The Adventurous Journey
In my childhood,I remember the surge of excitement I felt when in the silent night I first spotted a faint yellow spot..far away..and then heared a weak rumble on the tracks. The spot got brighter, throwing a shaft of light that illuminated the tracks, the rumble got louder
and now i could hear a weak monotone of train whistle..even as I watched, the rumble turned into roar, the whistle turned louder and shriller, demonstrating the practical manifestation of Dopplers effect. Finally with blast of air and a loud bang the engine passed by, followed by its obidient rack. There was this terrific sound of running wheels and jumping springs and I watched in awe a red/blue wall hurrying past...a continuous line of window grills,interrrupted by the black panels of accoaches..until finally it was all over and I could only hear the faint rumble on tracks and the red trail light of the last coach..after some time the rumble died and the red light would melt into the darkness of night. I returned with pride for having seen the non-stop "Himgiri express"(which is still called "Toofan MAil" in local parlance) pass by at 90 Km/hr speed from the railway platform of Hardoi.
Train in India has a queer romance associated with it. Perhaps because buses and trucks are too common place to attract attention, aeroplanes are too costly to travel and ships are limited to seas, an individual in hinterland gets the maximum pleasure in train.Fastest and cheapest,our good old train gets highest priority among affordable means of travel. And then there is that ever present hope among most of us,at least till we are unengaged: In train you may meet the person with whom you may be destined to cover the remaining journey of your life..well, who knows?
Therefore, our journey back home from college for semester holidays, a long one spanning aproximately 2 days of our precious lives,was an inevitable pleasure as its romance was always compounded by the presence of friends. Friends, who were diverse and unique, each one capable of creating a potential havoc!
On this particular journey, our group was a broad spectrum of guys ranging from the softly romantic Guptaji, to the downright gross "Jangali". (They already have had their
introduction in while explaining the history of my name in an earlier post).At 11:00PM we all boarded Rapti Sagar Express from Chennai to start our journey towards Lucknow. Too tired to either talk or take an account of our surroundings by making a walkaround in the compartment, we fell on our seats and were soon snoring out our tiredness.
In morning I got up with the hollow noise of the train crossing the bridge falling into my ears. "Vijayawada", I mused sleepily,still too reluctant to open my eyes and begin the monotonous day in the train. Through my half open eyes on the side upper berth what i saw made me alert my senses to attention..right before me,below on his lower berth, there he was,our friend Gupta. In college we need to pour a bucket of water to push him to class, but today he was wide awake, even as it was just 7:30am. And worse still, sitting right before him was this girl, the one with an innocent face and lovely figure. The langour of an
improper sleep still on her charming face, she had her large black eyes wide open and seemed to be lapping up with great interest all that our friend had to speak!As if this was not enough, a middle aged couple, who seemed to be her parents,appeared to nod in agreement with Gupta and her younger brother, still a child, was moving all around, relishing the snacks we had purchased for our journey!
"My God"..I thought with green eyes and a burning heart.."Gupta seems to have got a pretty good start.." But then, it was long journey and the competition had just started. No doubt, my friend was at a vantage position..having his berth right before her, but I was also a seasoned player. Having resolved to defeat Gupta in this game of enamouring the beauty sitting before him,I got down my berth..pulled out my toothbrush and confidently walked down the aisle towards him.
"Good Morning"..I exclaimed, while giving Gupta a rather hard pat on the back,in a way that it went unnoticed with the lady and her family,but not so with Gupta who groaned in pain but hid his grimace so deftly beneath a veneer of smile that it never became clear to the people around. "Good Morning pape"..Gupta replied back,grinning mischiviously for having thrown his first dice by revealing my rather mature sounding nick name to all the people around.
The girl's brother was the first to take it up.."Pape!!", he laughed aloud...and burst into an impromptu poem, "Pape...exam main taape"..rounding off my embarrassment with an innocent question: "Bhaiyaa kya aap exam main cheating kartain hain?"..By now the entire group was double with laughter and guffaws,while the parents were half heartedly trying to put the child to a stop. The girl in particular gave out a huge smile,a clear ringing laugh. Gupta, quite amused by the success of his gambit, sat smirking. I somehow managed to force a smile and requested tooth paste from Gupta, my explaination for coming to him.He handed the same to me and I rushed out, while a comment followed from Gupta to the group: "Apna saaman to
hostel main koi rakhta hi nahin hai!"...I cursed Gupta as I knew that it is my tooth paste he had kept for our common use in his bag!!
I put all my venegence on my teeth, brushing with all strength even as my mind and the train both raced forward. People jostled around the leaky and slimy steel basin, and a couple of urchins hung around the footboard. I could not allow Gupta an easy victory,and still,he had all the cards in his suit. Should I involve others? That was a crucial question as involving others will give a phyrric victory in the sense that I myself would be unable to relish my
success as they will never allow me to talk to the girl alone.I decided to give it another try.
With the renewed "Close Up" confidence, I moved on towards Guptaji's berth.Enroute I had taken up my copy of The Hindu from a vendor. With an air of Mr. intellectual, I sat down
beside Guptaji and spread the paper on my lap. While I tried my best to pretend reading the paper, my eyes continuously scanned the effect my actions were having on the girl. The glossy picture and the bold font finally had their effect and to Gupta's chagrin the girl said : "Excuse me, can I have a page"..My happiness knew no bounds.."Yes..thats the opportunity I was waiting for!". But before I could extract and forward her the "Lifestyle"
supplement, she unfortunately lunged forward and helped herself with the "Open Page". As she saw with consternation the big page full of words and gravid titles like: "Colonism in Afghanistan:A historical perspective" and "Poignant Reminders of Philosophical World",I knew
that my chance was gone. She turned the pages, perhaps trying to read an advertisement for reprieve, and ended up with a dour looking column with words "Read Frontline". Indeed,the pain on her face showed that she was completely unimpressed and was waiting to return the paper with minimum possible civility. Her brother reduced her predicament by suddenly snatching the paper with a comment :"Bhaiya kya bore paper hai yeh", and returned it back to me, in the process cleanly tearing it apart into two sheets. While this action of the child elicited a mild reprimand from her parents, the girl seemed to be only happy for having come back to the normal world. Gupta utilized the opportunity fully by forwarding her his
portable music system with those old romantic songs. She took it up with an elegant "Thank You" and closed her eyes to be lost in music.
Having thus squandered another chance,I knew that I need to do something urgently to cut an impression. I thought of consequences: Gupta will narrate with zest his romantic journey, he will portray me as a pathetic side character and I will end up becoming a laughing stock in entire batch.I had two options : either try again to make an impression or become a "fidyeen" and destroy Gupta's impression as well. I chose the latter option.
I moved on to the next compartment where rest of our group was sitting. The scene there was the expected one. Perched on the top berth was Pradeep Verma, still sleeping. Nitin Tandon stood near the door, demonstrating his uncanny abiltiy of making ringlets out of cigarette smoke and near him, almost hanging from the door, his hands on both bars,was Jungeli,enjoying the open air, speed of the train not withstanding. As I told them the situation unfolding in the adjecant compartment, their senses were alert: jungeli was back on his seat, Verma was wide awake and Tandon stood in the corner, the cigatatte still dangling down his lips. The meeting concurred that it was a matter of great concern that our friend was lucky enough to have a pleasant journey and a nice story to narrate, while we were suffering the torment of sweltering heat in the train, with no one to speak with. To add insult to injury, Gupta was not allowing us to move around, this is a great treachery perpetrated by this vile friend of ours onto his loyal batch mates and he should therefore be subjected to an exemplary punishment....having come to this comprehensive conclusion unanimously, the group sat for another 30 minutes chalking out a strategy to thwart his moves.
This done, we four people moved into the scene of action. We set our base at my seat on lower berth and decided to launch a frontal attack from there.
First Jungeli started,his face suggesting all the expressions of a habitual drunkard. He went to the Gupta's seat and paused...Gupta was busy chatting with with girl, while her parents were all ears to the conversation. QUietly he asked him, "arre Guptaji where is that
whisky bottle we brought at Chennai?"..Gupta was flustered at this egregious lie. The expression of the girls parents was one of disbelief,while girl herself coiled back,amazed
at this revelation. The brother was no where to be seen..I thanked God for that. Gupta was caught unaware..he somehow gathered himself and shot back : "What are u talking about? I dont know about any such thing"..."But u kept it in ur bag last night", Jungeli persisted,"..and u told that u cant sleep without a peg or two...though we told you that its not possible in train", and then suddenly,as if aware of people around,he said.."oh..ok..i see why u cant drink here..anyway Guptaji,agar talab lage raat main to udher aa jaana". With these potentially damaging statements, Jungeli turned back towards our battle base. We patted him for his excellent performance and went on to launch the second attack..
When Nitin Tandon reached the place,the battle tide was already turning towards us. The parents were viewing Gupta suspiciously and the girl looked out of window listlessly,as if reflecting over the gravity of the revealaton just made. Nitin Tandon arrived at the scene
with a cigaratte in hand and matter of factly asked : "Oye Gupta,bag se jara ek aur pack to dena!"..needless to mention, Guptaji was caught completely offguard. Having nothing to prove his innocence admist this spate of vile allegations he got up and took his bag exclaiming:"Kya bol rahe ho..lo dekh lo bag main..kyon jooth bolte ho"..Tandon had his cards all ready, with a face filled with admiration he exclaimed :" arre wah Gupta,ek raat main poora pack! Tum to Guru nikle.." and then looking around him he remarked "vaise yaar yahan per manage kaise kiya?" Of course Gupta didnt care to reply the last question and continued gazing on the pages of his open novel. Tandon returned back to the base grumbling loudly.."kaise dost hain..bina share kiye poora pee jaate hain"..
"Superb performance"..I congratulated Tandon. I knew that we could now wait for some time before our third attack. I gloated gleefully at the ice that had desecended on the earlier merry scene around Gupta. The parents were almost convinced of his vile habits and were trying to open a conversation with other fellow passengers, while the lady was trying to sleep, her face rested upon the window. Guptaji, finding the atmosphere almost too heavy stared into the pages of his novel even harder..the novel almost covering his entire face. Indeed the embarrasment, anger and the expectation of next attack gave his face a queer
expression which was being readily construed as that of guilt by her parents. We were celebrating our success over a cups of tea, sponsored by me.
Finally I took out the last arrow in my quiver. Pradeep Verma, his face as usaul suggesting a threat and his eyes somewhat redder than ever because of early awakement(at 9:30am) started towards the battle field. The girls brother was still conspicuous by his absence. Verma went to Gupta and with a friendly slap on his head, growled in his typical style: "Abbe Gupta voh towel to de jis per kal station per jua khela tha humnain"..this was indeed the proverbial last straw. Gupta's face was red,his eyes glowered and his entire body was stiff with his typical angry expressions. But Verma,unconcerned as usual,kept on his well rehersed dialogue: "..abbe kal to tune phod diya tha..jeet gaya tha sab aur daru kharid li thee..ab Tandon ko kyon nahin deta hai?"...and then suddenly turning towards the family and gobbling the girl before him in his one glance added:"..arre yeh kaun hai bey,intro to kara
jara..",this was obviously follwed by the unprintable version of sweet nothings of college. Now Gupta lost his temper, in a violent fit he started towards us, but soon realizing the futility of this, he blurted out,"Verma chaato nahin,main janta hoon yeh sab buddhau ka kaam
hai".This piece of remonstration did not seem to be of much help as the expression on the girls face had now shifted from concern to insecurity and she had shuffled closer to her parents. The parents were now pretending to sleep,perhaps praying for journey to end. Anyway, Verma having played his role successfully came back and we congratulated him. The battle was won and rest of the journey was bound to be a hell for Gupta.
Had it remained like this for rest of the journey,things would have ended and the story would have been over right here. But for her brother, the little spy,he was right above our battle base where we had been long planning and sending soldiers so successfully! He had been there all through and had heared everything! And now as Verma returned,he jumped down to my utter horror and with a sly smile added "Main sab janta hoon..didi ko bataoonga".
Needless to mention,we were aghast! All pains were wasted. He soon proceeded towards our battle field and gave a bleaguered Guptaji much needed reprieve by announcing: "arre yeh sab jooth hai,yeh sab to bhaiya ke dost unhe chidhane ke liye keh rahe thae". Gupta's face lit
up for the first time in the past 2 hrs. And a light of triumph it was! The little imp soon went out to explain as to how had everyone been taught his dialogue and as to how they had rehersed and how much we were enjoying his predicament. All remained still for a while and finally the girl broke out into a laugh..a clear shrill smile that made her face more beautiful than ever and exclaimed: "My God Pankaj,your friends are really too much...I knew that you cant be this sort of person..how stupid of them to play such stupid pranks"..and soon her parents too joined in the laughter and then of course Guptaji found his words and muttered out :"Aunti college ka atmosphere is really bad,you see these people,there are many like them". The girl remarked:"per aap unse alag ho..", and I knew that battle was again lost! Guptaji returned to his usual self,joking,chatting and sharing songs,while the train moved on. We three cursed that little devil and thought if something could still be done,even as we were already baddies for everyone out there. our fidayeen attack had been unsuccessful. We were hurt,but vicitm escaped!
They say that the game is not over until the last ball has been bowled. Things had gone too bad for us till now and there was little hope. It was 15hrs since we received that shock and the train was now nearing Kanpur where the girl had to board down. Gupta of course had cut quite an impression and was now reeling out his mail id and address for a long term correspondence. All three of our group were urging that it was time for the captain's knock,perhaps that would help. So,against all hopes,I started towards our old battlefield. Accompanying me was Jungeli and we went and sat beside Gupta. Everyone ignored us,afterall who would like to talk with baddies? The rhythm of wheels had changed and I could see the tracks multiplying outside. The train had entered the railway yard of Kanpur and something had to be done soon,if we were to save ourselves from mockery in the college.Gupta had hids diary out to take the girls address.
I made the first move:"Gupta yaar tum jua ultimate khelte ho..kya baazi khele thi chennai main"! Gupta surveyed me with an expression of ridicule and replied:"haan khele thi to?".Obviouly,knowing fully well that nothing could now destroy that carefully built 15 hr impression he was complacent. Jungeli added:"Lekin yaar itni daaru acche nahin hai sehat ke liye..lever kharb ho jayega". Gupta was too complacent and gave a terse reply:"tumse matlab,main jo chahe karoon!" Then I said:"chain smoking ki adat chod do yaar..accha nahin hai"..Gupta replied:"Pape tu apna kaam dekh..tension mat le mere baare main".Alas, in retrospect Gupta wished that he had seen the expressions on the face of girl and her parents while he gave these replies! Their faces were again clouding up and the brother was staring
at Gupta in disbelief. I finally rounded up by saying :"to phir Gupta tumne humian kyon naihn diya yaar..sab kuchh bag main rakkha raha aur tumne bataya bhi nahin!"...Now..it was
now,that Gupta saw the face of girls mother and immediately realised his folly! He wanted to make amends but before this she said: "Haan bhai,aap log aise hi paisaa waste karte hain apne parents ka!!" and brother said with a painful expression:"Bhaiya mujhe aapse yeh ummeed nahin thi!"...Gupta wanted to scream and explain the things,but alas..alas..it was too late!
The train had entered the platform,and was steadily coming to a stop with that typical screeching noise.Desperate beyond all measure, Gupta turned towards the girl,at least he could explain evrything on mail...but no..she turned towards her mother and her mother turned towards door. As Gupta forwarded his diary,a pathetic expression on his face,the girl said grimly:"ab to aap ko address dene pehle sochna padega..Good Bye"..and they all got down,leaving Gupta sad and upset over this sudden turn of events. Gupta turned towards me and Jungeli with a fiendish look..we smiled and shrugged our shoulders..well, the fidayeen attack was finally successful! Mission accomplished!
Thus ended the brief romantic tryst of Guptaji. When we returned back after semester holidays,this story was told to all,by word of mouth..it was told and retold until it became a legend. Guptaji himself enjoyed it and we were all happy that regardless of everything,we had an
adventurous journey afterall!
and now i could hear a weak monotone of train whistle..even as I watched, the rumble turned into roar, the whistle turned louder and shriller, demonstrating the practical manifestation of Dopplers effect. Finally with blast of air and a loud bang the engine passed by, followed by its obidient rack. There was this terrific sound of running wheels and jumping springs and I watched in awe a red/blue wall hurrying past...a continuous line of window grills,interrrupted by the black panels of accoaches..until finally it was all over and I could only hear the faint rumble on tracks and the red trail light of the last coach..after some time the rumble died and the red light would melt into the darkness of night. I returned with pride for having seen the non-stop "Himgiri express"(which is still called "Toofan MAil" in local parlance) pass by at 90 Km/hr speed from the railway platform of Hardoi.
Train in India has a queer romance associated with it. Perhaps because buses and trucks are too common place to attract attention, aeroplanes are too costly to travel and ships are limited to seas, an individual in hinterland gets the maximum pleasure in train.Fastest and cheapest,our good old train gets highest priority among affordable means of travel. And then there is that ever present hope among most of us,at least till we are unengaged: In train you may meet the person with whom you may be destined to cover the remaining journey of your life..well, who knows?
Therefore, our journey back home from college for semester holidays, a long one spanning aproximately 2 days of our precious lives,was an inevitable pleasure as its romance was always compounded by the presence of friends. Friends, who were diverse and unique, each one capable of creating a potential havoc!
On this particular journey, our group was a broad spectrum of guys ranging from the softly romantic Guptaji, to the downright gross "Jangali". (They already have had their
introduction in while explaining the history of my name in an earlier post).At 11:00PM we all boarded Rapti Sagar Express from Chennai to start our journey towards Lucknow. Too tired to either talk or take an account of our surroundings by making a walkaround in the compartment, we fell on our seats and were soon snoring out our tiredness.
In morning I got up with the hollow noise of the train crossing the bridge falling into my ears. "Vijayawada", I mused sleepily,still too reluctant to open my eyes and begin the monotonous day in the train. Through my half open eyes on the side upper berth what i saw made me alert my senses to attention..right before me,below on his lower berth, there he was,our friend Gupta. In college we need to pour a bucket of water to push him to class, but today he was wide awake, even as it was just 7:30am. And worse still, sitting right before him was this girl, the one with an innocent face and lovely figure. The langour of an
improper sleep still on her charming face, she had her large black eyes wide open and seemed to be lapping up with great interest all that our friend had to speak!As if this was not enough, a middle aged couple, who seemed to be her parents,appeared to nod in agreement with Gupta and her younger brother, still a child, was moving all around, relishing the snacks we had purchased for our journey!
"My God"..I thought with green eyes and a burning heart.."Gupta seems to have got a pretty good start.." But then, it was long journey and the competition had just started. No doubt, my friend was at a vantage position..having his berth right before her, but I was also a seasoned player. Having resolved to defeat Gupta in this game of enamouring the beauty sitting before him,I got down my berth..pulled out my toothbrush and confidently walked down the aisle towards him.
"Good Morning"..I exclaimed, while giving Gupta a rather hard pat on the back,in a way that it went unnoticed with the lady and her family,but not so with Gupta who groaned in pain but hid his grimace so deftly beneath a veneer of smile that it never became clear to the people around. "Good Morning pape"..Gupta replied back,grinning mischiviously for having thrown his first dice by revealing my rather mature sounding nick name to all the people around.
The girl's brother was the first to take it up.."Pape!!", he laughed aloud...and burst into an impromptu poem, "Pape...exam main taape"..rounding off my embarrassment with an innocent question: "Bhaiyaa kya aap exam main cheating kartain hain?"..By now the entire group was double with laughter and guffaws,while the parents were half heartedly trying to put the child to a stop. The girl in particular gave out a huge smile,a clear ringing laugh. Gupta, quite amused by the success of his gambit, sat smirking. I somehow managed to force a smile and requested tooth paste from Gupta, my explaination for coming to him.He handed the same to me and I rushed out, while a comment followed from Gupta to the group: "Apna saaman to
hostel main koi rakhta hi nahin hai!"...I cursed Gupta as I knew that it is my tooth paste he had kept for our common use in his bag!!
I put all my venegence on my teeth, brushing with all strength even as my mind and the train both raced forward. People jostled around the leaky and slimy steel basin, and a couple of urchins hung around the footboard. I could not allow Gupta an easy victory,and still,he had all the cards in his suit. Should I involve others? That was a crucial question as involving others will give a phyrric victory in the sense that I myself would be unable to relish my
success as they will never allow me to talk to the girl alone.I decided to give it another try.
With the renewed "Close Up" confidence, I moved on towards Guptaji's berth.Enroute I had taken up my copy of The Hindu from a vendor. With an air of Mr. intellectual, I sat down
beside Guptaji and spread the paper on my lap. While I tried my best to pretend reading the paper, my eyes continuously scanned the effect my actions were having on the girl. The glossy picture and the bold font finally had their effect and to Gupta's chagrin the girl said : "Excuse me, can I have a page"..My happiness knew no bounds.."Yes..thats the opportunity I was waiting for!". But before I could extract and forward her the "Lifestyle"
supplement, she unfortunately lunged forward and helped herself with the "Open Page". As she saw with consternation the big page full of words and gravid titles like: "Colonism in Afghanistan:A historical perspective" and "Poignant Reminders of Philosophical World",I knew
that my chance was gone. She turned the pages, perhaps trying to read an advertisement for reprieve, and ended up with a dour looking column with words "Read Frontline". Indeed,the pain on her face showed that she was completely unimpressed and was waiting to return the paper with minimum possible civility. Her brother reduced her predicament by suddenly snatching the paper with a comment :"Bhaiya kya bore paper hai yeh", and returned it back to me, in the process cleanly tearing it apart into two sheets. While this action of the child elicited a mild reprimand from her parents, the girl seemed to be only happy for having come back to the normal world. Gupta utilized the opportunity fully by forwarding her his
portable music system with those old romantic songs. She took it up with an elegant "Thank You" and closed her eyes to be lost in music.
Having thus squandered another chance,I knew that I need to do something urgently to cut an impression. I thought of consequences: Gupta will narrate with zest his romantic journey, he will portray me as a pathetic side character and I will end up becoming a laughing stock in entire batch.I had two options : either try again to make an impression or become a "fidyeen" and destroy Gupta's impression as well. I chose the latter option.
I moved on to the next compartment where rest of our group was sitting. The scene there was the expected one. Perched on the top berth was Pradeep Verma, still sleeping. Nitin Tandon stood near the door, demonstrating his uncanny abiltiy of making ringlets out of cigarette smoke and near him, almost hanging from the door, his hands on both bars,was Jungeli,enjoying the open air, speed of the train not withstanding. As I told them the situation unfolding in the adjecant compartment, their senses were alert: jungeli was back on his seat, Verma was wide awake and Tandon stood in the corner, the cigatatte still dangling down his lips. The meeting concurred that it was a matter of great concern that our friend was lucky enough to have a pleasant journey and a nice story to narrate, while we were suffering the torment of sweltering heat in the train, with no one to speak with. To add insult to injury, Gupta was not allowing us to move around, this is a great treachery perpetrated by this vile friend of ours onto his loyal batch mates and he should therefore be subjected to an exemplary punishment....having come to this comprehensive conclusion unanimously, the group sat for another 30 minutes chalking out a strategy to thwart his moves.
This done, we four people moved into the scene of action. We set our base at my seat on lower berth and decided to launch a frontal attack from there.
First Jungeli started,his face suggesting all the expressions of a habitual drunkard. He went to the Gupta's seat and paused...Gupta was busy chatting with with girl, while her parents were all ears to the conversation. QUietly he asked him, "arre Guptaji where is that
whisky bottle we brought at Chennai?"..Gupta was flustered at this egregious lie. The expression of the girls parents was one of disbelief,while girl herself coiled back,amazed
at this revelation. The brother was no where to be seen..I thanked God for that. Gupta was caught unaware..he somehow gathered himself and shot back : "What are u talking about? I dont know about any such thing"..."But u kept it in ur bag last night", Jungeli persisted,"..and u told that u cant sleep without a peg or two...though we told you that its not possible in train", and then suddenly,as if aware of people around,he said.."oh..ok..i see why u cant drink here..anyway Guptaji,agar talab lage raat main to udher aa jaana". With these potentially damaging statements, Jungeli turned back towards our battle base. We patted him for his excellent performance and went on to launch the second attack..
When Nitin Tandon reached the place,the battle tide was already turning towards us. The parents were viewing Gupta suspiciously and the girl looked out of window listlessly,as if reflecting over the gravity of the revealaton just made. Nitin Tandon arrived at the scene
with a cigaratte in hand and matter of factly asked : "Oye Gupta,bag se jara ek aur pack to dena!"..needless to mention, Guptaji was caught completely offguard. Having nothing to prove his innocence admist this spate of vile allegations he got up and took his bag exclaiming:"Kya bol rahe ho..lo dekh lo bag main..kyon jooth bolte ho"..Tandon had his cards all ready, with a face filled with admiration he exclaimed :" arre wah Gupta,ek raat main poora pack! Tum to Guru nikle.." and then looking around him he remarked "vaise yaar yahan per manage kaise kiya?" Of course Gupta didnt care to reply the last question and continued gazing on the pages of his open novel. Tandon returned back to the base grumbling loudly.."kaise dost hain..bina share kiye poora pee jaate hain"..
"Superb performance"..I congratulated Tandon. I knew that we could now wait for some time before our third attack. I gloated gleefully at the ice that had desecended on the earlier merry scene around Gupta. The parents were almost convinced of his vile habits and were trying to open a conversation with other fellow passengers, while the lady was trying to sleep, her face rested upon the window. Guptaji, finding the atmosphere almost too heavy stared into the pages of his novel even harder..the novel almost covering his entire face. Indeed the embarrasment, anger and the expectation of next attack gave his face a queer
expression which was being readily construed as that of guilt by her parents. We were celebrating our success over a cups of tea, sponsored by me.
Finally I took out the last arrow in my quiver. Pradeep Verma, his face as usaul suggesting a threat and his eyes somewhat redder than ever because of early awakement(at 9:30am) started towards the battle field. The girls brother was still conspicuous by his absence. Verma went to Gupta and with a friendly slap on his head, growled in his typical style: "Abbe Gupta voh towel to de jis per kal station per jua khela tha humnain"..this was indeed the proverbial last straw. Gupta's face was red,his eyes glowered and his entire body was stiff with his typical angry expressions. But Verma,unconcerned as usual,kept on his well rehersed dialogue: "..abbe kal to tune phod diya tha..jeet gaya tha sab aur daru kharid li thee..ab Tandon ko kyon nahin deta hai?"...and then suddenly turning towards the family and gobbling the girl before him in his one glance added:"..arre yeh kaun hai bey,intro to kara
jara..",this was obviously follwed by the unprintable version of sweet nothings of college. Now Gupta lost his temper, in a violent fit he started towards us, but soon realizing the futility of this, he blurted out,"Verma chaato nahin,main janta hoon yeh sab buddhau ka kaam
hai".This piece of remonstration did not seem to be of much help as the expression on the girls face had now shifted from concern to insecurity and she had shuffled closer to her parents. The parents were now pretending to sleep,perhaps praying for journey to end. Anyway, Verma having played his role successfully came back and we congratulated him. The battle was won and rest of the journey was bound to be a hell for Gupta.
Had it remained like this for rest of the journey,things would have ended and the story would have been over right here. But for her brother, the little spy,he was right above our battle base where we had been long planning and sending soldiers so successfully! He had been there all through and had heared everything! And now as Verma returned,he jumped down to my utter horror and with a sly smile added "Main sab janta hoon..didi ko bataoonga".
Needless to mention,we were aghast! All pains were wasted. He soon proceeded towards our battle field and gave a bleaguered Guptaji much needed reprieve by announcing: "arre yeh sab jooth hai,yeh sab to bhaiya ke dost unhe chidhane ke liye keh rahe thae". Gupta's face lit
up for the first time in the past 2 hrs. And a light of triumph it was! The little imp soon went out to explain as to how had everyone been taught his dialogue and as to how they had rehersed and how much we were enjoying his predicament. All remained still for a while and finally the girl broke out into a laugh..a clear shrill smile that made her face more beautiful than ever and exclaimed: "My God Pankaj,your friends are really too much...I knew that you cant be this sort of person..how stupid of them to play such stupid pranks"..and soon her parents too joined in the laughter and then of course Guptaji found his words and muttered out :"Aunti college ka atmosphere is really bad,you see these people,there are many like them". The girl remarked:"per aap unse alag ho..", and I knew that battle was again lost! Guptaji returned to his usual self,joking,chatting and sharing songs,while the train moved on. We three cursed that little devil and thought if something could still be done,even as we were already baddies for everyone out there. our fidayeen attack had been unsuccessful. We were hurt,but vicitm escaped!
They say that the game is not over until the last ball has been bowled. Things had gone too bad for us till now and there was little hope. It was 15hrs since we received that shock and the train was now nearing Kanpur where the girl had to board down. Gupta of course had cut quite an impression and was now reeling out his mail id and address for a long term correspondence. All three of our group were urging that it was time for the captain's knock,perhaps that would help. So,against all hopes,I started towards our old battlefield. Accompanying me was Jungeli and we went and sat beside Gupta. Everyone ignored us,afterall who would like to talk with baddies? The rhythm of wheels had changed and I could see the tracks multiplying outside. The train had entered the railway yard of Kanpur and something had to be done soon,if we were to save ourselves from mockery in the college.Gupta had hids diary out to take the girls address.
I made the first move:"Gupta yaar tum jua ultimate khelte ho..kya baazi khele thi chennai main"! Gupta surveyed me with an expression of ridicule and replied:"haan khele thi to?".Obviouly,knowing fully well that nothing could now destroy that carefully built 15 hr impression he was complacent. Jungeli added:"Lekin yaar itni daaru acche nahin hai sehat ke liye..lever kharb ho jayega". Gupta was too complacent and gave a terse reply:"tumse matlab,main jo chahe karoon!" Then I said:"chain smoking ki adat chod do yaar..accha nahin hai"..Gupta replied:"Pape tu apna kaam dekh..tension mat le mere baare main".Alas, in retrospect Gupta wished that he had seen the expressions on the face of girl and her parents while he gave these replies! Their faces were again clouding up and the brother was staring
at Gupta in disbelief. I finally rounded up by saying :"to phir Gupta tumne humian kyon naihn diya yaar..sab kuchh bag main rakkha raha aur tumne bataya bhi nahin!"...Now..it was
now,that Gupta saw the face of girls mother and immediately realised his folly! He wanted to make amends but before this she said: "Haan bhai,aap log aise hi paisaa waste karte hain apne parents ka!!" and brother said with a painful expression:"Bhaiya mujhe aapse yeh ummeed nahin thi!"...Gupta wanted to scream and explain the things,but alas..alas..it was too late!
The train had entered the platform,and was steadily coming to a stop with that typical screeching noise.Desperate beyond all measure, Gupta turned towards the girl,at least he could explain evrything on mail...but no..she turned towards her mother and her mother turned towards door. As Gupta forwarded his diary,a pathetic expression on his face,the girl said grimly:"ab to aap ko address dene pehle sochna padega..Good Bye"..and they all got down,leaving Gupta sad and upset over this sudden turn of events. Gupta turned towards me and Jungeli with a fiendish look..we smiled and shrugged our shoulders..well, the fidayeen attack was finally successful! Mission accomplished!
Thus ended the brief romantic tryst of Guptaji. When we returned back after semester holidays,this story was told to all,by word of mouth..it was told and retold until it became a legend. Guptaji himself enjoyed it and we were all happy that regardless of everything,we had an
adventurous journey afterall!
posted by Techie Author at 9:25 AM
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