cliff richards sang we are going on a summer holiday in the background as i took the train to pune.
hadn't been in a train for 5 years, so sat at the edge of my familiar blue rexine berth, waiting for the magic to happen.
and it did. age cannot wither it, nor custom stale its infinite variety.
there were people selling dal wadas and chai-chai ing as soon as i got in. even kela bhaji (unless i heard wrong). i went through meera syal's anita and me, and rushdie's fury..
and the naps i took! there's nothing quite as relaxing as napping on the upper berth of an ac compartment, when you know you're going to be away from work for a whole week.. you sleep, you read a little. then the gentle swaying of the train lulls you back to sleep.. perhaps a stroll at the next station and a pre-nap snack?
unfortunately, the return journey had teufelkinder in my compartment. they spilt water, played with the light and fan switches, stepped on everyone's feet, shouted at the tops of their voices, played with their mum's cellphone till midnight and in the morning it turned out that they were both bedwetters.
note to self: do not use railway sheets or blankies in future.
totally blame the parent though- her idea of disciplining the brats was to feed them chips, cuff them on the head or ignore their antics. the train trip was totally wasted on those kids. they didnt once try to walk from one end of the train to the other! or crisscross from one upper berth to another. or even play the railway station name game..
2 comments:
totally reminds me of my journey from bangalore to pune, my coupe trapped between those of a couple who, it appeared, had had a tiff before getting on the train. their kids, tinkoo and mattoo (who would ever call their child "mattoo"!!) took after their parents and tore "mummyji's mooli de paronthey" to shreds all over the compartment while panting papaji frustrated himself trying to land both of them with a rolled up newspaper and managed to get neither!
i've heard of but never watched a german movie called "Schmeiß' die Mama aus dem Zug"- remade (?) by danny devito as "throw momma from the train".
yes well, quite.
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