It was a very lazy Saturday afternoon and I was sleeping (That’s what I have been doing off late) and then the phone rings and it read Nupur calling. I wanted to curse her for disturbing me but then I thought lets not curse her and instead I just kept the phone on silent and went off to sleep again.
It was a crazy dream which woke me up (Sorry cannot discuss the dream here). But then after a good hot cup of tea I thought should call Nupur else she will kill me. After a regular wassup and watcha upto things she asked if I would be interested in going to Alibaugh, I do not remember saying no to any travel plan ever made so instant answer was yes. She said she will call back after a while when she gets all the details.
As soon as I kept the phone I realized that neither do I have a job nor any money, am as broke as it can get. How will I go was a big question but then came the answer … WHO CARES… we will see…. After a while Nupur called and said that we are suppose to leave early morning on Sunday and get back by late Sunday night. I told her we can go to Kashid rather then Alibaugh and she said lets see tomorrow.
I finished my dinner which was a grand affair like everyday and then was chatting with my brother till like 2 in the morning. Then I came back to my room and realized that if I sleep now then by no means will I be able to get up by 4:30 so I decided to watch a movie. Chhaya had gifted me 2 DVDs of French films so I decided to watch one of them named Soft Skin. It was a nice film. A simple story with a good positive treatment, anyways this is not the place to talk about the film. The movie got over by around 4:45 and I called up Jassi who was suppose to wake me up at 4:30 but the lazy ass that she is kept sleeping. She picked up the call and said that she will get ready in half an hour which I didn’t think was possible. I messaged Nupur asking was she awake and she didn’t reply. I again called Jassi and told her that Nupur has not replied and she is also sleeping so we will miss the train so lets not go (For a moment I had thought of cancelling the plan) but she instantly got active and said Nupur was ready and will reach station on time and so will Varun.
I got ready and woke up my brother who was suppose to drop me to station. He did not talk to me on the way which is very unlikely but the fact was that he was super sleepy. Anyways we picked up Jassi and reached station on time, took tickets nad took our seats in the train. We were realy lucky to get seats as it was early morning and there was no rush. 5 minutes before the train was suppose to leave Varun and Nupur also came and off we went.
It was a pleasant train journey. Train journeys have fascinated me since I was a child. Trains have something in them which attracts me and to add to this I think nothing beats Indian countryside and the Pune-Mumbai rail route which has Lonavala, Khandal and Karjat on its way gives some of the best and exotic views of Indian countryside and real beautiful views of Sahyadris. I love traveling on this route, it does not matter how many times I travel on this route and who am with, I never get bored of it. We chatted, laughed pulled each other’s leg, Jassi as usual kept cribbing and slapping and we decided that we will never take Jassi if we go somewhere backpacking and Nupur was the first one to agree to this and suddenly before we could realize we were at VT.
Now about VT or CST I must say that this is the most beautiful railway station in the country and the feel of VT just makes me crazy. Mumbai surely has something in it. The first thing that came out of Varun’s mouth as soon as we got down was “B*******D Mumbai mein feel aati hai” and Jassi was quick to react to his abusing but who cared we were in Mumbai.
On our way we had decided that we would go to Kihim. I had never heard of this place but that’s what I like going to an unknown place, I have always loved unplanned trips to unknown places. So we took a taxi and then reached Gateway of India. This is another place in Mumbai which I love; it for some weird reason makes me feel so proud about being an Indian. I saw Gateway of India and then I saw Taj Mahal Hotel and had a sudden urge to kill. I wanted to kill everyone who was involved in Mumbai attacks of last year. How could anyone try and destroy such a beautiful building was beyond my comprehensions and once again my belief that religion is the cause of half the trouble across the world became stronger.
Anyways the feeling to kill subsided as soon as we were on ferry and there came another feeling to my head and that was how we all are human beings yet so inhuman in our ways of living the sea around Gateway was so dirty that it made me feel very uncomfortable. It’s so funny how people cannot understand that all this dirt is gonna haunt them very soon. I felt pity for our coming generations who will never see a green and beautiful earth. I think we need to grow up and stop talking about go green, its time to work and not talk. But then this feeling also subsided when the ferry started to move. I could see Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway drifting away from me. I felt a sudden feeling of stopping the ship and saying I don’t wanna go, for that moment I thought how much ever I want to shift to Europe or US but my heart will always be in India, I do not think I am ready to go away from India as rightly said by Devi Juhi Chawala, “Teda hai par Mera Hai”. I just wanted to keep seeing these immortal monuments of Indian history and never go away but as fickle minded as I am this feeling also did not last long and I started enjoying my ferry ride….
To be continued…..
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