I have fond memories of Hyderabad. Seems like a timeline ago – though it was just two years ago, coming to think of it. I know I’ve changed in what counts of the time, and I also think that quite some friends of mine won’t quite accept me as still part of them. But, I was a very stupid girl then, not that I am any better off now but that term aptly describes me from then.
I should be in Hyderabad right now. But damn, after that three day confusion, I’m just glad to be doing nothing.
I wake up the day we’re leaving from Maheshwar, which is quite another story – if written, with my Mom calling me asking me if I’d like to go to Hyderabad with them. Damn right I would! Anyway in that utter confusion of getting to Indore first, I was trying to make up my mind if I’d want to go to Agra and then get to Hyderabad instead of catching the train from Bhopal. I would’ve been leaving with Sid if I did plan it that way, but I was convinced enough to stay on longer, and catch the train from Bhopal. But I was still in thought of getting to Agra, knowing that my Mom wouldn’t bring the stuff that I’d wanted.
The stay at Indore to me was only a mind game. Spending time at malls is horrible, and talk about getting to know a city that way? Fuck it! I can’t stand malls. And having my foot stuck and dragged along the length of the escalator wasn’t any solace at all. Not that I was injured, but I had to stay barefoot before I went to buy myself the most horribly painful set of slippers. If it wasn’t for ‘Nakhraali Dhaani’, I wouldn’t have liked Indore at all. I did like the place, it was a lot like Hyderabad, or any small city – in comparison with Delhi, of course. Nakhraali Dhaani was thoroughly boring to me as well. See, I was immensely restless after that long two week trip at Maheshwar, what with it also being such a loonng semester; I wasn’t all that tolerant towards doing nothing. Anyway, Nakhraali Dhaani is this typical pseudo-Rajasthani village, where they tried to bring the atmosphere in. It took all of two seconds to scan the place, and the only entertainment was the ‘jyotish’, which of course when all ten of us got down to getting read, blah, was boring as well. Anyway, I’m trying to get to the eating part. It was this *surprise* Rajasthani fanfare of about fifteen dishes which we got to competing to finishing everything. To me- everything but the sweets. The amusing part was the way they’d force feed the food down one’s throat. I don’t do justice describing it, but when your mouth is full and you’re laughing away trying to shove their hand away, while all they attempt at is to make you finish the food, calling you random ‘sethaani’ names. It’s quite a laugh. That simple personal touch to the entire evening is what added the delight.
After finally setting my directions towards Bhopal, I leave from Indore in time to make it to a 3.00 am train. I don’t take any calls because my Mom’s given me strict instruction of being in Bhopal before 7 in the evening so that I don’t have to be travelling in the night. Well, I get to Bhopal by 10 p m and calling home I hear that my parents haven’t even caught the train that I’m supposed to catch at Bhopal! Argh? I decide to get back to Indore since I have a confirmed ticket from Indore to Agra the next day, which I’d given to a friend to use. I get to the bus station which is some distance away, and I’m waiting for the bus to get full so that I can get to Indore, whiling away my time on the phone. An hour later, the bus still hasn’t budged. Getting in touch with friends, I hear the next train leaving for Agra is about half an hour later. I travel back to the railway station; having dreaded that traveling to Indore was pointless when I ultimately had to get to Agra. And traveling on a general ticket, even if I had to stand all the way, made more sense to me, because my journey would ultimately end in 7 hours rather than getting to Indore and then getting back to Agra which was a longer journey, plus I also had given my ticket to a friend to use.
My luck has it; the ticket collector doesn’t come checking. I get into this bogie with a bunch of students, with just a hunch, that a group of students are easier to win on your side if the issue ever arose. And also that with so many of them traveling they just might have an extra birth – hell we did too! Turns out, they did.
Delhi – Maheshwar – Indore – Bhopal – Almost Hyderabad – Agra.
And the friend I’d given my ticket to – He didn’t even travel on it. Why? Because he’d called the railway enquiry before leaving for the station and learnt that the train was two hours late. Damn! The train that was reaching Indore. Not the one leaving from there! Obviously, he missed that. I can imagine the jugaad, he’d have to do otherwise as well.
It’s ovah! It’s ovah!
Thinking again. I wish it hadn’t. I’m bloody bored.
