3rd October 2011
After quite a long long while, I can say I did do something worthwhile over the weekend. And all the doing began on Saturday - Saturday morning to be precise.
I had awoken with a headache - the one that insists on being my companion when the weeks are their ends. Usually, I let it hold sway and go back to sleep.
But this morning, I somehow let another plan creep into my head much before the headache walked in. I had decided to visit my aunt who stays in Vasai Road.
"But how will you go?"
"By train."
"By train? But look at the time!"
It was only 8:30.
"Mother," I said, as I wrung my back from my bed, "I doubt she keeps visiting hours you know."
"Oh but what will you take?"
"Take?"
"Yes, you have to take something along. You just can't go like this."
"Like this? But this is not what I'll be wearing you know. It'll be something more decent than this." 'This', by the way, happened to be my shorts and a vest.
"I don't mean that! I mean you have to take something along. You cannot just go empty-handed!"
"Oh I'll take your regards, etc etc. And I am sure you can send them again via the phone as well."
"Don't talk rubbish! You have to take something! Listen: I'll be going to the market sometime next week. I'll get some kajukatlis then. So you can go next weekend."
"All right. So then I'll go visit Daloo. "
"Daloo? Why do you want to go visit Daloo?"
"Because Mother," I began while I walked to the basin, "I had decided to go out today. So, I'll go there if I cannot go that side. "
However, by the time I had begun my breakfast, I wanted to re-consider my decision. After all, Saturdays do come once in a week. And much as I love trains, I cannot start to love the effort that I have to put in to travel in them for an hour and a half - especially on a Saturday! Mira Road - the place where my cousin Daloo resides - is about an hour and a half from Sion. Besides that, I wasn't quite sure how far her place was from Mira Road station either.
I dilly-dallied for a while: I began to watch a movie - Flipped - at around 9:00 while my tea sulked to room temperature. Flipped is a wonderful movie with a very bonhomie feel about it. It's shot in beautiful hues of yellow and sunset orange and has a majestic dash of sepia tint thrown in as well. All this aside, the script is very taut. So though it tells a simple story that has been told a million times before, it did keep me engrossed.
"Look at the time! Look at the time! You'll get late! Tcha! This fellow no? No planning at all! No planning at all!"
It was 9:30.
"But Mother, it's not as if I have told her I'll be coming. I'll just go, say hi hello, and come back."
"And lunch?"
"I'll have it outside."
"What nonsense! If she asks you to stay for lunch, stay."
"But Mother I am not brought up that way."
"And what way exactly were you brought up then?"
"Well, tell me something: What do you say when I tell you to fight back?"
"I don't fight back," Mother said very vehemently, "I am not.. -"
"Yes, exactly what I am saying. "
"Okay okay have it your way. But don't go in the Sun!"
As it turned out, I walked out in the heat of the Sun at 10:30 am. As usual, Pratiksha Nagar, at that point in time, amplified every joule of heat and spread it out over the vicinity the way you spread a liberal pat of butter over a piece of bread. Naturally then, it wasn' quite a cool walk at all. The BEST buses constantly tripped in my way and the taxis and cars decided to do that as well.
In Mumbai, there's not much of a choice when it comes to making your way to a railway station. Either you walk to it and weather all the dirt and rubbish and grime and what not that comes your way. Or, you take a bus or a taxi or an autorickshaw.
Now, the BEST is more of an oven and less of a vehicle and the taxis are not quite sure of being honest with their meters. I anyway hate to hunt for change for the bus ticket. And I cannot quite start to hear the taxidriver's reason to not take you that way because of the traffic jam.
And so, I walked all the way to Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar station.
To be continued...
After quite a long long while, I can say I did do something worthwhile over the weekend. And all the doing began on Saturday - Saturday morning to be precise.
I had awoken with a headache - the one that insists on being my companion when the weeks are their ends. Usually, I let it hold sway and go back to sleep.
But this morning, I somehow let another plan creep into my head much before the headache walked in. I had decided to visit my aunt who stays in Vasai Road.
"But how will you go?"
"By train."
"By train? But look at the time!"
It was only 8:30.
"Mother," I said, as I wrung my back from my bed, "I doubt she keeps visiting hours you know."
"Oh but what will you take?"
"Take?"
"Yes, you have to take something along. You just can't go like this."
"Like this? But this is not what I'll be wearing you know. It'll be something more decent than this." 'This', by the way, happened to be my shorts and a vest.
"I don't mean that! I mean you have to take something along. You cannot just go empty-handed!"
"Oh I'll take your regards, etc etc. And I am sure you can send them again via the phone as well."
"Don't talk rubbish! You have to take something! Listen: I'll be going to the market sometime next week. I'll get some kajukatlis then. So you can go next weekend."
"All right. So then I'll go visit Daloo. "
"Daloo? Why do you want to go visit Daloo?"
"Because Mother," I began while I walked to the basin, "I had decided to go out today. So, I'll go there if I cannot go that side. "
However, by the time I had begun my breakfast, I wanted to re-consider my decision. After all, Saturdays do come once in a week. And much as I love trains, I cannot start to love the effort that I have to put in to travel in them for an hour and a half - especially on a Saturday! Mira Road - the place where my cousin Daloo resides - is about an hour and a half from Sion. Besides that, I wasn't quite sure how far her place was from Mira Road station either.
I dilly-dallied for a while: I began to watch a movie - Flipped - at around 9:00 while my tea sulked to room temperature. Flipped is a wonderful movie with a very bonhomie feel about it. It's shot in beautiful hues of yellow and sunset orange and has a majestic dash of sepia tint thrown in as well. All this aside, the script is very taut. So though it tells a simple story that has been told a million times before, it did keep me engrossed.
"Look at the time! Look at the time! You'll get late! Tcha! This fellow no? No planning at all! No planning at all!"
It was 9:30.
"But Mother, it's not as if I have told her I'll be coming. I'll just go, say hi hello, and come back."
"And lunch?"
"I'll have it outside."
"What nonsense! If she asks you to stay for lunch, stay."
"But Mother I am not brought up that way."
"And what way exactly were you brought up then?"
"Well, tell me something: What do you say when I tell you to fight back?"
"I don't fight back," Mother said very vehemently, "I am not.. -"
"Yes, exactly what I am saying. "
"Okay okay have it your way. But don't go in the Sun!"
As it turned out, I walked out in the heat of the Sun at 10:30 am. As usual, Pratiksha Nagar, at that point in time, amplified every joule of heat and spread it out over the vicinity the way you spread a liberal pat of butter over a piece of bread. Naturally then, it wasn' quite a cool walk at all. The BEST buses constantly tripped in my way and the taxis and cars decided to do that as well.
In Mumbai, there's not much of a choice when it comes to making your way to a railway station. Either you walk to it and weather all the dirt and rubbish and grime and what not that comes your way. Or, you take a bus or a taxi or an autorickshaw.
Now, the BEST is more of an oven and less of a vehicle and the taxis are not quite sure of being honest with their meters. I anyway hate to hunt for change for the bus ticket. And I cannot quite start to hear the taxidriver's reason to not take you that way because of the traffic jam.
And so, I walked all the way to Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar station.
To be continued...
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