Close encounters of the 'train' kind

Traveling by train always brings in a set of new experiences - the motley set of people around you, the incomprehensible delays, the food - all routine elements, yet full of surprises! For the past 2 years, my train journeys have been limited to boarding the Kalka Shatabdi back and forth from Delhi to Chandigarh. Of course, I could narrate a flurry of harrowing experiences from my train journeys to and from Kanpur, but that will just be digressing from the topic of this post.

So, well, the Shatabdi! Undoubtedly, one of the best trains to travel if one is in India - comfortable seats, palatable food, and obviously, it ferries you to your destination faster than any other train could. Around 2-3 years back, the Shatabdis (atleast on the route I travel) refurbished their seats and seating arrangements, leading to each compartment getting half its seats facing one side, and half of them facing the other. (the picture might help you understand what I said - I did not click it and have borrowed it from the internet!)

Now, if you are blessed with a keen eye (and/or sense of logic), this arrangement throws up an interesting situation wherein two rows of seats are actually facing each other across a table. Of course, with six seats in question, it is almost inevitable that these six people would turn out to be complete strangers, destined to stare at each other for whatever time it takes them to reach their destination.

Coincidentally, I was allocated this very seat in the last two journeys I took. When I realized this in my first trip, I was rather amused and smiled thinking of the awkward time we passengers would have in the next 3 hours. Then I secretly wished I atleast get some pretty faces to stare at. But as Murphy's law would have it, the facing seats were occupied by some not-so-pleasant looking uncles. It usually happens so that the divine forces would tantalizingly pepper some sweet faces at visible yet too-distant-to-talk seats!

Coming back to the issues these 'caught in the middle' seats present, even sleeping presents quite a quandary when you are occupying one of these chairs. All you want to do is slouch and peacefully utilize this time to recover lost sleep. And then you get this odd feeling that not just the people sitting right in front of you, but atleast half of the compartment is seeing you. So, one has to sleep gracefully too, at precisely the right angle of head tilt and consciously avoiding those moments when one's head trips on one's own elbow.

What's worse co-'facing you'-passengers than silent uncles? Yes, you have it! Noisy kids. These surfaced on my second such trip, accompanied by a grandmother watching their activities. These kids seem to have an issue with everything. When they get Jumpin, they want Frooti. Then they keep pointing at every silly thing they see in the landscape outside. The kids I encountered also started playing some miniature super-hero 'trump cards', and kept referring every single dispute to their granny-court. To top it all, they were talking in Malayalam, which I could not comprehend. Surprisingly, I have often found incomprehensible languages more difficult to ignore than the ones I understand.

Yes, train journeys are interesting. Plane trips are vapidly uneventful. The funny part is that you would rather prefer them to be just that!

Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar - An observation!

No, this is not a dated movie review. Neither is this a rant about how I absolutely adore this piece of cinematic brilliance. This is merely a record of an observation I had made some time back (after having watched the movie, perhaps, 30 odd times), and was motivated to share when I downloaded and watched it one more time a few days back.

For those who have seen the movie, you would remember Aamir Khan (Sanjay), Mamik (Ratan), Ayesha Jhulka (Anjali), Ratan's interest Kalpana, Ramlal ji, Shekhar and his gang of friends, and ah! an overtly fashionable Pooja Bedi, as the central characters in the movie. Not to forget sidekicks Deven Bhojani, Asrani, et al.

Keeping these in mind, it strikes me that there is no woman character in the movie! Yes, there are college-going girls. However, no mothers, no aunts. Moreover, even if you run a glance at the town crowd scenes, you cannot spot any over 30 female in the vicinity. The only exception (which was pointed out by a person I mentioned this to, and I thank her for completing my information) is the scene where Aamir Khan visits business tycoon Thapar's house to return the car keys. There, in the party, one can spot certain middle-aged women eating away at the party.

I just wonder whether this was pure chance. Or, a subliminal message thrown in by the director. Or, some idiosyncratic whim of the director (ala MF Hussain, who never drew a female face as his mother had died during his infancy). One can only wonder!

Well, if the above looks alien to you as you haven't seen this movie... Run! Go watch it! Now!