The Sojourn - Part I

Compile Time - I

Exactly 1 year ago, it was a similar scene. going home in the month of January in the sleeper class of Sampark Kranti Express. The difference was I was alone this time. Left Mysore on the 6.00Pm train to bangalore. I had the company of Amit for this 3 hour journey. IN addition to my load sharing, Amit helped in enhancing my filmi Knowledge which you can expect with Amit, knowing what a film buff he is. I, on my part shared my knowledge on topic I am expert at - Dialogues from different movies specially Boreder!! e.g what is the screen name of Puneet Issar in border and what is the first dialogue about him that is spoken. (his name is Subedar Rattan singh.. and the first dialogue about him is by Mathura das -"Subedaar rattan singh.. yeh bhi aa gaya hai yahan marne ke liye".
Ok. back to journey, we reached bangalore at sharp 9.00 PM. Amit and I parted ways here and I took a pre paid to yeshwantpur station. Unlike the last time when the auto walah had droped on the last platform, it was platform 1 entrance this time. I sat down there for some time. At around 10.00, i decided to move on to the platform 6 from where the train was scheduled to depart.
1 scene I took along from platform 1: a man drunk over his limits, lying amidst his puke on the platform. no amount of sprinkling water on him or lashing his butt with a lathi (by a hawaldaar) woke him up from his alchohal induced slumber.
It was a long shoulder crushing walk to the stairs of the overhead bridge. with a heavy bagpack and another innocent looking but equally heavy bag. I decided not to stop in between the stairs. With the Lakshya title song running as background score in my mind I carried the heavy bags to the top and took a much needed breath reviving break. Man!! how did these army jawans climbed hundreds of feet in kargil war??? We are kids compared to them.
I finally reached platform 6 where the train was already there but not open. There was a swarm of youngsters - many from Infy as I could make out form their talks. After Some time Amrut called. Everyone back in Mysore was having a party. Amrut, then vibhu, jalali, anshu, raman, jeetu took turns talking on the phone. I was glad to know that I was being missed. Soon after the train gates opened. I quickly checked my name on the reservation list outside the bogey. The rush didn't allow me leisure time like chetan bhagat to view the list and seats close to me for presence of any girls.
I climbed up and took charge of my cosy little separate side upper berth. After having some egg biryani , I took out my blanket and lay down on my bed for next 40 hours. It was time to have a rendezvous with Ustad Nusrat fateh Ali khan courtesy my mp3 player. My mind wandered to the happenings of the day and the India -Pak match next day which incidentally is in the home town of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Faisalabad. After the 13 min long kawaali, my mind asked me to turn off the player and sleep which I did.
1 scene I took from Platform 6 - Some family moving with all their stuff which was stuffed in 15 trunks(ya I counted them) and an equal (or more) number of beddings or Bistarband as we call it. Well, it was quite a view to see 15 exactly same trunks kept in a line.