Wednesday, 20 Jan 2010
It was cold January night, I rushed towards the pc in anxiety, switched on the pc, double clicked on Mozilla Firefox Icon, for once I didn't typed orkut in the address bar, instead I opened "sarkari" website train enquiry(dot)com. 2138 was the train number, I hastily typed it in the required field, waited for response, the feeling in my head could match those feelings which arise when I type roll no to witness by result, after few seconds, the result was out, my eyes grew wider, It displayed Network Connectivity Failure Try Again ,"Damn" I exhaled, pressed F5, the server was ready to show the inevitable...
2138 Punjab Mail delayed by 11 hrs.
"Disgusting", I shouted. Mom came from the adjacent room as if an intruder has broken through in my room, she asked what happened, I futilely tried to joke, "Fog there above us and havoc below on us ". Trains had been further delayed due to the fog prevailing in northern part; Punjab Mail was scheduled to report at 4PM.
I loved fog till that night, I recalled when I was child how I used to breathe heavily in air to see the 'dhuan', now the same condition got me pissed off big time.
Mum replied in a bantering tone, "Now, still weighing the idea to take Tiffin?" I kept silent. She was right what was the point in that? when I would be catching train two past midnight and that too can be stretched if the Punjab Mail had her own say.
I had the "breadpakodas" at the right time but not at right place, I was still in my home. I called Intel and told him about the news, he wasn't amused, guess he was prepared for the latest developments, he told he'd be coming at midnight and then we'll leave together for the station. I agreed.
Thursday, 21 Jan 2010
Bidding adios to everybody, I left towards station with Intel and one another friend, Manish. Let me have the divine pleasure to introduce this guy, he is quintessentially moron and effortlessly intelligent, yes that's it, He can bark of Pj's at ridiculous rates and amidst most clumsy circumstances, you cannot imagine the capacity of this guy to speak, I'd say he can utter endlessly in his own coffin, full "bakar babua" hmm.. BB. BB is strangely similar to character played by Paresh Rawal in that Anil Kapoor Movie Judaai which featured nonsense of epic proportions. But whatever said and done, he is undoubtedly one heckuva mate. I'd keep more of him coming further.
We reached Habibganj, the typical voice of a lady greeting day in day out at the station greeted us happy journey, I was particularly happy the journey had begun, though there were share of minor misapprehension about tour itinerary.
The biggest concern was the accommodation problem there in IIT Bombay. Intel had some courage restored in us when he said he might resolve the problems thanks to his brother who is at IIT KGP. It was still 1 hour for the train to arrive, BB knew it, we knew it that it was time BB starts his business, and so he did.
We met some of our other friends at the station itself, there were some other students also who were heading towards the same destination, they had their luggage plus a robot or gadget or whatever with them, insincere one's like us were minus the gadgets coz, we hadn't prepared any, rather we didn't had time to make one. Thankfully the train arrived at 2AM, we sighed, one citizen was still in a condition to to make philosophy out of the situation there, "Now-a-days people are faster than trains, see how our fast life has been made to standstill by a slow train, though the faster ones try to impress but slower one always has the last laugh and world has to wait for them", all hail the Indian 'Aristotle', There are two types of men in this world one who choose to bow down in front of such 'aristotles' and other who beat them down, I was in latter category, but a little Gandhian too so beating down was out of question.
Suddenly the crowds seem to grew, as it always seems when a train arrives. We boarded the train. After some early chaos, we were able to place our bums and then our back. Early Morning, a sound got me awake, SMS in the mobile read Welcome to Maharashtra/Goa. So we were out of our state, Intel and BB, both were asleep, I didn't had any option so, I too got laid again. It must be around 11 AM when I got up again. God, I couldn't believe I was sweating, people in our compartment were talking about the extreme weather in Vidarbha region, I could realize it as I had seen the practical. I removed the jacket and then the sweater, Intel and BB too got awake for the same reason, they too unloaded their Kevlar. Head dizzy and nose choking, I got off from the upper birth to brush my teeth. After an hour all of us were done with our biochemical acts.
We joked around for an hour while eating the laddoos and stuff Intel had brought, a local of Mumbai told we'd reach the Dadar in about 2 hrs time. The heat was increasing fast, for us Bhopalis it was tough. We passed through sub-urbs into the cities heart. The train reached Dadar at 3PM. Finally we stepped on the city. The station wasn't overcrowded we got out easily without much pain, now it was time to Refer someone local and Proceed to our destination , this RnP(refer and proceed) exercise was a must , coz we didn't had any clue about the city as all were first-timers. RnP specialist Intel came to know it would take Rs. 400, if we take a taxi to IITB, he asked for our thoughts, we said in unison "Local".
It was time, that we were about to board a local, Intel
said “wallet in front trouser pocket”, we abided it. One wish was going on for completion, the experience wasn't bad either. We reached the Kanjurmarg station safely, it was nearest to IIT, and from there we hired an Auto. At around 5PM we were in the Campus, Intel was busy in solving the accommodation problem, glad he succeeded in it. The campus was beautiful, far from the typical Mumbai stuff, we were happy that we were staying there itself.(pic:L2R Intel Umi and BB)Head spinning legs paining we decided to sit on pavement for some time. Soon after, a familiar creature dressed in black, came towards us with his trademark grin, it was Umi. Umi unlike us was looking fresh as always, we on the other hand could very well have been mistaken for coal mine workers that day. We talked a bit and then left for allocated hostel.
Intel BB and I were allocated one room while Umi had his with some other friends.
H2-B6-46 was the name where we had to go, hostel no 2 Building no 6 room no 46. If you forget that, God help you, coz these IIT's are jungles (a little more civilized of course), you can get missing there. Many thanks to the guy who dropped us there via his Sumo, hospitality there were winning hearts of us if not others.
When we reached the room, we met other room mates. Mercifully, they were from Bhopali and to add to that, two were friend of mine. They had occupied the front room and we had kitchen waiting for us. It was nice as we three were separate, and could sleep or talk or do whatever till we like without disturbing others. We parked ourselves there on the mattress to take some rest. One by one everyone was using wash basin to get fresh and unknowingly were planning my fall. I got up to wash my face, just as I was walking towards basin my leg slipped and 'thudd', four familiar faces were staring with concern over me, I too was concerned, initially for my mobile and then my a**. Some relief to see mobile fine, next I checked my status, some bruises in hand but thankfully bone count was the same. Intel and BB opted not to laugh about it. I tried to wear the plastic smile to somehow hide the agony. As a techie myself, I tried to figure out the cause of my downfall, soon realized the fall was due to the soap water on tile, Intel was concerned, he was fast to understand anybody could be next, so he laid some newspapers to avoid further damage to anyone, and as it turned out in the few days, I was the only sufferer.
It was decided that we would go to Hiranandani for dinner, classmates were informed and off we went. Mr. Hiranandani must be freak, the high rise apartment was fabulous, though I'm not a civil engineer still I could imagine the work done behind the beautiful construction. No wonder why Mumbai is city of dreams, it’s just an irony, the city having areas like hiranandani also possess the largest slum of Asia.
Intel shouted "Here it is...", I thought he'd be showing a Porsche or a Mercedes for that matter, instead he shouted "Sanjay Singhania's home", I gazed at the building, "Yeah, it's the same" I exclaimed. Staring for a minute, we moved forward and had dinner there at the Dominos, no water no sauce Dominos sucked when it came to service, though the pizza was good. We ate like prisoners in shawshank state prison, reason being two, one pizza tasted awesome and second, the ever longing wait for dinner. Even if the taste was substandard the second reason wouldn't have compelled us to eat like normal.
Friday, 22 Jan 2010
Tummy filled, we marched back to the campus, though the legs could take no more but we had no other options. We crawled for another 3 Kms where girls had their room, and then came tracing back. While returning, we met Umi baffled, sitting on the pavement holding the Campus map, Intel and I asked reason for his puzzled face, he told he was lost and couldn't find the hostel, we could have laughed till morning had we had the energy, but we were ourselves in miserable condition forget the laughing quotient, we didn't had any idea for his room, he urged us to wait till his room mate arrived there, Intel already going mad was further pissed off, we waited till his mate arrived and then left for our room. Legs forgot to pain, we lost the feeling that we even had them. Talking about my condition, one hip already thrashed in painful incident, it was like a one-legged man in a bum kicking competition.
Somehow our feet took us home, head resembling pendulum in simple harmonic motion, legs resembling thread which can split any second, condition as comfortable as a bum on porcupine, we slept like men deprived of sleep for a month.
"Bhool ja jo hua use, bhool ja hai kasam tujhe, muskura
khud ko na de yun saza un yadon ko tu bhool ja "
Intel's N79 was barking at full volume, I woke up, wondered the song had same thought as in my head, past night was dreadful, I needed to move on so 'bhool ja' was nice. At back of the mind, I wouldn't have betted against the fact that same last night condition was fortuned today too. Still we must HOPE in our heart, like Andy said in Shawshank Redemption "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies", however my evil mind couldn't resist Mr. Freeman's thought too which ironically said "Hope is a dangerous thing, Hope can drive a man insane...".
"Early Morning today, Umi's trials held, his RC Glider has made through the 1st round", Intel informed...
"Great, certi pakka na?" I replied, Intel added “No idea, but he may have one, seriously he has worked his butt off for this airplane of his”.
We finished with bathing and other ‘basic’ acts till 2PM and left for excursion in the city. Umi too joined us today. First, we went again to Mr. Hiranandani's world to have lunch, while walking on the footpath some foreign stuff fell on my hand from above, "Shit", I said, not figuratively but practically, I looked above, some crow had defecated its tummy. Umi was particularly very happy at the scene, laughing heavily to avenge the fun we made of him early morning today. Umi, I guess, do not knew the famous lines which I very well knew till then....(pic L2R: Me,BB Intel and Umi)Little bird in the sky,
You look up and it Shit's In Your eye,
You don't mind and you don't cry,
Just thank God that cows don't fly...!
That’s the power of positive thinking.
We had lunch and in evening left for Siddhivinayak Temple. The autowalas are very irritating here in this city, they have their own 'tashan' as if they don't give a damn to the ‘sawaris’. BB joked "What the hell, do they love to wander alone..??", may be yes, whenever you speak to them they don't reply they just do two things number one - If they 'like' your told destination, they just twist the meter, that symbolizes - Get In, otherwise, they accelerate their auto at 2x. May be one should see the scenario in Bhopal. Here they choose their prey ever since they are spotted and then follow urging them. As autos were tough to find, we decided BEST Bus as alternative, Intel begun with his RnP and founded which bus will leave to Kanjurmarg, as the bus arrived, the women behind me started shouting "Aee hero, kaii ree, pudhe chala", I could have acted if I knew what was she shouting. We got hurriedly in the bus, my father has twice been to Mumbai, he told me an easy way to get in a BEST or a Local here, He said just be in front of the gate, the rest will be done by people behind you, even if you don't want to get in, you'll end up getting in it. I tried his technique and it worked, "Hell yeah" I shouted, Intel started member count, everybody was in the bus except Umi, Umi was nowhere to be seen, "Where's this dumbo" I said, BB shouted "Umesh…", from somewhere he replied "I'm in..I'm in”. But where is he we thought. After a minute his face splashed between people, always smiling Umi wasn't smiling, reason - a lady was holding him from behind and for Umi's misery, she was the same 50 odd year lady shouting at me earlier. I couldn't have laughed more.
Again the conductor greeted me with "pudhe chala..pudhe chala", I asked Intel what's this Pudhe chala he told it's marathi for move forward. ''Oh'', I exclaimed.
These two words, instantly conjure up an image of a khakhi-dressed, harried conductor in a lurching, crowded BEST bus full of sweaty tired passengers for anyone who's been in Bombay now Mumbai.
I'd say, a conductor is the person who punches out the tickets and collects the correct fare for your journey. That's the job profile. But he is also the person who can alter your mood, make you belligerent by acting stuffy, make you plead (for your life, onlookers might think) when he says "kya hai?....chutta nikalo nahi to uttar jao" in the bus which when running exactly on schedule comes in intervals of 50 minutes.
The bus dropped us at station from where we took a local to Dadar. As we had to move in local, wallets were in front pocket of trouser. From Dadar we again took a BEST to reach the Ganesh Mandir. As 26th Jan was approaching, there was checking everywhere nearby the premises of the Mandir. We were 5 minutes late otherwise could have witnessed the magnificent Ganpatichi Aarti, we stood outside for half an hour and then made inside, it was beautiful temple, even the Atheist could turn into a worshipper, such was the ambiance inside the place.
After having dinner, nearby we got back to Dadar to catch local back to IIT. I took the tickets and everybody followed to the platform, the legs were already pleading for mercy. Once we reached the platform, we witnessed the original flavor of Mumbai Locals, believe me there were hundreds on the platform and hundreds pouring every minute through the foot over bridge from either side. Intel said as always “Keep your wallet and mobile in front pocket of the trouser...”Nobody argued and did as he said. I was particularly troubled as I had my digital camera, goggle along with mobile and wallet. We moved down to the platform, the crowd was growing exponentially and the probability of us getting in the train was nearing Zero, 5 locals passed and no change in the scenario, we decided we'll be dropping this idea and rather go again for BEST though it will take time. We took a BEST and got back till midnight.
Saturday, 23 Jan 2010
There were many students still coming, quite a contingent from south, given Techfest has biggest stature down there.
BB Intel Umi and I strolled back into the campus, sudd
enly it struck Intel's mind "Mortein", "Oh no, we missed it again" he added, Umi was smiling as his room had a fan, while we were pissed by mosquitoes last night as we didn't had fan in our room.BB got out to bring one hoping some of the shop was still open. He came back smiling; thankfully he had the coil in his hand. Umi accompanied us, to see where we stay. We got home at around 1AM, Soon after Umi left to his room. We slept like a log.The next day, BB and Intel left early to watch Umi's event, 'Blackbird' was the name. I was busy sleeping so I didn't joined. At 11 Intel called and said "If you want to take part in Astroquiz be here in 15 min". I wanted too, I got ready and left, the quiz was like NASA's would take for recruitment, barely attempted some before finally I left. The rest day we spent in IIT itself, watching various events.
(pic:at night inside the campus)In evening we were out again, we went to the famous place Taj Hotel and Gateway of India, shooting of sa re ga ma pa had been going on there till evening, now it was over, still the stage and lights were on, we were not idiots to miss out on some pics there, so we had a lot of them snapped.
Sunday, 24 Jan 2010
At around midnight, we went to Marine drive, it's the life of the city, I'm not overcooking it, it surely is. Pleasant breeze was flowing across, we all decided to stay there for more time and so we did until ‘thullas’ arrived. We moved from there at about 2.30AM and then moved to CST. It was again turning out to be one heck of a night. At night there wasn’t rush at the station, but still you can easily make out people were gradually increasing. I could see the same place where the attack occurred, until then it was only on a 21" TV screen.
Intel took tickets, no idea about the ‘01.40ki last local’ but we were about to board the '04.00 ki pehli local’. Intel this time exceeded all barriers and
for the RnP, he chose the local train driver itself. "Bhaiiya, ye kanjurmarg jayegi naa ?" Intel asked the driver, and then said to us "go n sit in it, not in 1st class...”. Intel had broken all records I mean, how can you ask the driver himself? It was crazy.BB was still having in him to bark Pjs. Umi as always was calm. Intel was feeling sleepy. I was watching them all so that I could have written it now. Back in hostel at 5 in morning, we slept till 2PM rather we had too, to get batteries recharged. Again we spent the day in campus attended some workshops and events, and later at night, we went to Haji Ali dargah. Waves in the Arabian Sea were ferociously striking the dargah foundation, producing soothing sound while the breeze kept flowing through our hearts. The aura was such that any saint wouldn’t take much time to write couplets depicting the sheer exquisiteness of the place. Amidst the time spent there, I kept humming A. R. Rahman’s composition from the movie Fiza.(pic: Haji Ali)Monday, 25 Jan 2010
The next stop was @ Disc, though I and Umi were not particularly interested but we still made there for the unanimous choice of other friends. We danced and enjoyed a lot till the time we were burnt up. We were nowhere in a condition to take a local waiting till 4AM in morning, so we to took a taxi from there straight to the campus, and then slept like we’ve been sleeping for past 3 days. We had to check out today so we left after having breakfast at cafeteria. We left IITB at around noon, It was a great stay there; we enjoyed every bit of it. All four of us booked a room near Dadar. The room was chosen by BB, it was on the 2nd tier, while we were going up for the first time, it didn’t looked good as the staircases seemed that they could dismantle any second. But when we reached the room it was okay. A fan, TV
with cable, 2 beds …who could have asked more @ Rs 800 per day.In the evening, we watched Avatar in 3D. Everybody was awestruck after watching the mesmerizing imaginary planet Pandora created by Cameron. Bandra - Worli Sea link was the next stop. It surely is one of the best engineering wonder of Modern India.
We knew, we had to leave for Bhopal the next day, so we didn’t made delay in getting back and possibly for the first time we entered our room before midnight.(pic:Bandra-Worli Sea Link)
Tuesday, 26 Jan 2010
Today was the day to leave. We planned out schedule carefully as delay could lead to misery. Some wanted to shop, so after lunch we made to Lifestyle Mall and after finishing with shopping went to Bandstand at the evening,
Bandstand is popular sea-shore there, mind you ‘scenic’ beauty is in abundance there. We hastily walked along side the shore and captured some idiotic moves on film. We were already getting late, so we were hurrying through the places there. A friend of ours called Intel and informed that Punjab Mail is late by 4 hours and it will arrive at Midnight. Now for the 1st time train being late sounded great, everybody had more time now so we relaxed and patiently moved out from there. We hired an auto from there to nearest Local Station from where we can reach Dadar from where our train was scheduled. Umi and I were in one while Intel and BB were in the other auto. The autowala we had was totally freak, he was driving like crazy and was making mockery of traffic rules. For the first time in my life, I panicked in a 3 wheeler. Our autowala reminded me of the person who drove James Bond in an Auto in a VISA commercial aired in yesteryears.(pic: Bandstand)After a stay of 5 days here, I’ve got four facts about this crazy city…
1. Mumbai is all about Mind and Matter, I don’t mind and you don’t matter.
2. Mumbai, a strange city where Pizza Guy will reach your home faster than an ambulance.
3. Elsewhere in India people drive on the left, here in Mumbai people drive on what is left.
4. In Mumbai you find Porsches, Mercedes, BMWs blazing away in meters distance from a vendor selling shirts at Rs 20 or Lime/Orange Juice at Rs 3 or a girl begging for single coin.
Intel decided to meet some of his friends so he left for the same, while Umi, BB and I got a local to churchgate to do some shopping at Fashion Street ( chor bazaar ), which we did and came back to Dadar at 10.30 PM, when we came back another shock awaited us, our beloved Punjab Mail was late again by 4 more hrs.
Wednesday, 27 Jan 2010
The never ending saga of the train and us continued. We decided to wait in the waiting room, to pass the time we started ‘dehla-pakad’ with our cards, uncle seating nearby too joined us, by the looks of that guy, one can imagine he was a self-obsessed man, but he really played well and was nice guy. We played cards till 3 in the morning and then got ready to leave and ten minute later we were on the platform waiting for the train. After sometime the train arrived, we got safely inside and after 2 minutes the journey back from the land of dreams to the land of reality commenced. We slept peacefully, Intel was going till Khandwa, his station arrived at 2PM, BB was still caught in sleep. Umi and I got down from the train to bid adios. It was a strange feeling, we’ve all been together from the start and now one was leaving. Intel left.
We came back and slept again. In the evening we were in Bhopal, some of us chose HBJ to step down, while some went till main station. As train arrived Habibganj, some of us stepped out of the train, while BB and Umi chose to step down at Bhopal Station. Waving goodbye to each other we left. I called my friend to drop me home. He said he’d be coming in 15 min. So I waited, there as it turned out it was exactly the same spot where Intel, BB and I were standing at night of 20th chatting and joking. The lady greeted passengers in her monotonous voice, a group of guys (three to be precise) were standing beside me, one was joking other two were laughing, just like us few days back at the same place. Nothing changed except may be time.
The journey was over, head was feeling dizzy as was when I landed at Dadar, but the reason differed wildly. I was not tired like I was 5 days back when I stepped in Mumbai, instead there were strange feeling hovering over my head, I couldn’t figure out them, may be my mind was being too stubborn to realize the authenticity of the moment. Hence the dizziness and may be hence the hangover. May be my mind was still wandering near the ghatkopar or dadar or mahim or kanjurmarg or IITb itself.
The strange interactions inside of me were put to rest by Baba(one of best friend) who came to drop me home. I said “sorry bro, couldn’t meet you there” Baba replied “its okay yaar, roz to milte hain” and winked at me. I said so coz, he also went to Mumbai for the same, but timings didn’t allow us to meet at least for once.
Present Day, 2 Hrs back.
Life has invaded various corners in past month, sometime challenging, sometime easy, sometime stiff, sometime fragile, sometime happiness, sometime sorrow. If each factor in life is a color then I’d say it’s been in Technicolor.
Mum called from adjacent room, “Shashank, do you have change of 100?” I replied “Yeah, wait I’m giving”. “Where’s the wallet”, I said in my mind while searching rear pocket of my jeans, stood up and checked study table and TV set. It wasn’t there. I checked the college bag, search was in vain. Then suddenly, Intel’s voice broke in my head “Keep your wallet and mobile in front pocket of the trouser...” I gave the change to her. Mum asked “Found it?” I gestured smiling yes, said in my mind “yeah, Intel helped me”.
