My Train Journey Part-III

I woke up at 7:00 am, so relaxed and chilled out. Only two more hours to go.....err......How come this aunty is still here?? She was to get down at Allahabad Junction. How come Allahabad hasn’t come yet?? With all the horrible thoughts hovering inside my mind, I came down form upper berth. I was desperately hoping that she has missed her station. I told her the same. Pat came the reply- “Don’t scare me off. Allahabad hasn’t come yet. Train is running 5 hours late”. Oh my God.... Her words struck my ear again and again and again, went to the door and came reflecting back to me once more. Now, this was the perfect situation for the “Saas-Bahu” serial style, where your face is shown umpteen times with different camera angles. Dhideeng...dhideeng....(the sound they make every time camera rotates) One more time... the front view... Frick!!! Frick!!! Frick!!! I can’t handle more of this. God is never kind to me. I cursed Bangalore, Sanghamitra Express, Indian Railways, Laloo, Manmohan Singh, UPA Government. I would have reached George Bush if that voice wouldn’t have interrupted my thought chain. “I enjoy my call centre job. It takes me two and half hours to reach my office. But that is the best part of it. We do so much masti on our way. I’m total workaholic. Our team leader kept on insisting me to take leave but I can’t even think of a day without work. So, they forced me to take leave for one month. In Kuwait, I wasn’t like this. Life there was very dull and boring. Oh! I don’t look like a foreign returned na? Everyone says so..." Where is this babbling coming from? Am I hallucinating? I looked here and there, only to find Allahabad wali aunty (She would have killed me for calling her aunty) is staring at me, as if why am I puzzled so much on her description. I gave a fake smile. And there she was.... She took it as compliment. Momentary interruption was not enough to dampen her spirits. And for next half an hour, my ears were all hers. I listened to all the crap in the world- her stay at Bangalore, Ulsoor lake, the novels she had read, her cousin’s wedding,...blah, blah, blah. Then only, I realised why Shahid Kapur was mad at Kareena in Jab We Met despite her cute and adorable talks. Ok...I’m not comparing Miss “My-mouth-produces-thousand-words-per-minute” with Kareena, but comparing the situation and listeners in both cases is somewhat just. Look-wise??umm...physique-wise??? But then, I didn’t have the option of frowning at her or worse, get down from the train. So, it was all borne by me. From the minute one, I knew this aunty jee has everything in the world to speak about. But, I was careful enough as I spent most of the sleeping or reading magazines. But now, as I was a bit depressed and seemed vulnerable, she fired all the ammo she had preserved for past two days. In between, she caught hold of all prospective prey- pantry boys, sweeper, laundry boy and all the co-passengers within five metre of her range. She wouldn’t have babbled for months (toughest thing in her life), if I had not fallen in her trap. So, here I was, bearing a permanent fake smile and curious to know everything she had to offer. Luckily, train stopped at one station. And, as usual I got down at platform. Someone told me Allahabad is some 30 minutes journey from here. I thanked God. Even when the train resumed, I preferred staying near the gate. When I came back, aunty jee was (or pretended to be) shocked. She laughed stupidly before saying- “I thought you missed the train at last station”, and continued laughing incessantly. Now!!! I have never heard a better joke in my life. Am I also supposed to laugh?? I wonder, has she ever heard of a word “silence” in her 25-35 years of life?? By God’s grace Allahabad came and all the peace on the earth dawned in our compartment. With minor hiccups in between, I reached Patna at 6:00 pm with 56 precious hours of my life wasted in this damn train journey. Even though my journey was eventful or uneventful..... whatever!!! who cares... I finally came out unhurt and in stable mental condition. But I wish, all of you get a co-passenger like the above mentioned aunty jee, at least once in your life, just for the sake of experience.

My Train Journey Part-II

Prologue- My Train Journey Part-I
I woke up again at 4 pm. I could clearly remember the disastrous “before the sleep” incident. I wasn’t feeling well. So, I took the book (The Three Mistakes of My Life) and started. Book was quite a time pass with all the melodrama in the world deeply imbibed in it. Despite all the distractions during a train journey, I finished the book in a record six hour time. Ok...all the nerds and dweebs, don’t laugh. This is a personal best for me. Although I am a shallow reader, I enjoyed the story. At least it helped me in spending my time, which in the given context was a nut-cracking job. I was getting more worried about the day ahead. How would I spend it, with no masala in it.
Anyways, I woke up at around 11 am, only to find some college students chatting and chirping in the next compartment. Now, that is one hell of a time pass. They started with CCD, its strategic location, its merits and demerits. Then, they moved on to malls and then Bangalore. One spectacled guy was constantly pestering others and demanding for change of the topic. I cursed him. But, somehow, his request was obliged. They started playing “Chiriya urr, Maina urr....”. Even, I wanted to join them. One of the girls suggested “Dash Cosh Single Bulbul Master”. It brought back the memories of childhood. There were numerous such indoor games and then there was time and heart for it. Oh, now I don’t want to get in to “cursing adulthood” mode. I twitched my body to continue my prying work. To my surprise, I found out that my slight distraction for a minute or two has taken their conversation to a drastic level. Now, they were discussing something crap and the spectacled guy was looking the happiest and the busiest. His hand movements and the satisfaction on his face was a clear indication of his genius. Now, I’ll have to find some other activities for passing time as I still don’t know anything other than the spelling of these terrifying terms- FORCE!!! GRAVITY!!! Frickkk...
I have other better things to do. I have my “no frills” Nokia cell phone and my wrist watch and my eyes and my ears. There are so many things in the world for gen tp. As Sukki and Vishnu had explained- after they were tired of searching each and every folder of their P-3 desktop at their PS(they were provided with one without internet connection), they used to animate Microsoft Office assistant and then laugh over it. Phew!!! This was the height of tp and only a BITSian can excel in it. To prove this, I took out my cell phone. I started with my inbox, drafts and sent items, moved onto admiring my contact list, checked out all the settings. Then I resorted to changing themes and profiles. Enough, this damn thing is not interactive at all. Then, I tried doing something which I’m good at, i.e. appreciating beauty. For God’s sake, first I tried looking for it outside the window. Believe me... Only then, I searched for it inside the train. But it was sitting some two compartments away from me. So, Bhagwan jee didn’t left me with any other option. Slowly, I fell asleep.
End of Day-2.... Not the story.

My Train Journey Part-I

I just finished reading “The three mistakes of my life”. I don’t know why I keep postponing things. I had the opportunity to read the book during my stay at Bangalore. But I gave a damn to it. Luckily, I got the moment when situations were all favorable for it. I had all the time in the world during my train journey. 48 hours of it... I couldn’t even pass my time by counting the number of minutes and seconds remaining, which I sometimes do.

Train journey is the one in which all the thoughts in the mind jostle with each other to sneak out. I didn’t have the option of verbal outlet, so I chose the mechanical one instead. The pen and the diary... The day had been pretty harsh on me. Even I had made three mistakes(OK not the ones of my life), but still. I missed the opportunity of meeting my best friend, just by the skin of my teeth. It was planned days ago. She had come up with the idea that when train will stop at Katpadi Junction, she’ll come to meet me. I had joked- “Does it sound normal that a girl will come to meet a boy at railway station. The vice versa part of it is more common. So, don’t go for changing the rules”. But she was adamant. Day before, I had quipped to my other friend-“Coincidences are hard to come by my way. This was my first mistake. Challenging God’s authority of making things happen. Who knew, God had selected both my comments for his “To Prove” list. A/c to our plan, I was to call her intermittently on my approx. four hour journey from Bangalore to Katpadi. And I was to signal the red alert when I come across “stations-with-weird-names”(which I obviously don’t remember). Anyways, with the groundwork properly laid off, the only part remaining was the execution (My God, I miserably fail in that, almost always!!!).

The train left Bangalore at 9:15 am. As instructed, I called her and gave the briefings. Everything was going on fine till at around 11 am, sleeping demon came to haunt me. I begged him. How important it is for me to meet my friend. Please leave me. The bastard smiled wickedly- “Last night you didn’t fall into my trap even once. Now, I can’t help”. I pleaded him. I promised him that after 2 pm I am totally yours. But the demon was without ears. He took me to upper berth. For precaution, I set my alarm at 12:05 pm (I still don’t know 12 o’ clock in noon is am or pm). This was the second and a fatal one. I woke up only to find my wrist watch showing 1 o’clock. My heart sank in. I felt as if I have missed the Katpadi junction. But then her call came- “Where are you?” I looked around and laughed stupidly at my own PJ. “In the train”. “He-he-he...Have you passed those “stations-with-weird-names”?? I was still feeling sleepy. So I babbled some names and told her not to worry. “I am very responsible person and will never do something to wash off my chances of meeting you”. Peep-peep-peep....Call disconnected. Light ra... I nudged my pillow and tried to sleep again. Someone was speaking- “What are you doing?? Are you dork?? You will never wake up again to catch her once you fall asleep”. So, defying all the rules of nature, I remained awake. At around 1:20 pm, I don’t know what and how it struck me. I called her and said- “Come to the station. It seems I have missed the “stations-with-weird-names”. She shrieked- “IDIOT!!!!” and ran (I pictured it from the intensity of her voice). She had told me that it takes around 20 minutes from her college to reach the station. In despair, I started counting the seconds and minutes. With 15 minutes and few seconds already swayed through my fingers, I realised that the train is slowing down. I smelled something fishy. I found the train is changing tracks. Station is close. I panicked and ran towards the gate. I called her. “Has it reached”?? was the first ammo from other side. I preferred silence. “C’mon tell me”. I mumbled-“In a minute or so.....” “No way!!! It’ll take me around 5 minutes from here”. “Run as fast as you can”. I offered my advice. “SHUT UP!!!” was the sound and gone. Now, I could clearly see the f***ing board at the station, displaying KATPADI JUNCTION in big, bold and beleaguered letters. Train stopped there for 2 minutes and then the platform started departing away. I didn’t know what to do. So, I started doing what I am best at. I dived into my own utopia where everything was perfect. I started by feeling the heroic urge inside me to go and pull the chain. Then I imagined her to be a superwoman who is coming flying towards me. Then I pictured the guard waving his red flag and whistling. Oh! It was my cell phone ringing and then I came back to my corporeal self. It was she. “Train is passing in front of my eyes”. Once again, I preferred silence. “Kuch bologe bhi ya bas....”. I didn’t know what to say. As I was most vulnerable to make a mistake now, I obliged the third one. I jokingly told- “Jump into guard’s coach na. These days trains are fully interconnected. You’ll reach B1 coach in a minute’s time”. In Hindi, this was like “aag me ghee”. In English, it’s raising someone’s hackles. Wrong timing perhaps. “This was it. Go to hell. You will remain an idiot.....”. I could hear no more other than peep-peep-peep. I saw the f***ing guard wavering his green flag, some morons waving at the train at the crossing and my heart sank in.

Although, these three mistakes affected me for 15 days only. I am great at persuading someone (I hope she doesn’t read this). But, I learnt my lesson.

Colours

As God gave Aftab Sivadasani to bollywood, BITS gave us PS-1. For some it’s a efficient utilisation of summers. And for the rest of the crowd it’s nothing more than a crap. Bizarre comparison, huh???

Happily, for the initial 30-35 days, I was in the earlier category. I had more than I asked for. We got leave for initial one week as they didn’t have enough projects for us. Then we were handled over to one equity research consultant, who pinned a lot of hope on us as we were from “an esteemed institution”(At least he knew it...otherwise in Bangalore, BITS Pilani is an alien term). We “young brilliant minds with lots of innovative ideas”- were supposed to analyse investment opportunities in different sectors. I knew it would be a cakewalk for us. Relaxed... The icing on the cake was, we ha unlimited download wi-fi connection. And there were no timing restrictions for us. We couldn’t have asked for more. Other than these happy “working” hours, my non-working hours were going great.We had so much fun. We went to WonderLa (amusement park Hogenakkal Falls, roamed through the city, ate delicious food, visited malls, watched movies and did other “guyish things” as well.

Everything went on fine till that fateful day, when we were asked to shift to a flat. Flat in itself was perfectly fine for five for us. It had all the basic and even luxurious amenities. But I believe there was some curse attached with it. Slowly, I started falling into the “PS-1 is crap” category. I was fed up with the food and couldn’t think of anything else than simple Ghar ka Khana. Then our Mysore and Coorg trip got cancelled at the last moment. Report submission date was nearing by and I was yet to start it (Damn!!!our report wasn’t as easy as I thought it to be). The clouds of pessimism and desperation were all over me. To put in sukki’s words-“Mera to give up ho raha tha”. We started by counting the number of days left, moved on to abusing the food, smearing the local people, proceeded onwards by smudging BITS and suddenly, whole world seemed to be conspiring against us. Adjectives and abuses were falling short to come our way. We were drenched in “Bangalore Blues”. But, then came the silver lining. After lying low for two weeks, enthu seemed to creep in our mind, body and soul. First, we resumed our planning for Mysore trip(only the day before). But we did it and did it with élan. It was a perfect jaunt to shrug off all the frustrations piled up in our minds. Then I embarked on with my project, which was a nice learning experience. On our last weekend, we went out for the shopping spree. From the beginning only, I had made up my mind that I’ll get something for everyone in my family, right from my Papa, Mummy, Dada, Nana, Nani, Mama, Mami, Didi to my sweet little cousins, to prove that- “bachcha ab bara ho gaya hai”. My budget was pretty big. My main headache was to buy the Mysore silk sarees, as it was my first time buying something other than my clothes. But, after purchasing the sarees, I was the most satisfied person on this earth.

Finally, everything ended on a brighter note. Right from my project, seminar, my last day at Bangalore....... everything. I regard my whole PS-1 stint as a perfect learning experience and a perfect example of “balancing out” nature of life. PS-1 would have been very normal if everything would have been hunky dory. Those two weeks of depression and relinquishment was an essential ingredient for a perfect Bangalore summer. Call it a compromise or avidness.....but that is the way it was. In a “Scrubs” style ending- In the end, the most important thing is to learn a lesson from whatever comes by your way. Whether it’s good or bad, will be decided in course of time....

Pilot

Have you ever sniffed words like procrastination, cunctation, shilly-shallying, etc? NO!!!!!!

I adore these words and they are quite intrinsic to my nature. The most recent one which I am talking about is having a blog of my own. The thought struck me when I was alarmingly prone to it, i.e. in 2-1(for non-BITSians, it was the fall of 2007). No classes, no work, no padhai-likhai. I was completely vella. And blogging was the in thing at that time. It seemed BITSians had slogged hard enough in their summer vacations to bring blog-o-mania. Status messages were flooded; lachcha sessions were deluged with blog gup-shup. But I pretended to be busy. That’s where my procrastination began. And it took me umpteen days to realise it on one midsummer’s day. In between ideas were poured in, dictionaries were explored, blogs were analysed to bring out the product, but all in vain. Ok....enough of hype!!!! About the dream....I was taking a siesta. All of a sudden, I woke up and realised something weird has happened in my dream. I don’t know whether it was my brain’s concoction or some kind of divine intervention, I realised that I have seen something strange in my dreams. It was- I have written my blog, which has become inordinately famous. Everyone is congratulating me. I have become a hero of sort. And a great personality is about to felicitate me. Lo and behold!!! It’s Barney from HIMYM (in technical terms Neil Patrick Harris). And suddenly, all of it was gone. I don’t know who deployed Barney to felicitate me and that too in my dream. Back to temporal senses, I saw Sukki penning his thoughts in diary. And I realised.......it’s the time. Better late (Oh...late seems to be too minuscule......couldn’t find better word) than never. I took the pen and here I am with my first blog entry.

So, it took me one ephemeral “Midsummer’s Day Dream” to break off my procrastination. I think in everyone’s life, there are some silly, weird acts which make some kind of procrastination a passe. What was yours????