About 85 kilometers from Florence is the city of Pisa where the Leaning Tower is located. Galileo, the inventor of the telescope, was born in this city of Pisa in AD 1564. We reached the railway station on time. There is a train from Florence to Pisa every half hour. There were many halls in which there were many ticket counters.
There were at least two dozen queues in a hall. I could not understand where to get the ticket for Pisa. Information was written in the Italian language on each counter. We felt that we have come to some province of India like Punjab or Andhra Pradesh where information is written only in local languages on railway stations, trains and buses.
I asked an employee sitting at a counter where we would get tickets to Pisa, he said that our company does not sell tickets to Pisa. For this we have to go to another hall. Eventually, making similar inquiries, we somehow reached the ticketed hall of Pisa. I got in a queue.
Here I saw a Sardarji. He must have understood English if not Hindi, I thought to myself and asked him about the ticket window for Pisa. Sardarji turned his finger towards a thadi and said- 'Go on!'
It was a small stall where things like cigarettes to key chains, purses, belts were being sold. There was a middle-aged woman at the counter whose hands were moving very slowly. She was doing many different things at the same time. Even giving Xerox copies to people. Finally my number has also arrived.
The ticket was very expensive. He charged 8.6 Euros i.e. Rs 688 per person for the distance of one hour's journey. We returned to the waiting area of the platform with tickets and looked at the electronic panel with hope. As soon as the platform number of our train flashed on the electronic panel, we moved towards the platform with quick steps. Because it was time for the train to start.
It was a gleaming luxury train. As soon as we boarded the train, the train started. As if only we were waiting. The train was not crowded but it was not empty either. Thousands of tourists like us were going to Pisa. A European lady sitting next to Madhu in the train touched Madhu's sari and asked- 'Is it all?' When Madhu answered her yes, she said- 'It is very beautiful. Indian women wear it.'
She was overjoyed when Madhu supported her point with a smile. Just as we looked at Italian families with curiosity, she was happy to see an Indian family so closely, but it was probably not Italian, it was from another European country.
We got down at Pisa railway station around 12.30. Buses are available from outside the station itself. There is no tram service here. The ticket counter of the bus was built on one side of the platform itself. We took tickets and sat on the bus. When we got off the bus, we could see the Tower of Pisa.
It was very crowded here. Any viewer can be in awe of the Tower of Pisa. It is inclined at least 10 to 12 degrees on its surface. It is not less than a surprise for such a tall building to bend so much and still not fall. The tower has been brilliantly painted, making it look as if it were built today!
To prevent it from falling, the Italian government has dug around it and filled it with cement concrete to the very bottom. It is said that since then this tower has stopped leaning.
It was colder here than in Florence. So the sun started to feel better. Father, as soon as he entered the premises of the tower, lay down on a large lawn. Today we did not forget to bring polythene raincoats, so those raincoats acted as pillows. We had dinner on this lawn. There were no public free civic amenities like Rome and Florence.
Here 0.8 Euro (64 Indian Rupees) was being charged for the toilet. While we were sitting on the lawn having dinner, my attention shifted to my pocket. Madhu's and my passport were in my pocket, but at this time both the passports were not in my pocket. I thought I must have fallen or missed somewhere. Or the pocket has been cut.
When I told my concern to Vijay and Madhu, Madhu said that he had kept the passport in my bag last evening. Hearing this, my anxiety reduced a lot, but until I see with my eyes, I cannot be sure. So we returned from there only at around 3.30 pm. Otherwise could have stayed for an hour more.
We must have walked a few steps that father's voice came from behind. When I looked back, father was about 20-25 steps away from us and was coming towards us with fast steps. He told that he had just been surrounded by two pickpockets. A pocket clerk asked him the time, when the father started looking at the watch, the other person kept his hands on both the pockets of his kurta from behind the father and started groping the pockets. As soon as the father said out loud - 'What are you doing', both the pickpockets ran away saying 'Sorry-sorry'.
We were amazed, in the midst of so many people, they had the courage to do this in broad daylight! Wouldn't it be known to the Italian police that these two are pocketing and roaming here among foreign tourists!
We came out of Minar's campus and started looking for bus-tickets. By now we had come to know that BILGITTIE is written outside the shop where tickets are available. We saw BILGITTIE written outside a restaurant. In the restaurant, we also saw the lady who had asked Madhu about the saree in the train. He helped us buy tickets.
In front of the same restaurant, a bus was available for the railway station. We took the bus and reached Pisa Railway Station within a few minutes. There were only three ticket windows here. I went to a window and got in line. As soon as my number came, Vijay came to me and informed that he had bought the ticket from the vending machine. I got out of line.
I told my father that by putting stickers on the ticket window here on behalf of the railway company, tourists have been warned that they should take care of their pockets while buying tickets, your pockets can be cut here. We understood that Galileo's Pisa is now in the grip of pocket-sitters.
After coming to Florence, I contacted the same kiosk at the railway station from where I had bought my tickets in the morning. At this time some other female employee was working here. I asked him if you got any Indian passport here, he showed ignorance and advised me to call the police immediately. We decided to check our bags first by going to the service apartment instead of contacting the police.
This time we did not sit in the tram, we reached the service apartment on foot. By walking only one kilometer, we had saved the entire 600 rupees for 5 tickets at 1.5 euros. When we entered the house, it was half past five in the evening. We thanked God that the passports were still in the bag.
After drinking tea, we calculated that we had to spend Rs 9,280 for train, bus and tram tickets on this short journey of ours. Whereas for food and drink, there is nothing for us in the shops in Italy and we, of course, did not spend anything for the restroom.
We once again saw the results of the Lok Sabha elections being held in India while having tea. It was nine o'clock in the night in India at this time. The results of all the seats were declared except one seat. BJP 'Ab ki baar three hundred paar' And the NDA had won 'three hundred thirtypen'. Suddenly I remembered that once the Italian party had given the slogan 'To Seventi Two' (majority figure in the Indian Lok Sabha) in the elections, which was spoiled by the journalists 'Tu sevanti tu' Where used to be.
Emergency in the kitchen
Madhu informs that this time the flour is running out faster. So he mixed one kg of maida given by the landlady of Rome and one kg of semolina and one kg of gram flour brought by Bhanu from Noida in order to increase the quantity of flour. It happened that this time we used very little rice, poha, porridge, whereas in Indonesia we used to make poha for breakfast and rice, porridge and khichdi for dinner.
Chapatis were made only for lunch. Whereas this time parathas were being made in the morning breakfast and chapatis were being made in the afternoon and evening. Therefore, emergency was implemented in the kitchen from today and at one time porridge, khichdi and rice etc. started being made. I was not able to write diary since last two days.
So instead of going out in the evening, he sat down to write a diary. Write one day's diary today and leave one day's diary work for the next day.