Part 2

(by Vish)

Traveling in train can be quite an experience, if taken in the right spirit. I didnt! Nd hence every passing second was pissing me off! We werent even halfway to our destination nd I was ready to get off, cudnt handle these stupid co-passengers!

Three magazines, one pack ciggarettes nd few rounds of cards later, we were ready for dinner. Btw mum's a fabulous cook nd I can bet on my life that noone can make a better non veg dish than her. So I forgot everything nd served myself a big fat mutton piece. Mr. n Mrs. Jignesh Shah were really ticked off at the sight of me digging into the once alive creature! To be honest I was really tempted to offer them some.. Maybe tmrw I will! Hehe

It was time to get back to my third grade second class seat. Its strange how the whole look of a train changes when u walk from a 'sophisticated' airconditioned surroundings to a 'down grade' second class envionment. I mean how dare the Gujju family offer me theplas nd khakras when barely 10 minutes back two from the same culture were trying to give me a heart attack!

I was kept awake by the little monster's cries.. I think he was trying to communicate with his buddies left behind in Bombay! I wud love to know whr was he getting the energy to take his screams higher every ten seconds!
Heres an idea, why dont we make a car that runs purely on babyscreams? I mean we 'Indians' are producing these little rascals by the dozens, so why not make some use of em in the bargain? I hope no chinese hakka noodle is reading this.. Back off!

After changing my seat for the convinience of my co-passengers, I finally found one middle birth to sleep. I think I got an hours shut eye before someones laughter woke me up. This was different you know, full hearted laugh which always ended with a sad sigh! Took a peek towards the toilet area nd found 4 middle aged men having a merry time with handful of bidi's nd desi daaru. I stood there for a bit, had one ciggie before offering one to the laughing dude, he looked like a story teller. Sitting in the middle with, now, 6people surrounding him. 'Dhanyawaad baabu.. Ab aap harari bidi lo.. Specially Manali se laaye hai.. Kadwi nahi lagegi aapko' How cud I not try it after this explanation? Soon I gave my entire cigg packet in exchange of the gold leave bidi's nd within no time I was sharing the 'homemade' daaru as well. You must try this combination, with the exact bunch of people, at this exact time, in this exact train! Oops.. You cant! Suckers.. Hehe

These guys never run out of stories nd they have one for practically anything nd everything! Some you may doubt, some may leave u speechless nd then some which will make u roll on the floor laughing ur guts out!
One dude was traveling to Vaishano Devi cuz his mother wanted to visit the god herself, but she died of some kind of disease a year back. I was trying to click some snaps from my phone before he said 'Babu us wakhat hame 20 hajaar ki zaroorat thi maa ko bachane ke liye par hamare kheto ki fasal kharab ho gayee.. Bichari apne pote(grandson) ka mu dekhe bina hi mar gayee'. I had bought this phone exactly a year back nd it costed me exactly 20K!

One fairly oldish man was visiting his beloved god for the fourth occasion, this time he was sure that he would be able to muster the remaining 12.5 thousand rupees he needed to pay off the agriculture loan nd wont let it extend for another year. I lost 12.5K last friday in poker!

The youngest of the lot had quite a few stories as well. One reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire.. His name is Pawan nd he travels int he train everyday from Paanipat to Ambala nd back, cleaning the garbage that we civilized people thrown on the floor. He does this cuz his sister is too young to work, his mother works on the field nd he doesnt know who his father is or was. By default he is the man of the house now nd is very proud of making a daily average of Rs 100. He is 7 !! I will be 27 in one months time nd I blow Rs 100 on my smokes everyday!

Three of them didnt know their birthdates but the rest 5, including myself, are born in the month of July!

After the daaru nd bidi session was over, I cudnt help but feel the luckiest among this crowd. I looked arnd nd everyone was in snoring away to glory, maybe dreaming of a perfect world. I, on the other hand, I cudnt sleep at all. Am I really that lucky? Maybe.. Maybe not!