Holi triggers weekend rush for home in Ranchi

RANCHI: The

festival of colours

has triggered an exodus of people from the capital over the weekend. All roads seem to lead out of Ranchi. Those who have their home in Bihar or other districts of the state, are in a holiday mood and rushing home to be with their near and dear ones. There’s a mad rush for tickets at

railway counters

as no one wants to be left alone during the three-day holiday.

Sailesh Yadav, a student of Ranchi college, who was spotted at the Birsa Munda bus terminus, said he had bought a railway ticket to Patna but was wait-listed at 80. “There was no cancellation and I felt I should try for a bus ticket. Now, I am going home in a bus,” said the beaming youngster.

Yadav was lucky to find a seat in the bus bound for Patna. There were many who could not get a ticket as bus seats were filling up up fast owing to the festive rush. Mukesh Paswan looked a little rejected buying a ticket at the counter of a private bus operator to Pakur. He called up home to inform his family that he had got a ticket for the cabin next to the driver. “There is no other seat available,” he said.

“There is a huge rush. I wish we could add more seats,” said Randheer Singh, an employee of a private bus service, looking at the never-ending stream of passengers with rucksacks and hand bags. “I wish we had double decker buses. We could have accommodated more passengers,” he said.

At the Ranchi railway station passengers waited impatiently for the Dhanbad-Deoghar-Ranchi train. The moment the train halted at the station, people made a beeline for the unreserved compartments to grab a seat. College students formed the biggest chunk of this crowd. Similar scenes played out as other trains headed for Bihar and other destinations in Jharkhand.

Despite being wait-listed, many passengers were ready to take the risk of travelling in discomfort. Shaugata Chaudhary was one such traveller who was desperate to board a train to go home for Holi. “I got an

RAC

ticket for a train to Kolkata and I know I will probably not get a seat. But, I don’t mind travelling without a seat for a night,” he said.

For the

ICSE

and CBSE students, the festival could not have come at a more inappropriate time. The CBSE exams, which began on Thursday, will continue after the two-day Holi break – Sunday and Monday. A similar fate awaits the ICSE board examinees. Dhiraj Kumar, a CBSE student from the city, said, “While my family will be celebrating, I will be studying. I have an exam on Wednesday and celebrating Holi is out of the question.”