Are you Single? - she asked

I boarded the train, shifted my luggage bag underneath the seat and made myself comfortable. Neighbouring family of four were still figuring out the solution to squeeze in more luggage in the small space below the seat. Twenty minutes into it and they were free and easy.

“Ok, yes,yes,ok ok I'll have dinner on time, I'll take care of mobile, luggages….”, I said to my mom before I hung up the call.

Time - 7:00pm.

Train halted at Shoranur Junction, a pretty girl  pretty of about my age came into view as she had the  upper berth reserved next to mine.

How to start a conversation?? How to introduce?? What's her destination city?? her course of study?? All imaginary questions were running in my head.

The best way to start a conversation during train journeys is to ask your co-passenger just one question- “where are you heading ?” yes just start with this question and conversation will continue for decades.

Study, job, sports, relatives, friends, hobbies,love etc..  all this topics will come up after that one question during Indian train journeys.

So I gathered all the courage I had, to ask that one question to the  girl, “To which city are you heading ?”

No sooner did I turn my head to start a conversation than I noticed she was already staring at me. I was completely blank for a second and I forgot the lines, I mean I forgot the question which I was about to ask….

Within no time she said- “Are you single?”. Yes, she said exactly those words loud and clear.

I was totally dumbstruck, shocked, flabbergasted, stunned, frozen, everything…

This question was out of syllabus I wasn't prepared for it, I mean I wasn't prepared to answer this directly.

You could have started with hii, hello, …, or start with nice journey ,nice weather..

The boy who was with family of four paused his game and was eagerly awaiting for my reply.

I was still figuring out the way to hide my face and avoid the question but I was already frozen with mouth wide open from which words were trotting out but couldn't!!

“ooh I meant are you travelling alone or with someone else?" -she said finally.

A sight of relief ran down my spine and I finally answered “yes I'm travelling alone"

“ok; it would really be helpful if you could exchange your seat with my uncle whose seat is next  block away, seat no. 55”-she asked with cute smile on her face.

With that smile she can even melt rock, so those imaginary conversations which I planned with her after asking about destination, slowly started fading away making me glum and tearful.

“yes, sure I'll exchange the seat, not a problem”- I said painfully.

Next step, I took my belongings and shifted to her uncle's seat.

Finally uncle was satisfied, she was  happy and I was………….well you know it.



My Other Train Stories :        A Second Class Journey 
                                             The Harthal Punk
                                             EKM to PUNE TRAIN TRAVEL
                                            The Missed Train Part - 1

Comrde In America Movie Review

         *** SPOILER FREE WITH SPOILER WARNING***

There are only a few instances where people wait for a director's movie more than the actor.This is one of them.

Comrade in America (CIA) is a Malayalam movie directed and produced by Amal Neerad starring  Dulquer Salmaan, Karthika Muralidharan, Chandini Sreedharan, Siddique, Dileesh Pothen, Soubin Shahir and the screenplay is done by Shibin Francis.

Amal Neerad certainly has a different style of filmmaking. All his movies Big B, Sagar Alias Jacky, Anwar, Bachelor Party although average grossers made a cult among the industry. His next movies Kulante Bharya (5 Sundarikal) and Iyobinte Pushtakham are his one of best works.After almost a 3 year long break he is back with a communism theme movie.

The story of CIA is set in in Pala, Kottayam, where the lead character Aji Matthew (Dulquer Salmaan), is a young communist whereas his father (Siddique) is a Congress supporter. Both are from opposite worlds but love each other.Aji's lady love Sarah unexpectedly is forced to go back to the US. The rest of the movie shows Aji’s journey to find his love crossing borders, taking the most dangerous route, hence the tagline, "How far will you go for Love?"

The three cameos which I am so much excited to reveal but will not. Lal Salaam, to the person who casted those three gentlemen actors.😉

The music is composed by Gopi Sundar or some like to call it Copy Sundar😂 was among the best. The background music adds so much to the film. Look out for the portion where Dulquer unfolds his mundu.

Cinematographer Ranadive has done his best to capture some splendid visuals. But I wished Amal Neerad himself should have handled the camera as he did in his previous movies.

The scenes of  Dulquer with Soubin Shahir and Dileesh Pothan are funny with clever use of humor.

Although with good humour, drama, great visuals,  good soundtracks the film lacks a better screenplay. It was a brilliant plot but I guess a better writer was needed to expand the screenplay.
So to conclude this makes it as a unmemorable movie for few. 

A few images where only who have watched the movie will understand😅

Things Non-Keralites can't Experirence !

Had plans to post this after Tu Madrasi Hai Na ? but it is hard to pinpoint, especially because there are so many! With the world becoming a smaller place day by day, a lot of things unique to Kerala are more accessible to everyone. So the world can experience things like typical Kerala food, tourism or art.  However, there are some things that really define the essence of being a Malayalee.

If you approach Kerala from beach side it looks like some tropical island but it's not if you approach to Kerala from the other side it's high range and hill stations.  Though you can enjoy Kerala's nature by being a tourist you will never enjoy it like a native.

The first thing our beautiful language - Malayalam! Very few non-Malayalees can speak the language correctly, but Malayalees are actually pretty good at learning and speaking other languages.Probably the numbers and varieties of sounds used in speaking Malayalam helps to adapt easily to other languages.

Natural Beauty

God's own country - granted the name for the rich and natural beauty, Green lush and peaceful.

100%  greenery during monsoon

The Snake Boat Race
Around 30 boats participate in Annual Kerala Boat Race.The feeling is truly exhilarating as you watch teams of hundred oarsmen row their boats.

A train ride
A train ride from Ernakulam to Trivandrum via Kollam to get a beautiful overview of the state. Along the journey, you will come across the marvellous lakes, the sparkling backwaters of Kerala, the coconut trees, the wide plantations. It is a quick, cheap and easy way of knowing God’s own country, Kerala.

The paddy fields 
Walking through the very heart of the paddy fields. Watching the native folks working on the fields, striking  a conversation,having a great walking experience!

Blend of all kind of harmony you can find in KSBC (Kerala State Beverages Corporation) queue. Learn from their discipline.😂 🤣

 The chit-chat at the local tea shop. 
The daily chit-chat at the local tea shop is something not to be missed.If you thought they are talking about the most trivial things,you couldn't be more wrong.They discuss a wide variety of topics including, but not limited to,national and international politics.Although,it must be said that with increasing urbanisation such tea-shops might soon disappear.

A ride in the "aana vandi"
Most of us keralites refer to the state run KSRTC buses as aana-vandi.A ride in one of these buses is considered essential for being a complete Malayali!

Festivals, A lot of Festivals
We celebrate almost eveery festival, irrespective of the religion. We share almost all religious celebrations.

Toddy Shops 
A toddy shop is a drinking establishment particularly seen in Kerala where palm toddy, a mildly alcoholic beverage made from the sap of palm trees, is served along with food.The food served with toddy is very spicy and hot with chilies. The main dish is tapioca with red fish curry.

Kerala Traditional Clothes 
Some North Indains think its madrasi, no its not!It's purely a malayali thing.

Malayalam Movies
You get to see the original version of a film before Bollywood reamkes them.Movies with low budget and great stories go on to be high grossers after a remakes in other languages.If you truly want to know the class of actors like Mohanlal and Mamootty, then you must know the language.And it is real fun in getting the ticket for their movies for FDFS(First Day First Show).

 Guess should make a different post on the remakes from Malayalam movies.🤔

Unexpected holidays
Thanks to the political parties, strikes are common.So many trade unions and strikes in Kerala. Our favorite holiday is actually hartal.

 

These Khakhi clad Auto Drivers. Start arguing with them regarding the fare, they respond by citing words like 'Inflation' 'Economic Recession'. Step outside Kerala, the only response you get is "No!"

 Kerala Cuisine
There is no restrictions on our food items and you wont get this much spicy dishes. There are some special items that you can find only in Kerala.

 The immense craze for Football
FIFA World Cup is almost celebrated as a festival in Kerala. You can really witness the craziness during these times in every corner of Kerala in the form of flex boards, posters, paintings etc. 

Vintage comedies and its frequent quoting in real life - Some jokes like "Polandine kurichu oraksharam mindaruth" (Don't talk about Poland!)

Rare combination of communism and democracy.

Free imported perfumes and dates from Gulf 
Atleast one of our family member will be working there 😇😜


#BengaliLaboursEverywhere
While asking a route on the road side you might sometimes get a reply "Malayalam maalum nai". ( I don't know Malayalam!)

Because of this huge migration of Bengali workers, the buses have started writing the names of places in Hindi too! I dont think any of the other Indian state would do that. 

Visit Kerala if you get a chance , there's a reason it's called the God's Own Country!

 

The Missed Train Part - 1

End of semester exams and was time for an another vacations in Kerala.

So the plan of the journey was that I had a SuperFast Express from Panvel(Mumbai) at 17:30 to Chengannur(Kerala).Even though there is a direct train from Pune to Chengannur,but it takes around 38 hours to reach whereas the train from Panvel takes only 24 hours(including visual treat of Konkan Railways).So in order to catch that I had to reach Panvel by a passenger train. Had kept the whole journey planned way before a week. Well, I enjoy planning journeys :P If everything went well I would catch the passenger train that leaves Chinchwad  at 11:10 and in the worst case I would reach Panvel by 16:00 and I would have at least one hour of good time to reach the correct platform and board my train. And once I boarded that train I didn't have anything to worry about till I reach Chengannur.But the great Indian Railways had different plans for me.

Woke up really early so had a whole lot of time to get ready and double check the packing. And as planned reached Chinchwad station, bought a ticket to Panvel.The passenger train came on time and was nearly empty. Found myself a window seat and was really happy as everything had turned out exactly as planned.

After the train had reached  Lonavala, it started to get crowded and the vendors started coming in. Chai Chai. 
Miles after crossing Khandala station the train stopped and there was no station around, which is not unusual at all. Happens quite a lot of times. I thought maybe we had to wait for another train to pass.But the wait extended more than usual. Soon more than thirty minutes and before I was tensed I heard people talking about some mishap in the engine and apparently we were waiting for another engine to come.

So it would easily take more than an hour in the best case which would more or less mean that I am going miss my train to Chengannur.

There were not many choices on what I could have done at that moment. One obvious choice was to keep calm and wish for the engine to come as soon as possible and hope for the best. But when you know something won't work and you desperately need to make it work, you need to form a new plan. Though the new plan did not guarantee success it is better than just staying still and hoping everything would happen on its own. So picked up my bag and started walking towards the next station which was nowhere to be seen. Well, in the confidence of the fellow travelers who were walking ahead of me. After walking for about 20 minutes, it turned out that all the while the people who were walking ahead of me were the workers of a nearby factory and the station is even far. After walking for so long I neither had the courage nor the energy to continue more. At the same time, I did not want to give up and go back to the broken train. I explained my situation to one of the co-passengers who was walking with me. He suggested me to leave the railway tracks and walk for a while and I would reach a small village from where I can get auto-rikshaws to Karjat station. And then I can get local trains to Panvel from there. Sounded fair enough!

 I calculated the time and it looked totally possible to reach Panvel by 17:00 and catch my train by 17:30. Re-routed my journey and started walking as that guy instructed me to. And after reaching the auto-rikshaw people won't start unless they have enough passengers or you have to pay the whole fare. Now I had to wait for five more passengers or pay the whole of 120 rupees myself and leave immediately. Being a man on a mission whose sole aim is to catch the Superfast Express, I did not have the patience to wait for the auto-rikshaw to get filled up. To add to my worries I was low on cash. I had just around four hundred rupees in hand. But the hopes of catching my train to Kerala made me compromise with the money issue. I had my food packed from home so I thought I could manage with nearly no cash and yet could reach Chengannur peacefully. So I paid the whole fare myself and reached Karjat station in a hurry.

There is always an excitement while  boarding a moving train. Those two-three steps that you take before you catch the handles of the train doors are really exciting isn't it? I boarded the train which was just leaving the platform as I entered Karjat. Nearly all the trains in that route would go to Panvel. But unfortunately, it turned out that the train I was in was heading to CSTM. Now I had to get down at Kalyan and change another train to reach Panvel. On top of that, it was an Express train while I had a ticket for Local which meant I had to look out for any TTEs around the corners to avoid a penalty. Finally, it was 16:30 when I reached Kalyan. In one hour  the Superfast  would depart from Panvel. At that very moment, I heard the announcement of a train to Panvel but I had to cross the platforms to catch that. After all the adventure so far, hurrying up on a crowded foot over bridge was not a big challenge. Then again I had to board a running train. Now thats the second time within a span of one hour ;) Now the countdown began. There wasn't much that I could have done. So waited in anticipation. Got myself ready to deboard from the running train to save one or two precious minutes. Unfortunately, the local train did not get its green signals as expected and got delayed. And it was exactly 17:30 when it started entering the platform. But to my utter disbelief, the Superfast Express had just started to move out of the platform as the local train started to enter from the platform next to it...

To be continued...




My Other Train Stories : A Second Class Journey ,
                                         The Harthal Punk ,
                                  EKM to PUNE TRAIN TRAVEL

EKM to PUNE TRAIN TRAVEL

Twice I have posted about the journey to Kerala, A Second Class Journey and The Harthal Punk , the excitement,the experience is worth recalling.

But what about the journey back to Pune?

Trip to Kerala is kind of a relief after all the exam tensions.

And the way back is more heartbreaking because its back again to the same old life.

I reached the station around 10:30pm and I haven’t been a 

fan of night train journeys,It's always disappointing because you cannot enjoy the beautiful countryside view outside but this time it was different with slight drizzle, cool air.It was perfect,when the train halted at stops it convinced me that night trains have their own special kind of appeal.

The train arrives. I got in. I had got the SIDE LOWER seat, and there was nobody in. I kept my bags, and just sat there.At the next station entered a family of four,the father was so irritated, it seemed like he missed a flight ticket or something.He was so uncomfortable, but as soon as the train started moving, he started snoring. And snoring, so loud. His wife kept pinching him occasionally, to convey that she cared about the fellow passengers.Was so irritated with that snoring.

In spite of being a soft-spoken, calm guy, the things that irritate me are quite significant in numbers. I do not follow Bollywood, or Twilight, or Justin Beiber, or Taylor Swift. People are cool with that when I put it that way, because the majority are not really proud of following these. But when I say, I'm an introvert, melophile and a cinephile, people think I am some sort of a freak. Maybe that is one reason I don’t open my mouth.

 

 It was around 8 in the morning and the train had arrived at Mangalore Junction(Karnataka). 
And that is when I saw her.I made way for her to pass, but then she kept her bag at my side. She would be the one who would be travelling next to me on this remaining 12 hour train journey to Pune.

She was pretty, she looked smart and bright.And her eyes were searching for something,something outside the window. Her parents. She waved them goodbye, as I looked at her parents, both of them smiling and waving. It was a rare, heart-warming sight.

The train started, and there she sits, opposite me. I glance at her, as I type in goodbyes to my friend through WhatsApp. Outside, I looked quite normal, and calm, but inside, I was really happy about the fact that I was finally sitting next to a girl in the train.

I sat there, and this time, somehow, I really wanted to get to know this person, I didn’t want to just let her go. Maybe it was because of the numerous times I have let go of all the girls I found interesting simply because I was a shy. 

But how do I begin. I didn’t know.