Tuesday, June 24, 2008

My train journey to Mumbai and then, the home coming....

So there I was going by Lokshakti Express with my dad and sis to Mumbai for my sister's visa interview. We usually fly to Mumbai but this time it was going to be a train journey. I was kinda cool with the idea because I was bored of flying. (I sound like a bird, don't I?) We got into our compartment and first scanned our neighbours. A good looking girl, and her parents were sitting and staring at us. The girl and her mom kept reading the t-shirt quote on my sister's t-shirt (I'm not evil, I'm just up to no good) My sis and I ignored them and scanned the floor. No cockroaches, no lizards. Only some dirty tea spilt under the seat in front of us. And that familiar train stink surrounding us. Dad grew uneasy seeing my sis and I whispering furiously to each other. Before we could conspire anything, he packed us off to sleep. I was on the top berth with my sister under me (hahaha. Ok, alright, that was not funny) I stared at the ceiling. My sis was busy messaging. My cell's battery was low as usual. I messaged a little and then had to stop. I smiled slightly at the good looking girl who was lying down on the other top berth. She smiled back and started fiddling with her V3i phone. She played 'Pehli nazar mein'. I gratefully blessed her for giving me those 3 minutes of entertainment. And she played it for the second time. Cool, I thought. And she played it for the third time. Errrr. Maybe V3i was stuck on that song. Finally the song changed to "Lambi Judai" from Jannat. Yay!! And then her dad's head shot up from the lower berth and ordered her to switch the phone off. V3i was switched off and she drifted off to sleep. Sigh. I could not sleep thinking of the Italy v. Spain quarter finals. Dad's snores kept me company. Morning was sad. I was sleepy. V3i girl's eyes were small and swollen. I jumped down from the top berth which was my 1st mistake of the train journey. I broke my 19 year old record of not stepping on to the train floor. My dad and sis smirked at me. "You broke it even before me" I grumbled to my sis.
Finally, we were rolling off in an auto to Chembur. When Mom messaged that Spain had won 4-2 on penalties. I was devastated.

The trip- Mumbai was awesome as ever. Rained a little. Had makkai and Gupta Bhel. Travelled from Vashi to Khargar to God knows where else. Tiring but worth it. And yeah, Kiran Kher had supposedly come, on my sister's visa date, to get her visa. Lol.

And there I was, coming back by Gujarat Mail with my sis and dad. Sis got the visa and after enduring all the emotional speeches by our relatives, she was tired. The emotional speeches included some quotes like, (And supposedly the speeches applied to me too, since I was in a hostel) :- Your parents have trusted you and earned money through their hard work to send you so far. Use it with care and work hard. (I guiltily thought of all those movie and dinner treats I went for so occassionally) And when my sis is tired, she's angry. That was my cue to buzz off far, far, far from her. Dad was tired too. Only one of my co-passengers in the compartment was present. A gujju girl was travelling alone. Her uncle and aunt shot me and sis a dirty, injured look whenever we even looked at their niece. The girl bent down to take her uncle and aunt's blessings. My sis and I hoped she didn't touch the train floor while touching their feet. Rest of the seats were empty. Dad threw a hint that he wanted to sleep, so sis and I scampered off. I was on the top berth, she was under me again. Sis and dad dozed off happily and I resumed staring at the ceiling. No cockroaches, no lizards again, we were in luck. The train, this time was full of the college going crowd. So I had a merry time seeing guys and gals running from one compartment to another. There was a half naked fat man (don't imagine, it will be injurious to your imagination) and my sis and I made up dirty gujju words for him. We looked at him like the surprised smiley. Along with him were 2 guys. One guy was lecturing the others with a huge smile. Apparently, New Zealand was a better place to study in than Australia. I imagined my sis in a dilemma of choosing between Daniel Vettori and Mitchell Johnson. The gujju girl ran off to the top berth in the side thingys. (My language is ghatti, bear with it) She was glued to "The 3 mistakes of my life". Dad sleepily asked her if she wanted the lights off which she declined. She soon closed the book and looked at 3 of us. My sis and I communicated through telepathy (We later confirmed that we both got each other's message, I'm not kidding) and we pretended to sleep. We were right, she wanted us to switch the lights off. She grumpily came and switched it off. The sadist in me awoke as I shot up from bed and looked at her. I didnt note her reaction. At around 2 something, 3 guys came. Made hell lot of noise. They could not reach out for the bedsheets kept up (I DO NOT have the patience to think of what that rod thing is called, so never mind) so I gave it. They were startled to see a hand emerge from the blanket and hand over the bedsheets. My head emerged then to show them I was irritated and awake.(which btw is the worst combination you can find Madhuri in the middle of the night) Dad was too tired to snore, I think. 2 outta the 3 newbies had started snoring. Snoring weirdly too. There was no repetition in the snores that we usually get to hear. It was musically weird.
Cutting the crap, the night was sad. Then came morning. I didn't have the energy or time to glare at the snorers because it was time to go home. To Mom. And to India v. Hong Kong (1st match of Asia Cup, aren't you excited?)

3 comments:

Comfortably Numb said...

VISA interview. GIves me butterflies as soon as I think about it. Anyway train journeys are cool when you have "some-nice-lloking-not-so-rude girls around"

CHeers!

d Chaitanya said...

you could become a good writer.... the prose is good and interesting...
as u r not going to become a lawyer.... seriously start writing a book about the life in national law school... and the interpretation of law inside the campus and outside the campus....

good
keep it up

Mads said...

@comfortably numb...lol right on...

@chaitanya lol thanks a lot..i'll see if i can lol :-)