FLASHBACK :
A Desi joke, a school class-room and a train compartment, is never complete without a Sardar ji's auspicious presence. Well, Punjabis are the super stockists of hospitality, friendship, generosity, energy, smiles, strength, laughter, etc etc etc. The list is endless, you name it and they have it! I guess I am safe now ;)
Mr Flora, Manager (Materials) from a leading player in Indian Automobile Industry was travelling or rather suffering in the same compartment along with us. He was a very soft (or less) spoken man, boarded the train from Bhopal and his destination was also Belgaum. Mr Flora was so generous that he spilt full cup of very precious Indian Railways Tea on a co-passenger, may be to wish him a pleasant morning. And on top of that, news of train not going to Pune was like adding insult to injury for this guy, who just had a nice early morning hot tea bath.
(Indian Railways Tea Mix: Lots of water, few drops of Milk Powder and bits n pieces of Tea-leafs atoms)
Mr Flora scored second time by pouring tea over this very irritating at-your-face types fellow. Well, first time he scored with us when he started the conversation by asking, “Which college you guys are from?“
Simply, can’t describe it, how it feels when someone asks you that question even today! ;)
BACK from FLASHBACK :
So back from flashback to ‘Anjaan Shehar’ Sholapur’s Railway Station!
Most of the passengers had to get down at Hubli and Belgaum and when they came to know that train will not be going to their desired destinations they got steamy furious.
I mean, is it a Bus or some Cab, we are into.
Traffic Jam ??? Ok, driver,lets take another route !!
Well, it was supposed to be a Train which runs on a defined track! But not this day!
I updated my FB status 'Train No 2630 LOST !!!' and received quite a few surprised and shocked faced comments immediately from some of our 'Facebook Flag-Bearers'. Meanwhile, after a few discussions with all sorts of ideas and suggestions coming from all directions, we decided that one group will go and talk to the station master to take the train at least to Bijapur and the other group will stay back to pull the chain to prevent the train from leaving the platform. And guess what, me and sam got appointed as the 'Official Chain Pullers' and believe me it was quite an experience doing an illegal stuff, legally. Every time the driver tried to put the wheels rolling we were up for the tarzan task ;)
This Chukk Chukk Gaadi drama continued for little while and then we saw our second battalion coming back from the Station Master’s Cabin with a BIG winning smile. When I saw them walking towards us few random thoughts hit me. They all don’t even know each other by names but at that moment they all looked ONE. No Marathi manoos, no Rajani anna’s devotees and no Bhaiya ji from UP/Bihar. Watching them walk hands-on-shoulders was like, they play and mint money for the same IPL team. And the very next moment I thought if a bunch of guys can put the train back on so called original track there should be no surprises to read about train accidents in newspapers. So from the next time you travelling in an Indian train better keep an eye on passing stations. ;)
But it’s ok for this time as it was in our favour! ;)
So that’s how at last we won the battle and once again train started to move towards Bijapur. And another FB status update 'Things back on track!'
Now, from Sholapur to Bijapur it was all about “How to reach Belgaum”. Mr Flora, the Production Manager transformed into a Rescue Team’s Captain and took the charge. Few phone calls made by him here and there, and the end result was a Tata Indica Taxi waiting for us at Bijapur Railway Station.
We were like, WoW !!! Good job done Sir !!!
Me, Sam and Mr Flora decided that we will Go Dutch as far as the Taxi fare is concerned. So all well and all set, we launched towards Belgaum, a 207 km ride. Mr Flora took the front seat with the driver and me and Sam happily took the back seat. But before our happiness could actually sink in we found that we have one more companion!! Mr Driver’s friend!
He entered the car with India’s most favourite icebreaking line “Thoda adjust Maadi ”. Sam took the window seat and I was the one who responded to this guy’s adjustment call and that’s it!! I got stuck right in between. After a while like true Indians we all ‘settled’ anyhow!
“Wow! Wo dekh, that’s a Black Taj Mahal.” Sam said it loud watching this magnanimous structure. It was huge, artistic and very beautiful historical monument. “I think I have seen it before as well. May be in my previous birth? What say?” I said it, watching this amazing piece of art work and at the same time putting extreme pressure on my little used thinking machine. But then, even Sam was forced to put on his thinking cap to come up with this answer, “Yeah in your pervious birth only when you were in school long back. Ha ha!! Yaar, it is GOL GUMBAZ.” Sam said it all excited.
It was an amazing feeling to see this mega structure standing right in front, which was only a tiny 3 marks answer for us in Social Science paper during our school days.
We kept staring at Gol Gumbaz as long as it was possible for us. Few more site seeing within the city and then we hit the NH -13. And I must say it is the ‘Sweetest Highway’ I have ever rolled on. Every single minute ticks by and a tractor pulling a fully loaded trolley, overtake you. These trolleys were neatly loaded with sugarcanes.
But as usual too much of sweetness is not what is meant for me and Sam, so Mr Driver turned into some regional DJ and started playing all kind of regional movies songs. Original or remix? (I don’t know, they all sounds the same). I told Sam “Welcome back to Southern India !!!” ;)
Now this is what you’ll call National Integration, Sardar ji from Punjab is sitting helplessly in the front seat enjoying the high volume dos of South Indian music, me and Sam looking for cover and Mr Driver along with his buddy enjoying the drive as if they have paid for the trip. As they say, Fight Fire with Fire! Sam decided that he had enough of it and soon plugged in the iPod on full volume and eyes closed. So we kept moving on, tractors kept on overtaking the taxi all the way. Soon the light fades off and it was simply majestic to see the highway signboards and dividers shining in the moonlight. And the colourful tractors added the extra colours and sweetness to it.
Watching the polished, smooth and spotless Highway I was filled with extreme proud that India is making progress leaps and bounds. World class express highways, towering buildings, cutting edge technologies and what not, “I guess we are doing well!” I said to myself but what I saw the next moment was good enough to demolish my feel good factor! On such beautiful express highway, little kids (still in their school uniforms) were carrying ‘water’ in colourful plastic containers. It was really heartbreaking to see them pulling their bicycles and somehow now I did not like the colours added by those water containers to the scene. Whole India Shining effect was gone in a flash and once again the bitter reality of ‘basics’ was glaring at me! That was the day I once again promised myself to save water as much as I can!
Skipping baths may help!! ;-D
‘India’s future carrying water to their homes’ was the last thing in my mind when we finally touched our destination BELGAUM!! Dropped Mr Flora to his desired venue, exchange of business cards and we said bye to him. It was our pleasure meeting such a nice human being. I hope he writes the same about us. :D
Well soon after, we reached our allotted guest house and that is it, time for another round of deep sound sleep. Finally we reached Belgaum!
P.S. Really sorry for the late arrival of the second part of the story just like our Indian trains. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted! Looking forward to your company every next time! ;)
N yeah! Please SAVE WATER!!!