The only exciting thing for me about the journey apart from going home was that my ticket status was in RAC. My aimless walks in the busy Chennai Central platform was full of the thoughts about sitting opposite to a young lady of 20(Courtesy the reservation chart) in the side lower RAC berth. I had indeed rehearsed the answers for her queries like I don't have any specific hobby but I like creating 3D animations, writing blogs, short stories and bla bla :P The train had left Central but still no signs of her. Convincing myself that 'she' would get in at Perambur, I dozed off for a while in my sitting posture, after a long day in the office. Then I felt someone tapping on the back and as I woke up , the train had already left Perambur, but no signs of her. Irritated,I turned to the direction of the wake-up call. It was the Ticket Examiner telling me that my RAC has got confirmed and I can take the side lower berth.
With serious disappointment(it indeed was serious;seriously), I started to flip through my twitter and FB profiles to find something interesting to immerse myself into after this bulb. When I tried to update some profile details in FB, I saw my profile status as single. Dragging as deep a breath I could, I turned when a man out of nowhere came and asked me "Are you Single?".
"Shoot! How the hell did he know?". "Take my upper berth and I will take your side lower", he continued. "Phew! Idhu vera single!". Without waiting for even a millisecond for me to think on this proposal, he started again. "My Grandma has got a upper berth in S6. Since you are single, adjust na". He told. It was not a request for sure, but was it an order?. Seeing his grandma already with her luggage in my berth, I nodded.I indeed had to. I then went to S6 with my baggage and I could say I was never ready for the surprise in store over there.
As I went to the designated transfer location(S6-14), I saw two 'Pairs'(Searched the dictionary, could not find any other better/decent term) in the bay and one more in the Side berths. I was already half-sleep and apart from this berth transfer, this sight increased my agony :(. As I was climbing up to my berth, I noticed, for the six berths, only five are there, including me. We Indians are always happy when someone shares the same misery as you. You then feel happy rather than sad. I too got happy similarly thinking that someone else in the bay also would be single like me and he too would be sad at seeing others in the bay.
After a minute or so, while I was searching for my bed sheet, I saw a beauty coming and placing her backpack in my opposite berth. Seeing the backpack, I confirmed she is also one of my breed, an IT professional :). Shockingly, she turned towards me in the upper berth, gave a smile and came towards me. She started talking to me. Being someone, who is always proud of knowing 5 languages, I, to my surprise found that I was not understanding what she was telling. Probably, it was 'Angel English' I thought. After she finished, I switched off my I-pod and told "Sorry! What was that?". She told "My Boyfriend-Berth-38-Please adjust.You-Single". Everything else was Greek and Latin. With the surrounding I was in, I understood that I had to move to 38. I thought of yelling "EVERYBODY!!" like Mudhalvan Arjun.
With no energy for any more ADJUSTMENTS, I dragged myself to 38, where as I entered and kept my bag on the upper berth, one guy came and told that he would like to have the upper berth and I could take the lower berth. At last, 'I have found a gentleman',I thought.Proud of him as I sat , I saw a family sitting and chatting in the lower berth talking about everything under sky from RAGA to Ragamalika. When I told them that I wanted to sleep in my lower berth, they told that they were yet to have their dinner and asked me to wait and adjust for some time."Thirumbavuma(Again)???" I thought. I thought that the guy who gave me this berth was not a GentleMan, but a Brutus :'(.. "Cha!! RAC was better than this".
When I reached my home after this horrible journey, I decided two things. First, never travel single. Second, never heed to these ad-hoc adjustment requests unless it is absolutely necessary. Because after all it is "EN BERTH!! EN URIMAI!!".
If you find this post not that good, then I have four words for you, "Thoda ADJUST karo na!!".
With serious disappointment(it indeed was serious;seriously), I started to flip through my twitter and FB profiles to find something interesting to immerse myself into after this bulb. When I tried to update some profile details in FB, I saw my profile status as single. Dragging as deep a breath I could, I turned when a man out of nowhere came and asked me "Are you Single?".
"Shoot! How the hell did he know?". "Take my upper berth and I will take your side lower", he continued. "Phew! Idhu vera single!". Without waiting for even a millisecond for me to think on this proposal, he started again. "My Grandma has got a upper berth in S6. Since you are single, adjust na". He told. It was not a request for sure, but was it an order?. Seeing his grandma already with her luggage in my berth, I nodded.I indeed had to. I then went to S6 with my baggage and I could say I was never ready for the surprise in store over there.
As I went to the designated transfer location(S6-14), I saw two 'Pairs'(Searched the dictionary, could not find any other better/decent term) in the bay and one more in the Side berths. I was already half-sleep and apart from this berth transfer, this sight increased my agony :(. As I was climbing up to my berth, I noticed, for the six berths, only five are there, including me. We Indians are always happy when someone shares the same misery as you. You then feel happy rather than sad. I too got happy similarly thinking that someone else in the bay also would be single like me and he too would be sad at seeing others in the bay.
After a minute or so, while I was searching for my bed sheet, I saw a beauty coming and placing her backpack in my opposite berth. Seeing the backpack, I confirmed she is also one of my breed, an IT professional :). Shockingly, she turned towards me in the upper berth, gave a smile and came towards me. She started talking to me. Being someone, who is always proud of knowing 5 languages, I, to my surprise found that I was not understanding what she was telling. Probably, it was 'Angel English' I thought. After she finished, I switched off my I-pod and told "Sorry! What was that?". She told "My Boyfriend-Berth-38-Please adjust.You-Single". Everything else was Greek and Latin. With the surrounding I was in, I understood that I had to move to 38. I thought of yelling "EVERYBODY!!" like Mudhalvan Arjun.
With no energy for any more ADJUSTMENTS, I dragged myself to 38, where as I entered and kept my bag on the upper berth, one guy came and told that he would like to have the upper berth and I could take the lower berth. At last, 'I have found a gentleman',I thought.Proud of him as I sat , I saw a family sitting and chatting in the lower berth talking about everything under sky from RAGA to Ragamalika. When I told them that I wanted to sleep in my lower berth, they told that they were yet to have their dinner and asked me to wait and adjust for some time."Thirumbavuma(Again)???" I thought. I thought that the guy who gave me this berth was not a GentleMan, but a Brutus :'(.. "Cha!! RAC was better than this".
When I reached my home after this horrible journey, I decided two things. First, never travel single. Second, never heed to these ad-hoc adjustment requests unless it is absolutely necessary. Because after all it is "EN BERTH!! EN URIMAI!!".
If you find this post not that good, then I have four words for you, "Thoda ADJUST karo na!!".
Nice draft... It happens always for single boys....
ReplyDeleteThanks Raja
DeleteWhy blood? Same blood. All people same peelings.
ReplyDeleteThat was a good one though!!!
That too your train journey was very loooonnng.
DeleteUltimate,
ReplyDelete"Shoot! How the hell did he know?". "Take my upper berth and I will take your side lower", he continued. "Phew! Idhu vera single!"
Enjoyed it, Keep blogging.
Thanks Mani. I am planning to keep blogging :)
DeleteNice post.. being single and these kind of issues would always be frustrating..
ReplyDeleteThanks Krish!!
DeleteNice blog :) It always happens to boys who are single and not to the girls.It is really difficult to boys who are single in life and not for those who are single in traveling alone :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Looks like, you are trying to convey some add-on message through the last line.:P
DeleteAwesome post. I was completely indulged into it. If you had explained about the personal traits this would be a prize winning short story.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post. I was completely indulged into it. If you had explained about the personal traits this would be a prize winning short story.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sunil Subramanian. You mean the personal traits of the characters involved?
Deletemuyarchi udaiyars, igalchi adayars.... Being single, though bulb is inevitable, it is best feeling a single boy can get. I'd miss it going forward, though !!!
ReplyDeletenice blog... ;)
ReplyDeleteNice blog. I never thought boys who r single face such problems!!
ReplyDeleteGood that our problems are gaining visibility :P
DeleteGood :) Have adjusted many a time to others requests (the problem is - it does not always come as a request and mostly comes in the form of an order as if we are possessing their ancestral property and not ready to leave it). Knowing many languages definitely helps :)
ReplyDeleteSema incident scripted in writing. The feel of Single boys expressed very well. Two things that grabbed my attention with an Aww in my heart were "Shoot, how did he know" and the closing note "Thoda adjust karo na"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Rahul
Delete