I've never imagined how busy things can get in the odd hours.
Earlier in the day, a few friends and I had gone to AV's place for lunch (Ganpati puja was apparently the first reason). AV's mom prepares some superb chhole bhature. Finger lickin' good. I depleted 4.5 bhaturas of the total lot.
The following evening was CT's musical event. It was great. Sound engineers suck every time and this one was no exception. The band sounded great and co-ordinated almost flawlessly but the output from the soundman wasn't too impressive. Bad luck. I was glad to be a part of it. I'm sure CT was happy to see us all there. After the show, The Divine Ragas needed to keep their drum kit at a house. Voila !... and there you have it. My house became the 'sponsor' for the Furtado's set. I had the resources to start a jam session right there - drums, guitars, amplifiers and even a harmonica as well as a flute for variety. What a feeling.
Vidyavihar station - heading home.
00.12 hours and I was sitting on the bench, feeling like Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Biswas from the Marine Lines scene in Jaane Bhido Yaaron. The sky was cleaning up its cotton spots and a cool breeze was blowing. I walked out to the edge of the platform and cocked my head to the left. No train in sight. Then this shunting engine with a few maalgaadi coupled to it came chugging along from the other side and crossed the platform in a few minutes. Another chain was moving near the shed side, closer to the East side exit. I waited at the bench. Three North bound rakes passed me on the Slow track. It was 5 shunting engines later when a train appeared along my desired track. It happened to be a shunting exercise. Hard luck again. Then a Kurla bound local came at 00.30. As it turned out, there were hordes of hooligans party to this transport medium. A Doppler effect of screams and chants voicing "Ganpati bappa moriyaaa!!!" rang out along the platform length. Some jeered at those waiting on the platform. An old wise man next to me muttered, "Khamba lagne ke baad log poochte hain yeh kaise hua?... "The next train came almost immediately after the previous one. It was a Dadar bound rake but was jam packed. Here, I had the privilege of sharing floor space with a dozen odd mawaalis who were hellbent on shelling out short bursts of various 'Marathi rap songs' which were least appealing to the ears. There was a war of words in my compartment. Two gangs had their members going at each other's vocal chords with a biteback of sorts. Disgusting material at 00.45am. ( I can see AV echoing an 8 on 10 statistic right now!)
Dadar came after what felt like years. Pushing, shoving, tripping, falling, cursing. It was all there just like a peak hour scene. I hurried along the platform, dodging the pockets of oncoming paranoid travelers. A bottleneck came up ahead with a score of people screaming at each other and pushing apart two men. I overheard a common greeting used during rail travel, "Dhakka kyon diya tune?.. Ek doonga tujhe.... **!*&^#$#$ !!!"
I crossed over to the Western line. A Virar slow was 11 minutes away. The platform was packed with at least 20 people surrounding my immediate space. When the train came it wasn't that bad. I got to stand comfortably at the door. My playlist had been running this entire time. As we left Mahim and went across good old Mithi, Third Eye Blind broke in with Motorcycle Drive By. It was quiet in the compartment. There were many ladies in the mens' and understandably so. Bandra came. A few hopped in. 3 jumped off before them. Soon after, a (second) fight for the night ensued. Woman won hands down. She had the entire mens compartment (with a dozen odd ladies) backing her. The losing party was made to get down 3 stations before his destination. Haha. No choice... either get down or get beaten up. I turned my head back to the tracks that lay ahead.
Andheri arrived. I got off and saw a welcome party of 10 ricks pitted against each other, all of them vying for the night charge fare. I chose my ride without a care. They all looked enthu enough for me. Open roads were available anyhow.
A day in the night.
Earlier in the day, a few friends and I had gone to AV's place for lunch (Ganpati puja was apparently the first reason). AV's mom prepares some superb chhole bhature. Finger lickin' good. I depleted 4.5 bhaturas of the total lot.
The following evening was CT's musical event. It was great. Sound engineers suck every time and this one was no exception. The band sounded great and co-ordinated almost flawlessly but the output from the soundman wasn't too impressive. Bad luck. I was glad to be a part of it. I'm sure CT was happy to see us all there. After the show, The Divine Ragas needed to keep their drum kit at a house. Voila !... and there you have it. My house became the 'sponsor' for the Furtado's set. I had the resources to start a jam session right there - drums, guitars, amplifiers and even a harmonica as well as a flute for variety. What a feeling.
Vidyavihar station - heading home.
00.12 hours and I was sitting on the bench, feeling like Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Biswas from the Marine Lines scene in Jaane Bhido Yaaron. The sky was cleaning up its cotton spots and a cool breeze was blowing. I walked out to the edge of the platform and cocked my head to the left. No train in sight. Then this shunting engine with a few maalgaadi coupled to it came chugging along from the other side and crossed the platform in a few minutes. Another chain was moving near the shed side, closer to the East side exit. I waited at the bench. Three North bound rakes passed me on the Slow track. It was 5 shunting engines later when a train appeared along my desired track. It happened to be a shunting exercise. Hard luck again. Then a Kurla bound local came at 00.30. As it turned out, there were hordes of hooligans party to this transport medium. A Doppler effect of screams and chants voicing "Ganpati bappa moriyaaa!!!" rang out along the platform length. Some jeered at those waiting on the platform. An old wise man next to me muttered, "Khamba lagne ke baad log poochte hain yeh kaise hua?... "The next train came almost immediately after the previous one. It was a Dadar bound rake but was jam packed. Here, I had the privilege of sharing floor space with a dozen odd mawaalis who were hellbent on shelling out short bursts of various 'Marathi rap songs' which were least appealing to the ears. There was a war of words in my compartment. Two gangs had their members going at each other's vocal chords with a biteback of sorts. Disgusting material at 00.45am. ( I can see AV echoing an 8 on 10 statistic right now!)
Dadar came after what felt like years. Pushing, shoving, tripping, falling, cursing. It was all there just like a peak hour scene. I hurried along the platform, dodging the pockets of oncoming paranoid travelers. A bottleneck came up ahead with a score of people screaming at each other and pushing apart two men. I overheard a common greeting used during rail travel, "Dhakka kyon diya tune?.. Ek doonga tujhe.... **!*&^#$#$ !!!"
I crossed over to the Western line. A Virar slow was 11 minutes away. The platform was packed with at least 20 people surrounding my immediate space. When the train came it wasn't that bad. I got to stand comfortably at the door. My playlist had been running this entire time. As we left Mahim and went across good old Mithi, Third Eye Blind broke in with Motorcycle Drive By. It was quiet in the compartment. There were many ladies in the mens' and understandably so. Bandra came. A few hopped in. 3 jumped off before them. Soon after, a (second) fight for the night ensued. Woman won hands down. She had the entire mens compartment (with a dozen odd ladies) backing her. The losing party was made to get down 3 stations before his destination. Haha. No choice... either get down or get beaten up. I turned my head back to the tracks that lay ahead.
Andheri arrived. I got off and saw a welcome party of 10 ricks pitted against each other, all of them vying for the night charge fare. I chose my ride without a care. They all looked enthu enough for me. Open roads were available anyhow.
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2 comments:
Quite an interesting "day" i must say... never knew the trains wold SO crowded at such a late hour... and u look really happy with the drums.... Full On!!!!!!!
Vidyavihar to Andheri.
Rohit, Surjit, You & me...and all those trains...
Nostalgia. I swear.
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