I went on a long vacation with my parents after nearly 4.5 years - the last one was in Jan 2004. This vacation was easily one of the best I've had with my parents. I got to see few sites of historic importance, sites of cultural significance and sites brimming with nature at its beautiful best.
However, I wouldn’t say that the tour started off on a correct note. You see, we had packed around 5 bags (including my backpack) and when we got out of the car at Chennai Central Railway Station (to board the Cauvery Express to Mysore at around 9 PM on the 23rd of May 2008), we were swamped by porters. I warded off a couple of them, but one old man stayed put. My parents somehow decided that they wouldn’t be able to get the luggage to the train. So much against my wishes, they hired this guy.
The old man was definitely a frail looking chap, but one who insisted on earning every rupee by working. I mean, he refused to let me take up even one piece of luggage and except my backpack he was carrying all the other pieces. I somehow felt extremely embarrassed having to make use of a porter and an old one at that, but I had no choice. He took the luggage right up the door of the carriage and even insisted on loading it inside. I decided to put a stop to the show at least at that point and took the luggage inside.
We were actually able to get tickets in the 3rd AC coach, though I was trying for 2nd AC. But the travel agent really screwed up the booking and net-net we got 2 side upper berths and 1 middle berth (for me!). I had planned to work out an exchange with some well meaning soul inside the compartment. Unfortunately, all such entities (if any in this World) were not in this coach.
Moreover, the coach was filled with kids and young mothers and it was very evident that the "ladies & childrens" factor would kick in and we would get nothing in turn. The worst part was that in the cubicle (is it called a cubicle?) where we were allotted seats, the lower berths were going to be occupied by a family of 3 with the youngest being a 15 year old girl and the oldest being a 40 year old guy. The parents were quite protective of their child and as someone who has experienced similar upbringing myself, I did feel a li’l sorry for that kid, but I digress.
In effect, I was unable to get a lower berth for my parents and my request to the TTE fell on deaf ears. So I let my father take the middle berth and my mother went up to one of the side upper berths. Before going to sleep, I just went to the 2nd AC coach where my friends Mahendran and Raji had their reservations. I guess the travel agent ensured that they got the 2nd AC since it was an official trip!
By the time I visited them around 10.15 PM, I found that the entire coach was already in slumber mode and my friends were no exceptions. I returned to my coach and by then the obnoxious little weeds (thank you Mathew Hayden) had sort of settled down. I went up to my berth and started trying to sleep. I say “trying” because, I couldn’t sleep for around 10 or 15 minutes due to the following reasons:
1. The yellow colored night lamp was strategically positioned to look into my eyes from a distance of 12-15 inches
2. I suddenly heard a voice from the lower berth, with the teeth gritting maternal tone that only mothers of boisterous kids possess, saying the words “Abhishek, ippo ozhunga thoonga poraya illaya?”
I finally managed to fall asleep, though I wouldn’t claim it being peaceful and uninterrupted. I woke up the next morning around 6.30 AM and the train had passed Bangalore by then. I also noticed that many people in the coach were up and my parents weren’t the exceptions either. So I got off the berth and took the toothpaste and brush from my backpack and went to the toilet to freshen up myself.
Once inside, I remembered that my jeans was actually quite long and to avoid it getting wet in the toilet, I bent down to fold the jeans around my ankle. That’s when I heard a minor clanking sound and there on the metal surface of the Indian Style closet was my...
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