Love in Times of Corporate Calling

We all love the idea of love at first sight and yearn to feel that tinge...that spark...that some kind of a confused feeling in your head at the sight of someone. We love the romantic books and movies that tell the stories of the perfect girl meeting the perfect guy just out of sheer accident - a glimpse at a friend's wedding, a fellow passenger in the train or a geek in your class who went unnoticed all these years until just this very moment. How nice it would be if we would bump into our soul mate just as easily...one fine day - suddenly out of the blue! Would live for that moment now, wouldn't you? Just how lucky would you be to have that chance. You would never let that moment pass you by, make sure you go right ahead and make the move just so as to make sure you don't let go the chance of your life. But wait now - would you really make that move? Tell her / him that you felt some cosmic connection over just one glance? That the world suddenly began to seem brighter and worth living in just because of that one glance? Really?

Well, I urge you to think again. Have you ever found a girl / guy in a party so cute that you couldn't take your eyes off her / him? Have you ever had a huge crush on someone (possibly for ages) but never got around to telling them assuming it was just another silly crush! Have you ever went on talking to someone so endlessly that you lost all track of time and then kept wondering how did that ever happen?  Have you ever had that awkward moment with your best friend whom you would have known for a million years but never felt at a loss of words before? And out of all the times you faced these or any other such similar situations (or let's call them "moments" for a better feel) have you had the nerve to speak out to the opposite person that well - something just happened! Of course, some of you might have. But here's how a majority of us react:

• Ignore! - we just recoil and pretend nothing ever happened
• Justify - try and convince ourselves that it was just a glance and nothing more. Or that it was just cos he / she was looking so damn hot! Or that you had been talking for so long that you were bound to run out of words at some point, nothing really odd about that! 
• Reason out - so what if there was a moment - it was one moment and that's all! Nothing more to it. Period.

Well, these seem the most appropriate approaches to justify something completely incomprehensible. And yet, some time later - could be later at night on the same day, or a few years down the line - but some time later, when you rethink of that moment, you realize that that was it. That could have been it. If only there had been something more to it - even a sign that there was actually something more to it - then maybe, just maybe things would have turned out differently.

But the point is still the same. Do we do anything about it even then? No. The question is why? It's quite simple actually. We educated people with our white collar jobs are so proud of being brought up in the rational world that we need a solid reason for anything. Irrational stuff bothers us, confuses us. We have so many logical rules set in our life that anything that defies logic leaves us completely lost. We plan our lives to the T and know exactly where we want to get and how. We know the right qualities to look for in a life partner when we do start considering settling down. So much so that even if the perfect person were to come and stand right next to you and stare you in the eye, you would turn a blind eye just because they don't fit your perfectly defined "rules". Rules that say that there is a protocol for such things. That such things can't just happen out of the blue. That there isn't any substance to it unless it is crystal clear. That one moment cannot and must not define the course of your entire life.

These rules withhold us from even accepting, let alone expressing, that there was actually something significant that took place. If somehow we do get around to accepting it, we call our own selves foolish to fall for such charms. We blame the novels and movies for brainwashing us and pinch ourselves back to reality. We urge ourselves to ignore that moment and move on as if nothing ever happened. In fact, we even take a step further and make ourselves believe that nothing happened for good! After all, "deciding" on ever lasting love over one moment is all too risky! It could blow out in the worst possible ways. So the "sensible" thing is to leave it behind us and move on.

And move on we do. Until that one day - suddenly out of the blue - when you recall that moment and wonder, that things could have been different.

Life in a metro...

It doesn't ever fail to surprise me how the human nature is so designed to adapt itself to the craziest of situations. And living in this city just goes on to prove this every single day. We have had a million fortunes (or rather misfortunes) of encountering the worst situations a nation can ever face - from minor disruptions such as power grid failures, breakdown of the train transport, potholes full of roads in between; to severe tragedies like strikes, floods and repeated terrorist attacks. Yet, what is truly astounding is the ability of the city to rise up from the dead every damn time and give it back to those who ever thought of it as a goner.

Well, in this space I'm not gonna write what we already know. This post is to rejoice and relive and perhaps even ponder over our (more often than not WEIRD) reactions and attitude towards the various challenges the city throws at us on a daily basis. This space is for my fellow Mumbaikars.

Let's begin from the beginning.

Mr. Hassled wakes up in the morning to a bright sunny day that instantly lifts up his spirits and for a little while he does not care about the many troubles of his life. He is optimistic that the day is set to be one of those smooth and easy ones without any glitches whatsoever. With this positive frame of mind he pours himself a nice warm cup of coffee and switches on the television to catch up on the early morning news. He tunes into one of the million new news channels to catch up on the Fatafat 50 headlines. The first few were about the gang rape cases in his city and the headlines went on to blame the government for the worsening safety situations for women  in  the country. Mr. Hassled couldn't agree more and himself mumbled a a couple of of inefficiencies of the government. The next few top news revolved around a famous celebrity being caught in a conspiracy, and left Mr. Hassled open mouthed. Then came the world news section and there were news about civil wars in other parts of the country, about the petrol prices rising steeply for the nth time in the year (again Mr. Hassled took the opportunity to blame the government for this) and some other irrelevant matters not concerning him directly in any way, that bored him and he was about to switch when came his favourite sports section. Today the news showcased the cycling rally in some country and apparently the chief guest - the prime minister himself - had participated too but had had a really funny fall while at it. The headlines, needless to say, did not miss a chance to point this out in the most awful manner possible (unless you feel something like "Rashtrapati hue Dhadam!" to be the right way to put it). Mr. Hassled couldn't control laughing out loud. He thoroughly had his share of fun watching the multiple replays of the poor chap falling off. His day had just gotten better with the humor slipping in so early on. He turned off the television and set off to get ready to leave for work.

Mr. Hassled worked in a private company which was located right in the opposite corner of the city from his home, and he needed to commute a nice one hour minimum each day to get to office. He normally preferred the train - which meant he had to take an auto to get to the station. Today, however, when he stepped out of the house, the road seemed abnormally empty. He couldn't help wondering what was wrong. Finally, curiosity got the better of him and he approached a fellow passerby if something was the matter today. 'Yes of course, don't you know it was the auto-rickshaw strike today?' told the man and walked off, leaving Mr. Hassled open mouthed for the second time in the day. He could not believe it - after all, hadn't it been just a month since the last strike? And why was nothing mentioned about it in the morning news? Atleast he could have left a little sooner had he known. Mr. Hassled began walking to the bus stop, cursing the news channels along the way for showing all the non-sense news all day long and missing out on the ones that truly matter.

He reached the bus stop after walking for about 5 minutes, only to see one bus leaving right before his eyes. His happy day was not seeming so happy anymore. He had to wait another 5 minutes before finally getting another bus. He was now really worried about missing his regular 9 am train. If he missed that, it would mean he would have to cross the bridge and get the next slow train - which would not only take longer but would also be more crowded. He got even more upset when he saw a long line of traffic piling up right in front of his bus. He began to fidget in his seat and couldn't resist cursing the system once again to the passenger in the seat next to him. At last, when he was about 50 metres from his destination, he realized the bus was not going to move further for at all for another five minutes minimum. Looking at his watch, he quickly calculated that the only way he would be able to get his 9 am train was if he got down right now and walked up the remaining distance. Without any second thoughts, he began pushing through all the passengers standing before him and squeezing his way between the thin and the fat and the sweaty and the ugly crowd all waiting to alight at the same stop as Mr. Hassled himself. Each one gave him a dirty look when he tried to bypass them. A couple of them would have even sworn at him, but our dear Mr. Hassled was all too hassled to take notice.

Somehow, he finally managed to get down. Not wasting even a second, he quickly paced up to the station and onto the platform where his train was to arrive any minute now! When he reached the platform he eagerly looked up at the indicator, praying for it to still show his train and not the next one. To his dismay, it did not show his train. To his surprise, it did not show any other train either. The indicator read "00:00".

What did it mean? He looked around to see if other platforms also had similar reads on their indicators. Yes, they all did. Then he heard it. The announcement came on in 3 languages - each confirming repeatedly, the cancellation of his beloved 9 am fast. His first reaction was disappointment. His next reaction was anger. His third reaction was panic and that made him rush to the main indicator to check if there were any trains slated to depart anytime soon. Thankfully, there was one on the opposite platform, and was to depart in another 2 minutes. Mr. Hassled wasted no time and rushed to the foot-over bridge to get tot he other side of the platform - only to find that he was not the only one rushing. The bridge was filled with a mad crowd of at least a 1,000 people all trying to get the same train as him. But our Mr. Hassled was far too experienced to be threatened by such scenarios. He took one look at the section of the platform he intended to reach (almost like vulture eyeing its prey) and gathered a renewed determination to reach there and get the train no matter what! And get in he did! Well, technically he was in - even though half his body was hanging outside clutching tightly onto the pole for support. But with his years worth of experience, it was barely two minutes before he was well inside, in the middle of the pool of a million other passengers tightly squeezed into every open inch of the compartment. 

As it often happens at such times, the trains run very very slowly, taking almost twice the time than normal. There would be a dozen signals on the way and sometimes, to top it off, the fans in the compartment would refuse to work - only adding to the frustration of the already frustrated passengers. The same was the case with Mr. Hassled. He could not believe his luck. First the auto rickshaws, then the trains. What was next? He feared the mere thought that something could get worse than this. He tried to wait patiently imagining and longing at the same time for the cool comfort of his chair in his air conditioned office.

An hour passed by and the train was only halfway there. Another half hour passed by and still not there. Another fifteen minutes. Another five. Then at last he was there. The last station! Mr. Hassled rushed out quickly, almost jogging over the foot-over bridge and out onto the roads.  Mr. Hassled couldn't have been more relieved.  He had already informed his boss of his late arrival. To his surprise, his boss was also going through something similar and for a change showed some empathy towards Mr. Hassled.  Having the office bit sorted, Mr. Hassled now walked with a little more patience than he would have otherwise.  Patience also made him focus on other matters he had ignored for the last hour.  He was hungry!  He looked around to spot the several food stalls by the side of the road selling a variety of delicacies - from idlis and medu wadas to wada pavs and samosa pavs, from chats to salads and not to mention fruit juices too! Mr. Hassled quickly ordered a fruit salad (he had recently taken up dieting after his female colleague had made a passing comment that made him extremely conscious of his extra flabs). He began munching on the pineapple and watermelon while walking. Of course, the seeds in water melon were discarded carelessly at the side of the road. The plants growing at those spots in the next few days would be our Mr. Hassled's contribution to making better the rapidly deteriorating ecological balance of planet earth.

At 10:50 am, Mr. Hassled finally reached his office - more than an hour later than a normal day. He looked around to notice that several other people were also just about arriving. The next half hour was spent in discussing the havoc and the varied experiences of a dozen other colleagues. When he finally got to his desk to begin work, his last thought was a relief that the next day was a holiday owing to the elections in the city. Well, finally a day off with nothing to worry about - he would wake up late and laze around the entire day, watch television and sleep tonnes. With these day dreams at the back of his mind, Mr. Hassled got to work.

**********************************************************************************************************************************

So what was so weird about Mr. Hassled or his attitude that we must ponder about? Nothing at all! This snapshot of a day in Mr. Hassled's life just gives us a refresher about a few of the justified reactions (or rather our RIGHTS) to a crisis situation:

• We have full right to enjoy baseless and nonsensical news shows and make them popular overnight. However, we are also obliged to accuse them of not reporting the important news and focusing on our entertainment more than our needs
• Anything that does not concern one directly can be looked down / mocked / laughed upon or just simply ignored
• It is also our duty to curse the system at every given opportunity. This duty must not be accompanied in any form of contribution towards bringing about a change in system
• Strikes may happen anytime, anywhere. Public transport can also go for a toss anytime anywhere. One must always be ready to dodge these situations without accusing the government. An action to make things right is completely unacceptable - well it is definitely unheard of so assumption is that it would be unacceptable
• It is okay to not be aware of the concept of a queue when living in a city. Such concepts are designed to bring about orderliness which ruin the madness of the city (which is a core characteristic and must not be fidgeted with). Instead, when encountering a crowd ahead, one is free to resort to any form of pushing and abusing to make way for himself / herself
• While the slogan says "Green Mumbai, Clean Mumbai", it is okay to compromise the latter half to achieve the first half. Thereby, any form of contribution towards making Mumbai a green city is acceptable. One may not worry about location fit of plantations for bringing about this super essential change in environment
• Any national / special holiday is meant to be enjoyed purely as a leisure day and one need not burden himself / herself with moral obligations that accompany such days 

Kolhapur Diaries

From left: Surbhi, Doli, Nik, Nups, Adi, Pri and Sneha

Finally its here! This post is dedicated specially to d GOG - Surbhi Gandhi, Doli Sakhpara, Priyanka Momaya, Sneha Shah and of course the most important of all Nupur Gandhi without whom this amazing trip would never have happened in the first place... Thanks a lot for getting married Nupur!

Now, before getting down to the actual story, a small clarification - I'm not sure if this account can actually be termed a diary, considering that it hardly lasted for 3 days. However, given the fact that the numerous accidents we encountered were sufficient enough to have occurred over a span of well over a year, I'll take d liberty and still call it a big fat diary!

Now, coming to d point. Here goes d story...

Day zero (being MBAs, we start counting important days from zero): 

We had all been super excited to finally leave for the very awaited trip to Kolhapur for our very dear fiend Nupur's wedding. The tickets were booked and the train was to leave from CST - from where Surbhi, Pri and I were to board it, halt at Dadar - from where Doli and Sneha were to join. However, everybody who has ever known Sneha would know that things were not entirely bound to be smooth when she informed us that she was running a "little" late. Nonetheless, we tried thinking positive even when we got to know that the two of them had reached just Bandra when our train had already departed from  CST. Counting every minute and desperately wishing for the train to encounter a signal of some sort, we kept calling them every 2 minutes, each time getting the same answer - they were still at Bandra! How does she manage to be late every damn time?! Anyways, slowly (and trust me - really slowly) our train reached Dadar, and Doli & Sneha had managed to reach Dadar too. Now came the moment of chase - they were on a different platform than our train, which meant they needed to push trough the extremely infamous peak hour rush of Dadar, cross the bridge and get to the compartment, all in less than 120 seconds! This was a mamoth task for anybody, let alone Sneha and Doli whose Ferrari speed was very well known to us all :P As the two minutes were coming to an end - they told us they were already on the bridge and just needed to alight - and at that precise moment, our train took off. 

It was impossible for us to believe they had actually missed the train by such a close margin. Unsure of whether to laugh or get upset, we made ourselves believe that that was the end of the trip for the two of them. It was the first time Doli had got the permission to be out with us, and such a disaster would mean the end of any future permissions for her. Within five minutes, the news spread to all our friends, and nobody had to take any second guesses to know who was accountable for this. Each one made a point to personally convey this to Sneha in their own way. On one hand, Surbhi, Pri and I settled at our seats, feeling disappointed and angry at the same time, while on the other hand, Sneha and Doli were trying to get tickets to the next train - which of course were unavailable. 

Then came a huge surprise when Doli - of all people - suggested that they should continue by some alternate means, no matter what! They proceeded to book the next private bus to Kolhapur, and made sure they make it to the venue by next morning. We all knew this was the first time Doli had lied to her family - the first time we saw a small hint of a naughty rebel in her :D Finally, with all of us on our way, we felt a cheer in our hearts that the trip was not ruined after all!

Day 1: Kolhapur station

We alighted very early in the morning to be greeted by PINK. It was pink everywhere. Pink was the colour of the seat, the streets, the people and their belongings. The gulal was everywhere around us. Wondering what festivity was on during this off season (for Holi was long gone), we asked a few locals about it. Apparently there was some yatra organized to the famous Mahalaxmi temple of Kolhapur every year, and this was that time of the year when believers from all nearby villages and towns flocked to Kolhapur to pray at the temple to get their wishes fulfilled. 

Amused by the sight, we continued on our way to the lodge. Turned out Nupur had arranged for an 8 bed room for just 5 of us. The best part - there were bunk beds!!!! Feeling like little school girls, we all took less than a minute to select the top floor of 3 of the beds. Within a few minutes, Doli and Sneha reached too. Finally we made it! 

Day 1: Afternoon

We quickly freshened up and moved out to shop and tour around the city. The plan was to visit the Mahalaxmi temple, buy some awesome Kolhapuri chappals, bangles, visit the famous palace at the outskirts of the city, and be back by evening to attend the Sangeet at the water park, where Nups and everybody else had planned performances for the night.

So we shopped till we dropped :) (we were 5 girls - what do you expect!). Having got everything to the content of our hearts, we then set out to visit the palace. We hired a return rickshaw to the palace, and back to the city for lunch. The palace was mind blowing. The deer and peacock sanctuary next to the lake, the spacious lawn and the beautiful interiors with a huge collection of ancient arms - everything seemed superbly astounding to the eyes of any urban visitor. 

Finally, having taken a million pictures in a thousand different poses, we took the rickshaw back to the city. Starving to the core, we hogged on the spicy Misal and Usal pav at a local restaurant. It must have been mid afternoon when we began walking back to the lodge to take a short nap before the evening Sangeet celebrations. We would have walked about five minutes when it struck us. 

Five girls, all having spent three long hours shopping and bargaining, and none of us remembered to check our belongings while getting off the rickshaw! We had left all our morning's efforts and a couple of grand worth of newbies in our rickshaw! The best part was none of us realizing it for a full two hours!

Panic struck all our faces. We had two choices - to let go off everything and go back sullen, or to report to the police and hope to locate the rickshaw and our bags by the end of next day. The decision was easier when we saw the police station right around the corner. We logged a complaint, requested the officers to expedite the search since we would not be around for long. After a check at 2 rickshaw stands, other branches of police stations in the city and a 40 minute long wait, we were told that the rickshaw was not located and we would have to let go of everything. We were so dejected we were about to give up. Just then, we were informed of a last option - a check at the transport authority office to get the address of the rickshaw fellow and pay him a personal visit to get back our stuff. Time was running out since it was near evening and the office would shut in another half hour. Pri, Surbhi and I set out to the office of transport - only to realize that there were 2 auto rickshaws registered with the same license number!

So now we had 2 addresses to check out, in addition to checking at the traffic office and the corner where we had boarded the auto in the first place. Not having located it at the latter two places, we had to pick one address randomly - that we would be visiting first. The one we chose turned out to be a tiny dirty slum. We noticed our rickshaw parked next to a tree at the side. Immediately next to the tree were also empty yellow bags - exactly similar to the ones we were carrying! 

We kept moving towards the room we were told where the driver stayed. When we got there, we see him sleeping peacefully on the couch X( the 3 of us managed courage to knock and wake him up. What followed next was what makes this country the best - the driver was extremely happy to see us and immediately woke up, started talking to us and before even us mentioning it, got out our bag - intact. We did not know how to react. We thanked him profusely and left. On our way back, we realized that more than the joy of receiving our stuff back, we were more elated with the thrill of our little adventure :D

Day 1: Evening

After a tiring day (yes, we were tired already, even before the actual function began), we thought of resting a little before getting ready for the Sangeet. However, as observed in such situations, we ended up taking a little longer break than planned for. The outcome - obviously we were late for the function. We were greeted by a very upset Nupur who was wondering why we had been lost all day. To her question, Surbhi promptly and innocently replies - we were at the police station :) The reaction on Nupur's face was worth a million. Before we could explain to her in detail, she was dragged away by someone for some preparations - surely left curious by the incomplete story. 

The Sangeet went smooth without any further adventures. Nupur's shadow dance was simply superb as were the other performances. Icing on the cake were the many many air balloons we lit up and set going. The sky just dazzled by their light! We got back to the lodge extremely tired and completely drained of all energy. Little did we know that the marathon of adventures was far from over.

Day 2: The Miss

This was the day we had travelled for - Nupur's wedding day! We got up late (obviously), but excited and hungry! So we had to go find something to eat before we could get dressed for the wedding ceremony. Just one extra task that we as girls just had to get done was one more purchase - that of the super famous spicy Kolhapuri Chivda. Not knowing exactly where to find it, we set out to explore the neighbouring area, hoping to have some snacks on the way. We did find it in a store not far from where we were put up. So delicious was the Chivda and the chat that we completely lost track of time. When we did check the time we realized we were already running late for mid-day wedding. So we rushed back to our lodge, only to bump into Neil. Neil was Doli's neighbour, and after a couple of minutes I realized he was also my cousin Kairavi's classmate. Neil and Kairavi were pursuing MBBS in Kolhapur. It didn't take us long to plan out the evening when we decided to go to the lake, where Neil and Kairavi would join us.

Finally, after about an hour (read: a girl's hour), we left for the water park. The wedding was to be in the open lawn f the park. We were running late by more than an hour already, and were desperately praying that the ceremony hadn't already begun. When we did reach the park, we noticed a "doli" being taken away from the venue. We knew that Nups had planned on coming in seated in a doli and we had been dying to see it. Now we knew we had missed it.

Feeling miserable about being late for the most important function, we proceeded to the stage area. We were still contemplating amongst ourselves whether the ceremony had begun or would have gotten over already, when we see Nups and Nik on stage - having a reception.

That was when our hearts truly sunk. The entire wedding ceremony was over and the reception was already underway. Nups noticed us from the stage and gave us an angry look. Somehow we mustered the courage to go up there and wish her. Needless to say she was very upset and it was totally evident on her face that she was going to fire us for it later on - for years and years to come. Quietly we wished her and Nik and went down to have a seat in front of the stage. We were no longer in mood for any chat. Nupur's mom came and asked us to go ahead for lunch. We realized most guests had already had lunch, and some were even beginning to leave. We had our lunch quietly and guiltily. The whole purpose of the visit was washed away. We had repeated yesterday's mistake and were late again. We had missed the wedding.

When we returned to our seats after lunch, we asked aunty about the next ceremony. She was too busy making arrangements to tell us in detail, but we heard some mention about "saptapadi". None of us knew what it meant, but it seemed to be similar to the seven steps or the seven pheras. We started feeling more confused than ever. This only got worse when we saw that the decorators began to take away the chairs and re-arranging it around another smaller stage. 

Then it dawned on us! Nupur wasn't wearing the mangalsutra yet. there was no sindur on her forehead either. Did it mean that the actual ceremony had not yet happened? Can God really be that kind?!

Yes, He can :) We got to know that since it was summer season, and exam time, both families had agreed to get done with the reception first so the guests can leave on time. the wedding rituals were to follow later. This was the first time we had heard of this reversal in a gujju-marathi wedding, so it came as a superbly pleasant surprise for us losers :P

With our spirits lifted, we cheered Nups as she took the pheras while the pandit explained to her the vows she was making with each phera. Each one of us had already begun to realize that she was going away. We would no longer be able to see her everyday the way it used to be. Not just because she was getting married, but because she was moving to US. We were going to miss our friend dearly!

But it was not time for Vidaai yet. Now was the time for us "saalis" to have some fun with our jiju. It was prank time! When Nups and Nik settled on the grand table for their first lunch as a married couple, the relatives began to feed them sweets one by one. This was our opportunity to do something naughty. The sweet on the lunch menu was a Bengali roll of some sort. We thought we must take 2 pieces to the bride and groom and make them have it by the hands of the other. There was only a slight change here - Nik's roll would be sweet only from the outside. The stuffing inside was 2-3 spoonfuls of salt :) We had made the poor guy have the entire roll in a single bite, and his face was now showing a million emotions all at once :D 

Avoid it as much as we want, but the moment was here when Nups had to leave. With heavy hearts we saw her depart - permanently - away from us all. We could only hope that the technological advancements would help us keep in touch in one way or the other.

Day 2: All's not over yet

It was evening of the second day and we were to go to the lake. Neil and Kairavi were to meet us there, we were to have wada pavs and awesome Mastani - a local variant of multi-flavoured smoothie. We had an amazing time in the city and Neil and Kairu were just going crazy listening to our horrendous misadventures of the past 2 days. The celebrations were just multiplied when we saw the procession of Shivaji's descendants going across the city. There were carts and soldiers and fireworks and a crazy number of people on the roads gathered to see the procession. It was a sight worth watching. We were at a tiny restaurant having our Mastanis when it was time for Kairu to leave. She had to be at her hostel as soon as possible, if she had to get an entry at all. So we bid her goodbye early on. We ourselves had to leave within a few minutes if we were to not miss our return train to Mumbai. 

But as fate would have it - we had passed on our misfortunes to my cousin. Within 5-10 minutes of her leaving, we get a call where she informs us that she had lost her way (seemed like utter bad sense of direction runs in the family). She had taken an alternate route to her hostel because she was getting late and the direct roads to her hostel were completely packed with public and traffic to allow any movement - and got lost mid way.

We all completely panicked since losing way on a super populated day like this was terrifying. It was going to be a challenge finding her. Neil - who was more familiar with the city than any of us - rushed on his bike to find my cousin. I was worried to death about my sister's whereabouts. We all were.

Thankfully, we were saved another time. Neil managed to locate her and dropped her to her hostel. She had missed her deadline and had to sneak in by borrowing her friend's lab coat, pretending to be on rounds for that evening. This was a first for my innocent cousin too - who had never before acted so sinister :)

Day 2: Ab Bas!!!

We were only much too aware of the fact that the unexpected accident had caused us a delay and we were running late for the train. Not caring much about the details, we rushed to somehow manage to be on time. Luckily, this time there were no misses. We settled in the train recounting the events of the last 2 days, hardly able to believe that so much could happen in a span of just 2 days!. Tired and exhausted, we planned on sleeping early that night. We all had work to get to the next morning.

It had just been a while, when our train stopped at a tiny station, not listed on the halt list. Before long, we started seeing several policemen around, and a few of the passengers alighting the train. We went to the gate and upon looking around and inquiring a little, got to know that there had been a small fire in the adjacent compartment due to lack of lubrication causing friction between the wheel and some other part. We just could not believe our luck!

Fortunately, the fire was put off immediately, and the train moved very very slowly to the next station, where the necessary repairing was done to the damaged parts. All was well again. Thanking our narrow escape for the fifth time in 2 days, we headed to our beds.

Unfortunately, we were proven wrong once again.

Not long after, Doli - who had taken the lower berth - was woken up by a man asking her to give him some space on her seat. Doli refused politely, asking the man to move on to another area, since this section was reserved for ladies. Seemingly, the mad did not like to be turned down. He took out his cell phone, and took a picture of the police on the opposite seat. The police had been sleeping deeply on duty.

The man used the picture to his advantage and tried to blackmail the police to get him a reservation. The police, luckily, was not a man to be deterred so easily. He fearlessly shooed him away. Only later did we realize, he was not so fearless after all. The very next moment he scribbled a note on a piece of paper and asked Doli to sign on it with all her details. the note was a clarification stating that she had sought police help to get rid of the man who had tried to get her seat forcefully in the middle of the night. The police wanted to cover up for himself in case the man actually got down to doing what he had threatened. 

Finally, after a long discussion with the policeman, Doli signed on the paper and got into bed. We reached Mumbai without any further adventures in the night. Needless to say, we were late by several hours and half of us skipped office that day.