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Published: February 21st 2010
The last leg of my Indian trip, I decided to go South on the way home. Having visited Kerala a couple occasions, the only place left to uncover was Tamil Nadu. I left good-bye to friends in Jaipur and went straight to the city airport with the backpack and the little carrier bag I came with to India a year ago. I left Jaipur with a heavy heart, a bit sad to leave the place at where I spend a good deal of my time with some great people. There is always an end, where there is always a beginning. My flight was full of IPL cricket players who were heading to Mumbai to play a game. Surprising there were Sri Lankan cricketers too. I sat behind two of the players and began to count the good and bad memories, which were given to me by Jaipurians. I enjoyed eating Thali from a local house near the place where I stayed. Once a week, I made sure that my dinner came from the local Dhaba. The teasing fruit seller always tried to trick me with his half rotten fruits. The tea shop which is located opposite the little Mandir was the
best place to kill the time when it was really hot in the desert city. The sweet shop which is next to the smelly canal and its young boys gave me exciting meeting place. The boys were keen to learn swearing words in English for exchange for free ladhus. The owner of the milk shop kept asking me to go with him to a massage parlour somewhere outskirts of the city until I left place. He was still calling me ‘hey Pakistani’ whenever I cycled pass his tiny corrugated milk stall.
The one of the five pharmacies, I used to go was run by two pathetic brothers who were only interested in talking about sex and condoms. There is something interesting about Pharmaceutical industry in India. Whenever you go to a city like Jaipur, you will notice every corner of the streets bear a pharmacy. I could recall names of seven pharmacies in vicinity of 5 minute walking distance.
I was dreaming all the way to Mumbai. When my plan landed in Mumbai, it was almost 5pm in the afternoon. I had merely forty minutes to reach the railway station. I have no choice but to get to a
taxi as early as possible. There was hardly enough time to hassle the driver of maruti. This may be the first time, I accepted the asking price. My journey was a battle against the time which made me so nervous until I reached the platform. The train was waiting for me!
I squeezed myself between a couple who undoubtedly had claimed the empty seat. This is a very common way of travelling in India. If you are not early to occupy your seat, then it is certainly someone else. You hardly have a chance to reclaim it. I didn’t mind as these two people spoke Tamil and they were finally helpful. The most of the time, we talked about the history of Tamil people and its relationship with Sri Lanka. I could hardly avoid the subject of LTTE, as they were quite keen to discuss the matter with me. I felt uneasy as I never support a group that has got blood stained from the establishment in 1983 or even before. It was almost 8pm when I heard the sound of screeching noise of the brakes of the train. We had our first break outskirts of Mumbai, where there
were lot of samosa and tea sellers fighting each other to get the attention of the passengers. I jumped out of the carriage and calmly taste the freshly made samosas and a cup of tea. When I returned to my carriage, someone occupied my seat. Thanks to the couple, I could easily reclaim the seat back. I decided not to move again until I approach the Chennai platform. The darkness in the carriage made me sleepy even though I tried to keep myself awake. It might have been, 10pm I finally closed my eyes. I didn’t know how many stops we had stopped in between, but the train was finally slowing its speed and I was woken up by the couple to say that we have reached Chennai.
To be continued….
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Rajesh
non-member comment
Nice
This photo really looks nice in the pose of the boy.