the journey......

whosoever sad its the journey which is important not the destination.......
has obviously never travelled in a general compartment of a train in a journey brought to u by indian railways.....seriously,our railway minister,in order to know the state of affairs of the organisation should travel in the unreserved class.....i bet my already waning hairline his kurta will no longer have dat tide safedi......and his hair will be dyed brown too !!

so there we were....kachiguda railway stn......the line at the ticket counter was....not a line actually...it was more like a mob that had gathered around two hyderabadis arguing,"haath nikal rrei....maaki kirrkirri nai maloom mai kon hoo??...",[quite true u know..the guy at the counter had a very aggravated n intimidating expression....and was shoutin at everyun....line lo randi.....line me aao ji....shaadi ku aaye ????].

"ask not what they have done for you....but what you have done for them.."

the question was "whos brave enough to stand in this serpentine queue n risk a disc prolapse/fracture/hernia ?!!"....and as if it were a cruel zodiac joke on my zodiac sign.....it fell on my zany shoulders. "ZANY boy....ur the BAKRA" was how it sounded...."onks please stand in the line was how the put it..."
and there i was,with friends,yet alone....braving the push n the pull.....braving the goliath's staredown [ a wrestler was standin behind me...he looked freaky enuff to appear like wwe's big show]...braving the heat.....braving knee pain....braving brain pain......and finally when i reached the counter ....i was out of breath....breathin like darth vader.....raspin like gollum......"twnewrwt....huuhhh huhhh....twenty tickets to tadipatri pleeeze..."

hooray!!!! first hurdle jumped over......and now the difficult part began....gettin in....

folks...u need to have nizami rubab to get into a gen compartment....or u need to be reeaaahehehally slim.......we had both of em in our troupe and so we managed to even get seats !!!! some other wise guys threw hankies,caps n whateva they had in their pockets to sit on their fav seats[even wallets.....empty of course]....but we did get seats to sit on nevertheless....

wise guys here...wise guys there ...wise guys evrywhere....

one thing that u find common in all train journeys is people popping outta the doors tryin to get a feel a whiff of the diesel,so2,no2,n wat not mixed air blowin in their direction..... ["the answer my friend is blowin in the wind.."]
some wise guy lean too much forward like leanin pisa towerz....hangin by the handles,by the doors...or by their freinds jackets....!!!
i decided to sit by the door....on the steps ...and when a station arrived i got the shock of my life....my foot was very big n could've hit the platform...aargh...im ran back to the safety of the proper seats..

people are basically very good n kind...inspite of being chindichorz....i was offered seats whenevr requestd...but was engaged in discussion i did not want.....and was constantly feelin my pocket ensurin my purse was in its place...

the first three hourz were uneventful but enjoyable...everybody were in their elementz....everyone was a standup comedian.....we joked on each other,actors,politicians,each other,lady loves...past present n future,each other,nag....each other ...me....each other.....u get the point....

ram,who was a native of gadwal,had not been home for 6 odd months....and was excited to say the least at the prospect of the train passn his hometown...he went yaykakakakakayakakakausaksaksias......[incoherent]
"the route is very scenis....theres a 2 km long bridge over river krshna....there a big fort....ARUNDHATI was shot in my village[for u neanderthals its a movie bout a maiden ......not the name of a real maiden]....there are many many tamarind tres in gadwal[???!!!]......gadwal sarees are world famous......"
suddenly lenin came rushin in.....and hid himself in a non existent corner....[this guy was built like a wrestler]......"yo wassamatta???"
footie[aka tiger] jumped up the luggage compartment and pretended he was sleepin....

"aaaye haaye meri jaan...*clap clap*....chal raja nikaal...."
u guessed it right folks....people who complete the train experience had arrived...
EUNUCHS....wearin gadwal sarees probably,slap happy n clap happy,unusually tall n strong[not horlicks wise],...caught us perfect targets...bunch of young men who've just entered the prime of their youth....what did we do?? did we counter???nay knave....you dont counter eunuchs....or u get free anatomical anomalies' lesson !!
we handed the pirates over their booty aaaarrrrrr.........rs 10 from each...n they blessed us back...whew!!!!

and we fell on ram like a pack of wolves....yo gadwal special eh?? were those sarees made in ur town??aaaaaarrgghhh.....shit man u never told us...
"its an aberration...a mistake......noooooo" he countered.....
the situation only got worse.....the water ran out...the stoppage at each station was only 2 mins...and whosoever got down did a usain bolt for gettin back....we were hungry,thirsty n freaked out by the time we reached gooty jn.....and godspeed we found food,water n fresh air....we fell on idlis,wadas like a pack of starved lions fall on tender meat.....the vendor was left dazeds and konfoosed [a la the led zeppelin number]....


we reached our destination at 1130 pm.....we did expect tata sumos n white clad gang with swords in hand to arrive for our greetin....but gud ol nag was there wid scorpios.....his khaatirdaari was immaculate...we dined,met his folks,greeted his jijju,relatives n finally beddy bye in the lodging.....