I just got back from a short vacation to my native place yesterday.
Are you now consumed with rampant curiosity about what I did there and how much I enjoyed or hated it like all bloggers irrationally expect their readers to be?
I'm guessing no, but bear with me. There might be a couple of laugh worthy incidents in there somewhere.This is a faithful account of the train journey to a certain southern city.
The two day trip started with the train breaking down within ten minutes of starting from the station. However, we were all entertained by the resident comic, Bijli Bhai. He's a somewhat forceful character, but to his credit he kept everyone entertained through the crisis of the 'engine failure'. The Brahmin couple who were sitting with us, immediately took to Bijli Bhai and soon, everyone was happily blaming the government and praising MGR movies, while my parents occasionally added their mite to the conversation by laughing or passing an appropriate comment.
Yours truly sat and observed the proceedings quietly from a corner for future documentation. Also, it's unsafe to venture into conversational waters when everyone involved has children who are as old as you are. Once you do, it is inevitable that you will hear acerbic comments about the 'next generation', and will generally be treated as a naive, but delightful child.
Thanks, but no thanks.
Now, Bijli Bhai has a nephew in the railways and immediately put in a call to tell him to do something about the engine failure. None of us knew what The Nephew could or did do, but everyone was now reassured that the train would not be stranded indefinitely. In the meanwhile, we heard stories of how Bijli Bhai broke down the barriers between vegetarians and non-vegetarians, different religions and caste, MGR lovers and Sivaji lovers, by being universally fair and benevolent.The train started again in an hour and a half.
After eleven, everyone decided that it was time for bed and settled into their respective berths. This is when the snoring started. Optimistically termed as a tiger's roar by Bijli Bhai the next morning, it was less optimistically received by those who couldn't sleep all night because of it. It wasn't my dad and it wasn't Bijli Bhai, so draw your own conclusions. Bijli Bhai also kindly gave the perpetrator advice about visiting an ENT specialist.
A little later, Bijli Bhai had a few old timey songs on his mobile which he played to everyone to show how much he appreciated music. Maami instantly expressed a desire to listen to a few of these songs as she cooked for the family in the morning before rushing off to work. My dad also expressed a similar desire. Now there was a real problem.
How to use bluetooth?
This baffled them for all of five minutes. Then they realised that there was an actual just-out-of-college student in their midst! My help was immediately enlisted and I spent the rest of the morning 'using bluetooth' to spread joy and happiness in the form of old timey songs. Yes, just-out-of-college student saves the day again.
At this point, I-value-friends-more-than-relations camaraderie was firmly established. Maami and my mom now struck up a conversation about what was the appropriate age for girls to get married with meaningful glances in my direction every once in a while.A hotel proprietor had joined the ranks earlier in the morning which led to us (my parents, my relatives and moi) having lunch at said hotel the next day.
Sadly, it is impossible to stretch a train journey from Chennai to my native place for more than half a day unless the engine failure had lasted much, much longer. Everyone exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. Does this sound like the end of the school year to anyone?
Personally, I enjoyed the trip (mainly because of its blog potential) and was extremely happy to get off the train. Maami and my mom were dangerously close to discussing wedding details.
