Journey 2 Chennai…

Yet another exam gets over.nee examinations Exam on a saturday and one hour b4 boarding the train meant tat i kept looking at my watch more often than my question paper. As if it made a difference. N some guyz left even b4 i had planned 2 leave. As time kept moving, i cud see tat my presence in the xamination hall was totally pointless. I wrote some crap, returnd the answer sheet , wished my frnz n ran 2 the hostel. Then the rain Gods intervened. Its been troubling me ever since divali. Heavy rains in chennai meant tat i had 2 stay at calicut for divali n i felt totally lost when some1 told me tat a bus had toppled n more than 100 r dead or missing. Yet another trip cancelled?? I was firm on leavin the place asap. N with some help from frnz i got into the bus to the railway station. Its a journey i luv 2 hate. The col is on a hilltop n so v hav 2 come all te way down in order 2 board te train. The roads r smooth but F1 like driving by the bus driver(on S, U curves) meant tat more often than not, i felt my head ache n nausea overcoming me.Usually i keep talking 2 my frnz durin the journey and tis keeps away the headache. But tis time i was all alone. It seemed some1 ls was also feeling the same n the guy tried his best to strike up a conversation with me. “Bad rain” “strange rain” “sunshine in te noon n rain in te eve huh?” n i knew it was becomin pointless 2 talk 2 him. However his stop came n he left wit a rlvd look on his face. There was a kid sittin in front of me. I was sittin on te last seat n tis kid kept turnin behind n starin at me. Initially i thought tat he was lookin out thro the glass behind me. But he kept on starin at me. Then i thought tat probably he worked in some shop near my col n had recognised. I stopped thinkin abt him when when my head again started aching n i cud feel te butterflies in my stomach. With jus a cpl of stops 2 go, i kept prayin 2 God tat i shdn throw up on the way. Then all of a sudden, somethin happened. The kid looked at me as if i was his only hope.His face reflected the anxities in his heart and then he asked me” Anna, puthu bus stand entha stopunnu solla mudiyuma??”(Cud u temme which stop is te New bus stand?). I was taken aback not only by te look on his face but also te fact tat he spoke tamil. I ten recovered n replied “Intha stop thaanda..erangikko”(Tis is the stop, get down). He then bent down n drew out a huge fish holding basket beneath my seat n got down hurriedly. The bus moved on. I wondered wat made him ask te question in tamil n y did he wait so long. I then got down n at te bus stand i got te answer when i looked at myself in te mirror in te newspaper stand. The vibuthi on my forehead! Did it so blatantly indicate tat I am a tamilian tat the kid spoke 2 me in tamil? A point worth pondering.
The journey in the train was uneventful except for this punjabi junior who was woken up in the sleep by the TT for the tickets. He started explaining some method in Fluid Mechanics and n asked his friend 2 clear the TT’s doubts! The best was when he drew a graph on a paper n wrote an equation 2 explain it in an easier way. His friend then took the ticket from his shirt pocket n showed it to the TT n apologised for his friend’s behaviour and put his friend to sleep. Do all sardarjis behave the same way at 12 in the nite?