Bhartiya rail mein aapka swagat hai

Err!!! I think this is what I heard when I was welcomed during my low cost ‘no frill’ air trip from Bangalore to Ahmedabad. Despite having been on the airport well before time I was to board the craft while the last call was being announced and I guess my book helped me immerse a great deal in the mélange of the airport hustle to have missed the prior announcements. Also not to forget the last minute boarding calls for Mr Batra who I guess never boarded his Kingfisher flight.

After having boarded the flight, I realized my misfortune of having gotten a corner seat and the gujju Uncle (sitting adjacent to me) asking the hostess for chocolates was not too much of a succor either. Paise leke chocolate nahi dete ??? kyun nahi dete ??? I could have literally shrieked after the long day … I even bothered to check my bags for some mint or anything to shut him up and the kid crying two rows ahead. No wonder kiddies manage to have a way their parents.

And if you thought this was all, well the ordeal did not end here. Adding fuel to the fire was this very uncle’s urge to go to the loo and I swore to myself that if he woke me up once more I would just swap sweats. So now that I couldn’t read or sleep in the 2 hr flight all I could do was watch the couple in the adjacent row which also got boring after a point in time as the female couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of me staring ..

As the flight landed amongst more wailing I suddenly realized how I liked my train trips more than this one and only wished Bangalore was a little closer….Never in my wildest of dreams had thought that even rail sewa could be alluring…

Lost Forever ???

I thought about writing this post after having read one hundred years of solitude considered to be the master piece for which Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the noble prize too but I have never been able to comprehend what the fuss is all about!!! Anyways after having picked up the book and read a few pages I came across things like gypsies flying in carpets and children being born with a pig tail(in the story) which left me bemused. I felt I could just not fathom something of this order but then the very next moment my memories drifted away to my childhood favourite Enid Blyton series. I suddenly remembered how I cherished reading about the candy lands and the toy trains made of chocolate. I fondly recollected all the times when I used to sit with these books under the dining table coz I enjoyed the coziness of such nooks and corners of the house. As I waddled back to the present I realized how things have changed. Something that I enjoyed even ten years back has become difficult to digest now. As I emerged from a dream like state after reading the novel, a sudden realization of how I lost my dewey eyed self in the process of what we call maturing!!!