The Yester
It was a lazy Sunday morning but anticipations were running high....a dream which took months together was entering the real world. Question was…..Will it be a shattered one or it will be the cradle of all new, unexplored, happy beginnings?
9 am four of us ran from our respective houses & went to the music store owner, woke him up & said he has to open the store to let us know our Fate...My fate... that day, that morning I can never forget in my life. The life changing moment was here & I knew if this doesn’t go my way then there is nothing in the world that will ever be by my side.
And suddenly the sun was shining bright, birds were humming & I was struck with a deadly craving of jalebi & dhahi…God had smiled on me & I was all set to head south. The unknown, full of assumptions; in short a new & unexplored country for me.
And yet again I was hit hard in my stomach..the reality check….i was leaving people…my people… whom I grew up with…with whom I played many pranks & escaped unhurt. The era of domination was going to get over. I had to let go of my puppy love & promise like a war hero that “I will come back For you”.
The bags were packed, blessings were taken & I was accompanied with watery eyes, dhols, marigold garlands, samosas & few letters which were tightly sealed with futures dates on them. Felt like it’s going to be now or never. The train horn sounded as loud as it could & slowly the platform started falling behind…in few minutes i was standing all alone at the door wondering if this was what I wanted.
The journey was long; the life ahead & the journey to south itself.
Reached Delhi..felt at home still…familiar faces, familiar food items, abuses, attire everything was providing a comfort zone. Reluctantly I dragged my 20kilos bag with cheap wheel below it to the right platform & waited for my crowded air-conditioned compartment to arrive. Right in front of me I could see this family which was arguing about eating from the poori bhji thelawala in a foreign language. I inferred that they are arguing from my keen observation & analytical powers :-) (& now that I know the language I know I was right) anyways getting back to the family, the child was finally handed over a steel tiffin box which had idli’s in it…with some red power on it (Podi/Gun Powder). With my thoughts & observations, I wondered what on earth they were feeding the poor child "They must be really poor that they aren’t able to afford a curry to eat along with the idli ;) for that matter even buy him the poori bhaji costing Rs10" but looking at the amount of gold the mom was wearing I could do 2+2.
Anyway the train slowly pulled into the station & there it was… a 14-15 coacher train & I was looking for A-1 coach. Mother was accompanying me on the journey; she had the lower berth & I had the upper. I threw my bag under the berth & hopped on to my upper bunker to be in solitude with my letters!!
The first letter itself made me miss my city like hell but I told myself that I Will Be Back. The train journey lasted some 24hours with a variety of smells….few were very familiar & few I couldn’t even guess if it was excreted by some kinda eatable or human life form. My thoughts kept the pace with the super fast express train which takes close to 24 hours to reach my destination city.
Madras (now Cen-nai aka Chennai), it was around 1:30 in the morning when my super fast express train which took close to 24hours from Dilwali Dilli to Cen-nai percolated slowly beside the semi empty platform with some sleepy relatives of other passengers and the coolies. It was dark, humid & than suddenly I saw a smiling, familiar face!! My brother!! I said WooHoo!! Finally I am with my brother after 18 years of separation & finally I am away from my autocratic parents who until then even decided which restroom I should use.
We somehow managed to get out of the train in 20mins post halting of the train on the platform. People were acting crazy!! They wanted to just burst out of the train & straight land in their respective houses!! Weirdoes!! First they want to enter the train as if we will eat up their seats & then on reaching the destination these guys want to run out as if their ass’s have got blisters! So getting back to the bag with the lousy wheel, I realized that my bag has a lousy handle as well which just snapped when I showed my frustration in towing the bag out of the compartment! Now I had to decide on how to drag the 20kg bag out of the station. 2 choices- Pay 150rs to coolie or struggle my way through for next 20minz . I choose the second option with the help of my brother.
Brother was in Cen-nai for 3 years now, did his MBA (still the “IN” thing amongst the youth) and was working for a telecom company, doing his bit of developing India by selling sim cards. He decided to take care of me (Which I Appreciate Till Date) & gave an offer if I achieve above 70% in my 12 grade I will be eligible for Cen-nai colleges to which I couldn’t say no!
We had dragged our share of 20kilos in turns & finally reached the taxi. We were taken from Marina beach & it felt as if I was in Florida & driving next to the scenic beauty of its beaches!! Only later experiences made me realize how uncommon Florida & Marina are. Finally we reached our home sweet home which was going to be my home for next 2 years. The entrance was small and dark…but we managed & climbed the staircase with my bag which had a lousy wheel base & apparently the handle was lousy as well & suddenly “thudddd”... I swore all possible hindi’s slangs post bumming my head on the low ceiling of the staircase. Finally I managed to get inside the single bedroom house with a long drawing room attached with an Indian style toilet that was strategically placed in the balcony facing the busy road. That was our home.
The journey continues….
