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RUNNiNG TWo STATES !

Ahh..there were all packed and coming back home... Reached Chandigarh just on time for the train. A visibly relieved Noon, our Baghdadi sent tour friend sat down with us after settling us all in the train. The dabba was in a mess. Stinky, messy, dirty. We had been lucky to get a brand new freshly painted dabba on our journey to Chandigarh. Already a bit sleep deprived we sat together hoping to catch a wink...

Most of us got up after the afternoon nap before the Delhi station came in. The Delhi sun was too soft to ignore the Delhi cool winds. Hoping to find something hot and better than the watery chai some of us got down on the station. Nothing in sight. Just some chips and the normal tits bits sellers. The train was going to halt for some half an hour in Delhi. It was 5.00pm then. Hiten, Heena and I determined on finding something good to eat walked along the train. We remembered buying hot masala corns on the same platform while on our way to Chandigarh.
Ahh.. there he was! Picking up three cups of hot juicy masala corns we saw a puri bhaaji wala ... We confirmed the time left for the train to start. The pantry guy said,"Aur 10min hai."

Not long after we said"Bhaiyyan ek puri bhaji do na." we saw the train moving out.
The three of us wrigled in the pantry car. "Jiggy must have got another heart attack." The pantry guy was kind enough to allow us to sit in their dabba. The next station was Faridabaad. some 45mins away. Till then we relished the pantry benefits. The garma garam cutlets and chaai. Chai and the chocolate cake we had reserved for the rest. Some kinda experience we quipped. But story abhi bhi baki thi.....

The normal train loos are just okay. Why not go into the A/C loos. It must be all clean and good. As i came out of the loo. I could see the train already moving out of the Faridabad, a 2min stop station. Hah! we got down and started running top speed like Kareena on Ratlam. Huffing and puffing we had managed to reach till the AC cars. Bad! That was the second time we would have missed the train.

But by now we were superlatively confident and had a backup plan. Heena's dad was in railways. the worst scene: We would have extended our stay and stayed in the railways guest house for free with all good Faridabadi food!

A kind railway uncle suggested that we sit in some vacant seats in the AC so that on the next station which was like another hour away, Mathura we could get off soon and reach our dabba.... As we sat in a vacant AC seat and laughing too hard for our "happening adventure" a khadi claded man came to fetch Hiten...
We were sent back... Shooed away kindly. The Sr. Ticket Officer uncle had asked us whether we wanted to book 3 AC tickets till Mathura.

Too bad... we came back to where we started.To the pantry! Our Ratlamish run went waste. And then a bit of information bombed in! Abu Salem was in our same train. Now that was quite some news! And through the pantry guys we came to know that we were near him. He was travelling general with other 40 policemen and we were hardly some AC dabbas and a general away from him!

Chottu a pantry guy appeared a bit excited to see us three cramped near the door. As he asked us what we did. Hiten answered,"we make films." Films got him all the more excited. "Ji main accha gaa leta hun ji.'  People have this amazing fascination with Mumbai and Bollywood all around the place.Hoping to get into the magical world of films. "Tera hone laga hun" came in with an applause from Chottu. Later we realised that this Chottu from Gwalior had done polytechnics and had landed a 3,000 Rs job in the railways just for the sake of his family.His ideology and philosophy of working in his life amazed us!

We later followed him to the end of the AC dabba so that we could finally get off Mathura and run back to our S9.Chottu had stories to tell of Abu Salem the dreaded still alive DON who was relishing on his biryani and chaai served by Chottu. During our short time with Chottu he allowed us to peek in his life as a pantry boy. His scar that he received when a train run over his foot. His happy go lucky nature and his hardships to support his family had us thinking that somewhere we were a lucky bunch of people doing what we like!

Saying a bye to him and Sandeep Bhaiyyan who served us the cutlets we were back doing a Kareena on Mathura... But this time we finally reached. It was almost 7 45. We were back to our daaba after a long truly happening and adventureous journey in the same train. Running between the pantry and the AC and back to the pantry, crossing the Abu Salme's general dabbas and finally our dabba! What a run!

It was some kind of running two states. From Delhi to UP. We had done a Two States!

Comments

Unknown said…
as usual great blog..from my different n classy friend ..........truly amazing yaar ....send me other links also so dat i get to read dat also...
sumit said…
couldn't get my eyes off. very catchy :).

i wish even i could have an adventure like this, but Boogie hopping is risky, should be careful next time. Any ways Abu Salem incident was a thrill!
sumit said…
oh and i like the caption, running two states :)
Amruta said…
thnx guys...
@sumit yea u shd hav been too in d adventure...
salesh said…
i'm not a reader but this one really got my attention for a while i like the way u described it a visual delight
HeenaM said…
hehehe Cant EVER forget that day... Had somee really good Fun in those 2 hrs! :)

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