The Train Incident

Unlike the usual sweltering heat of Chennai, this was a pleasant day... Was it a sign of things to come??? I dint know then... I had to go from Chennai to Bangalore with my aunt and uncle and i was were really contemplating how to spend 5 hrs(6 hrs if train was delayed... which was almost a sure event) of train travel...

The signs were definitely not good... I had forgotten my ipod and all my novels at home....Another problem was that my uncle was a real 'kathi'(boring by talking too much) party ( infact we call him kathi mama at home:P) and i dint want to get bored by him for so long.. 

We found our seats.They were decent seats; not too near the door as to hamper the ac effect due to the frequent opening and closing of the door and yet not far enough from the bathroom to make the walk to the bathroom seem long... :D The train was empty... Not many people had come. I have always had very bad luck in trains wrt to co-passengers. Most of the time its people with their babies bawling or old grannies asking you to help with suitcases. As i was preparing for the most boring 5+ hrs of my life, i saw a girl coming to the seat behind me.

A hot girl in the train... A guy's greatest dream and also his worst nightmare....  

She was the quintessential modern girl. Wearing jeans and a sleeveless top... in typical indian style she wore a dupatta over her top.My question is why wear a sleevless top if you are going to cover yourself with dupattas and shawls??? :D

Anyways coming back to the story...

Its a great dream if you are alone... then you can ask for magazines,food, and maybe even her number :P but a total nightmare if you are in the train with family... its a totally different matter if her family is also there,which was the case here. This contrary to popular belief, is good... You dont believe me??? 

For example, I could casually start a conversation with her mom, Which could go like this...:D

Me: maaami can you pass me the kumudam...

Mom: ya... i thought that you young ppl like dont read tamil...

Me: Ayo nothing like that maami... i know to read... 

Mom: Paru maa indha payyanku tamil padikku theriyumam... you told no youngster knows to read tamil...

Then the girl looks at you.. and you smile back.... ;) get the drift... Ok... getting back to reality... :P

I was over the moon... What was supposed to be a dull and excruciatingly boring 5hrs had become the equivalent of 5 hours of your favourite how i met your mother episodes.... I thought of the modus operandi... That was the time i realised how tamil movies were a treasure trove of knowledge... :D

I got the idea that i can check her name and age in the chart... Think it was in the movie unakku 18 enakku 20 ( or vice versa... i dont rem the correct name :P) then thought cha.. all that is cheap... 

Then I thought i could flip open my guitar and sing 'en iniya pon nilave'... then rem i had no guitar and i was nowhere near as charming as surya...  

Then i remembered anniyan vivek-vikram incidents... Then realised this was a day train...

Then i thought about 'before sunrise'... Then realised that was Europe and this was TN...

Then I realised i needed a wingman... and who better than my uncle??? All I had to do was somehow steer my uncle to the girls' dad and somehow strike up a conversation. I looked at my uncle thinking about topics to chat, but my uncle was fast asleep... I had a face-palm moment right there.... 99 times out of 100 I would have been happy with this situation.. but today i was unhappy... The story of my life... :( :P

So I resigned to my fate and went to sleep... woke up to see dinner being served... saw that the girl's family had packed 'thair saadam' and 'lemon saadam' in typical iyer fashion for the train... again I was thinking why people pack food in a train which provides food and charges it to your ticket... More idiosyncracies... *sigh*... By this time i had given up on talking to the girl... so ate my dinner and went back to sleep... 

I woke up after an hour or so... surprisingly the train was on time,and the station was just 5 mins away... My uncle and I hauled the suitcase down and were going towards the exit... suddenly my uncle shouted... "Dai ramu.. how are you.. so many days" and walked back...

I turned back to see my uncles newly found old friend... Ramu was the hot girl's father.... It was the perfect "yenna koduma saar idhu" moment... The elders were talking for the next 5 mins wheras i sulked in the corner thinking of all the missed opportunities... was still sulking as i went towards the auto stand...  I knew something was wrong when the weather was so good in Chennai... 

Went to the auto stand and started the usual bargaining... Saw a girl from UP or bihar struggling to explain the destination to the auto driver... Thought I will go help her... She wanted to go to koramangla... I helped her... She smiled at me and told a very heartfelt Thank You... I smiled back... Went home humming This :P

Train forgotten, Ramu forgotten, Ramu's daughter forgotten... :D 

Story of my life :D