"Echoes of India: A Journey Etched in Heartbeats"

It was August 01,2018. Me and my parents  and my uncle went shopping together for our trip to India. Then we went to the market and bought many things for this trip. After that, on 15th August, 2018 we started our trip. We left home at around four o'clock for our train journey. It was raining heavily outside and there was heavy traffic on the roads. With all this traffic and luggage we somehow managed to reach the station on time.I was very excited about this journey as it was my first train journey to travel from one country to another. Then we got through immigration right on time. Then at 8 am our train journey started.  The train left Dhaka Cantonment for India. Then we had some light breakfast on the train. It was very beautiful to see the natural beauty outside from inside the train, it seemed like rows of green colors were going backwards. Although the train was very beautiful, there was a problem with the train. There were no blankets provided in the train and the temperature in the AC cabin was so low that it felt like we were going through the snow.

Then we reached Darshana station after covering about 243 kms. Darshana is a rail transit point and a border checkpoint on the India-Bangladesh border.After completing all the immigration procedures at the station, the train started again and within a short time we reached Gede station. Gede is the last railway station on the Indian side of Bangladesh.

Upon reaching Gede station, we were faced with a considerable problem. First my father and uncle moved towards immigration. Later me and my mom headed towards immigration but dad's passport was with mom. When we were about to check our passports with our luggage, the immigration officer called us and asked us to sit down and wait without any reason. But he was letting everyone else in. But whenever we asked the reason why he kept us waiting he did not want to say anything. Then we got a little suspicion that there might be some ulterior motive here. We were very scared. Then a man asked him what happened and why we were kept sitting. The man then told the person that we had exchanged US Dollars to Indian Rupees. Then me and my mother suddenly heard this and quickly we left from where we exchanged this rupee and there we asked them if it is illegal to exchange US dollars to Indian rupees and she said no, no problem. Maybe the guy who seated us has some bad intentions. Then a guy tells my mom that you are standing in line and slowly walks away and hopefully doesn't say anything to you. Then me and my mom quickly stood in line and crossed the line very carefully and luckily the immigration officer couldn't demand any bribe as police were there.But it was a very big event in my life when I went to India I never expected that such an incident would ever happen that a man would give us such a trouble to change some money.  Then after completing all the immigration procedures we again boarded the train and all together very quickly we reached Sealdah station in India. The station was very big. After our 12 hour journey we reached the station around 8pm and we were very tired.Then from Sealdah station we quickly went to the hotel in an orange taxi and I found the thing very historical because one of the few traditions of India is the orange taxi. After reaching the hotel, we took a rest for a while. After taking a rest, we went out around 10 pm and explored the Park Street area. Then the next morning we left the hotel and took an orange taxi to go around.First of all we visited the Howrah Bridge.

I didn't know the bridge was so much historical to Indians. I was also very surprised to see how a bridge was standing on only one steel structure and how so many vehicles were constantly moving over that bridge. Later we took some pictures there and as we crossed the bridge back to Salt Lake it started to rain.

While coming over the bridge in the rain, the bridge looked very beautiful. But as the rain stopped after a while we suddenly thought that we would visit the Victoria Memorial and the Victoria Memorial is one of the most beautiful places in India.So we headed towards the Victorian Memorial. After visiting the Victoria Memorial, I felt I was witnessing one of the greatest architectural beauties I have ever seen. Also  this Victoria Memorial was one of the most romantic places I have ever seen. Looking at each brick here, it seemed as if the British had arranged each brick one by one with the sweetness of their mind.

The royalness of this place was surreal !!!
But before entering this Victoria Memorial we did one interesting thing.The ticket price was around 200 rupees for tourists and 60 rupees for locals.So since we were Bengalis, we entered the memorial to introduce ourselves as locals instead of introducing ourselves as tourists and they didn't even realize it. By the time we left the Victoria Memorial, it was almost evening. Then we stood outside the Victoria Memorial for a while and chatted a lot with the locals. From them we can learn about the various history of the memorial. Then we took some pictures and got ready to board the metro. By metro we went from Memorial to Dum Dum station and we went to Dum Dum station and had something to eat and drink. And this was my first metro journey.

The thing that surprises me the most when I go to the metro is how nice people are, even if there is a seat, they leave their seat for an elderly person, which is not seen very often in Bangladesh.

Besides, I was very impressed by the hospitality of the waiters when I went to the restaurant.From there we returned home by metro again and after returning home the next morning we left home again.We went to do some shopping and for shopping we first went to Newtown. After going to Newtown and doing some shopping, we went to India's famous Science City. Thus we left Science City and returned home and the next morning we had our flight to Bangladesh.After we reached Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport we collected our boarding pass from the Air India booth. But when we go there, we get into another confusion. My uncle mistakenly put his power bank inside the bag which they prohibited. But my uncle could not find it. Thought that the power bank was left at the hotel. But when we were completing the immigration, my mother's name was announced on the mic from below because my mother had that power bank in her bag and she had to go through many security levels to bring that power bank which was a very embarrassing situation for my mother and me at the same time. Also I was very scared. Finally mom took out the power bank safely and boarded the plane with me and my family and arrived in Bangladesh within 45 minutes and cleared the immigration very smoothly and reached our home. All in all, we had a lot of fun on this India journey, we did a lot of shopping, we went around a lot of places, also we were scared a lot and I will remember this journey for the rest of my life as  my first train journey to go outside from my country was a different experience.