From RCF to Allahabad..

I know this seems to be a funny title to the post. But I'd prefer to remember the two as, being related. I remember our very first 'official visits' to the RCF industrial facility at Trombay. Our final year engineering project required us to go to RCF every monday. And although our final year project title was 'Installation and commissioning' of a certain plant, we did neither......install nor commission. In fact my fondest memories of those 'official visits' were only eating out at the nearest 'Jhama' after 'working'.
Recently, I was sent to a vendor's works facility in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh for some 'real official work' from my office. (This was quite unlike the college final year project trips....there was real work to be done and eating out wasnt going to be the real objective !!!). I left Mumbai on Friday evening. Checked in my luggage at mumbai domestic. Reached IGI domestic 2 hours later and booked a pre paid taxi. It was my first time in new delhi. Weather around this time is hot, if not raining. The roads were truly amazing in New Delhi, at least in the part through which I travelled. The taxi which I got was a horrible looking thing, it looked like it had been bumped at least a dozen times and vibrated so much that I checked the underseat for any artificial massaging devices. Moreover, the driver was determined to give me a 'joyous, roller-coaster like ride'. He speeded up when he saw a speed breaker and I am quite sure that you have to do the opposite !!! I was all rickety by the time I reached New delhi station, from where, after dining at a nearby place, I sat down in the Prayagraj express, and the train left for allahabad. It reached Allahabad in the morning time at around 7. I came to the gates and was immediately surrounded by cycle-rickshawallas. But I found the car that was supposed to take me to the Hotel. On the way, I realised that Allahabad looked more like a town than a city (like many other indian cities!!) . Of course, it is a city and it has its own university. The significance of Allahabad lies in the fact that the three big rivers....Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati meet at Allahabad. The meeting of the three rivers is known as sangam (Every time we travelled to the vendor's works there, we passed on a bridge, built over the sangam, which was a very impressive, two pillar suspension bridge.) The Hotel was very nice and after sleeping for about an hour and having breakfast, the car dropped us at the place where we had work. Now, here came the real fun. It was a very 'conventional' type of office. We were invited to a conference room where there was a clear inch of dirt on the horse-shoe shaped table. The chairs were such that each time you sat on one of them, a castor would come off !!! There was an old black and white TV (No projector) and an old black board. It reminded me of one of our bigger school classrooms. Once you got used to this very old idea conference room, there were coolers, which circulated hot air because they werent supplied enough water !!! The managers cabins were worst, with notice boards being stuck on opaque window frames. The cabin door was fixed up with a hydraulic closing apparatus, which closed the door slowly. But since the door hinges didnt seemed to be oiled regularly, the doors creaked till they closed and just a centimeter before the door closed completely the hydraulics would disengage and the door would close with a loud 'thud' which rattled all those notice boards and disturb their 'straight line' alignment. In cabins too, the chairs were broken, but atleast they didnt have castors. People here were completely 'cool'. It seemed that, only 4-5 people worked in that office. Rest all would be found in the same position in the evening as they were in the mornings and be found doing no work at all !!!. People came to the conference room after lunch quite often, as it was open, when we 'customers' had come and it was cooler in the conference room. Once or twice I even spotted people nodding their heads and sleeping completely inside the officers cabins. The official closing time was 5 PM. Since the gate was a bit away from the main office building, people started off at 5 minutes to 5 itself, so that they would reach the gate at exactly 5 where they would punch out their attendance !!! I have never before seen such 'cool' or 'slow' working atmostphere.
Every morning we used to leave the hotel at 0930 hrs and reach the vendor's works at 1000hrs. I worked in this office for 5 days and expedited 5 months pending work !! So you can imagine how slowly these people must be working!!
Me and another fellow from the client side were first time visitors for allahabad, and so on a holiday decided to visit the sangam. The river bed is huge and you have to get to the sangam in a boat. The people here can take you for a ride, in the boat and also where money is concerned. We paid the boatman Rs 450 for a ride. We gave him Rs 450 and not more than that (Even Rs 450 is too much). I dont want to hurt any more 'yatri sentiments' and wont say more on this part. Finally our work got over on thursday and we left at 9.30 Pm by the prayagraj express. Reached Delhi, at 0700 and had to catch a plane at 1115. So roamed around a bit on the IGI domestic, saw some pretty looking dames, checked in, boarded the plane. The famous bollywood actor Mr. Anupam Kher was on the same plane as I was. Stepped down from the airport bus beside him. Didnt shake hands with him, though. No reason why.
All in all quite a memorable trip, in terms of seeing new people.