is cooking an elaborate meal for us. Some nice food and a messy kitchen awaits me.

See you all on your blogs from tomorrow. Reading time now and it is time to be offline as ‘Ohh! Gods are Online’ . Yes, that’s the book I am currently reading.

42 Responses

  1. You could not have missed the challenge.
    This seems to your second post from a station.I think,you wrote one when you ordered a Pizza at the platform…am I right?Was it Haridwar?

  2. Hi Shilpa, your first blog from your phone is superb. Congrats!! Very interesting narration of your train journey fromAgra. The behaviour of the lady travelling with you arouses suspicion.

  3. So interesting to have captured your surrounding at the railway station…this is nice. And hats off to you too for using your phone to type the post…I simply can’t do that and so that makes me very lousy with phone chats 🙂

  4. What a lovely post! I have been to Agra station many a times and yes it sure is a well managed station overall. Also the pointer about woman porter wow! I wish you did capture a picture of her. The family sound like a very regular team of four and of course the mother’s plight is very usual on such trips 🙂

    1. I wish, but I was in a hurry to reach my platform, even though I was so early… missed opportunity! Hope I get to see her next time.
      I found it strange, though! 😛

    1. Thank God, I could manage writing on time! 🙂
      This ramp is such a blessing. On my return, I found a new addition on Jaipur Rlwy Station… an escalator. It was cool. Have seen it on New Delhi Rlwy Station too.

  5. Hats off, Shilpa! I can never imagine blogging from mobile. I find even using messaging and Whatsapp cumbersome. I don’t even blog from tablet. I only write on my laptop. And daily blogging has even made you do live blogging. Cool! It has definitely made us all so observant, trying to find subjects in everything.
    By the way, I like these posts of yours much more than the 55 Fiction or Wordless or anything such. These are more about you 🙂

    1. I have done live blogging from bus, trains, airports, and have written a post even during a flight 😛
      Glad you like these ramblings here 🙂

  6. I so love reading your observations, you paint a very authentic and complete picture with words Shilpa:) You have to carry your own life forward, I admire the lady porter for her strong mind!! our phone to blog can be cumbersome but then daily challenges teach you a lot don’t they 🙂
    Using yCan’t wait to read what you feel about the book, title is really interesting, even the Gods have been bitten by the internet bug 😛

    1. Glad that you enjoy reading these posts, Reshma.
      Oh yes, daily blogging challenges, keeps us on our toes! Am half way through with the book, will review it soon. It is very interesting so far! 🙂

  7. LOL! Another “train post” from you! 😀
    Didn’t you get any curious eyes this time, peering over your shoulders to see what you were frantically typing away? 😛
    I don’t think I’ll ever write a blog post from my phone though. Have replied to comments from it, but for posts, I’m just so finicky about the formatting and pictures etc., that I’d probably go crazy!
    Btw, Dad wants me to install the Wordathon game on his phone now! 😉

    1. Dont know about the looks, as my eyes were focused on the phone. But after 2 hours of the journey, an uncle said, “aren’t your eyes hurting?” 😛
      I’ll be writing 2 more posts from phone in the coming week, as I am travelling again 😀
      Wordathon is addictive and I so love it! 😀

  8. me too just back from the Agra station ……meant to say it was so vivid, i almost visualized myself sitting beside you.

    You are so right about the staircase in station. It is painful to see arthritic patients getting up and down with difficulty.

    1. Thank you, Asha for traveling with me! 😀
      The ramp is a boon not only for elderly and arthritic patients but also for us who have a strolley bag… we can carry it easily too… without panting and sweating 😀

  9. You wrote all that from your phone! That too at one shot! WOW! Hats off to YOU, lady! I wouldnt have been able to punch in so many words at a go.

    I just LOVE the way you observe people and write about them, Shilpa! I felt a tug at heart to read about the lady porter. Must have been a tough choice indeed.

    I so so agree with you on the need to have a slope instead of stairs in all the stations. Life would be so much easier and more convenient.

    As for the lady travelling with her family, I am intrigued too!

    Hope you’ve reached home safe and gorged on the yummy food prepared by KG 🙂

    1. Didnt you use your phone for blogging? I mentioned about you and Smitha in this post 😛
      Feel sad about the lady porter… life is so harsh for some! 🙁
      Yes, I had bought a McD burger for the journey but didn’t eat it coz I couldn’t miss the goodies cooked by KG 🙂

  10. Super attempt, Shilpa. I must learn the fine art of time management from you. I have my hands full with the two kids and have actually cheated today by posting an entry to a competition.
    About your post, I find your observations very fascinating indeed. How rewarding it is to just watch the world go by sometimes.
    Congratulations on the elaborate meal awaiting you. Makes the messy kitchen worth it.

    1. Thanks Cynthia. You have 2 kids and work and home which is actually lots and still you are doing this challenge, it is truly commendable!
      Yes, it was worthwhile and I am learning to ignore (a bit) the messy kitchen 😀

  11. It is always so much in people watching. It is also a great way to get topics to write about, I never get tired of people watching, for i have written many Middles for newspapers, before the internet and blogging came into existence.

    1. Wow! That’s so cool. Have you shared your earlier writings in newspapers on your blog?? You must… would love to red those too 🙂

  12. Shilpa, Everytime I tried posting or commenting via phone..it would disappear and so the smartphone does makes me want to reach the smart element and ask it to simplify and stop playing with my patience…
    I was in that Journey Shilpa. I felt like a co passenger on the trip and it was fun.. Harried Mum perhaps wondering the amount of work awaits after reaching home.. It is the day we reach back and the one after that squeezes every bit of energy out of us.. :P( By us..we mean..all of Us.. I am not a Mum)
    I love your insights SHilpa..They are positively unique 🙂

    1. I know, blogging/commenting from phone is a bit cumbersome. With a slight touch, you never know where something vanishes or even gets printed! But I like this freedom to post from anywhere. I will surely like to do more blogging from phone 😀
      Yeah, may be, she was harried and worried!
      Glad you enjoyed reading this post Dee 🙂

  13. Blogging from Phone !
    Take a bow lady 😮 I can never do that. I get pissed after one comment on FB . My ph hangs. may be too many apps !
    Anyway I feel so happy when I read such “Live” posts. They are special . Live observations , thoughts and happenings. all my infyblogs were filled with such posts (infosys blogs)
    Anyway hope the book is grt and hope ur workshop was grt too ! I really hope the lady was just suffering from mood swings 😀
    anyway good job that too from mobile
    and Bravo as u have taken up the UBC for july

    1. Live blogging is fun and am enjoying commenting from phone too. Will take a while to master it like a laptop though 😀
      Thanks, yes the books looks interesting and workshop was great too. 🙂
      You should have participated in UBC too 🙂

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