Kachroo - Part 2

(contd. from previous post)

.. rani is the most awaited and celebrated train of our station. It is always on time and it's entry is always grand. The policemen and Saheb are always on-guard when she comes.

She starts decelerating from hundreds of meters away. The 1 minute odd time which it takes to finally come at halt is scintillating, a treat to eye & ear. The timing is so perfect that she puts on brakes precisely when the Maghrib prayer starts at the nearby mosque. She rides a smooth curve on the tracks and makes noise in harmony with Maghrib. The beautiful sunset reflects from it's black window panes.

I and my friends start running like pigs when we hear the high pitched Maghrib. "She's coming, she is ..", shouts Salim everyday. I told you a few of my friends got the thanda for no money. One of them was Salim. He's the one who starts the 'yelling welcome' everyday. We follow and so the gamble begins; the game is tough. The probability is 1/12. One has to be at the lucky bogey out of the 12 bogeys or it's gone .. the FOOD!. The well suited waiters of rani give away the extra/leftover food at our platform. The food is very delicious. What we love the most is that the food is packed. We save the aluminium foil to make wedding rings for our late night games. The food is predominantly white bread fast food. The bread is soft, although sometimes half-eaten. What we look out for is the thanda. What i look out for is Youngistan in particular.

It was dusk and Salim started the oinking. All the rag pigers assembled quickly. One of the bogey is the kitchen. Oinks include: "second last!!" .. "no no 3rd from front!!" .. "just behind the engine" .. "in front of the toilet gate" etc. Everyone tries to disguise others by yelling what they felt wouldn't be the kitchen bogey today. Rani slowed down enough so we can jump on it's gates. Saheb started yelling too, asking us to behave. Now he was also among the oinkers !!

(taken from http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/rag_pickers/)

I jumped on 5th bogey from engine, still unaware of the result. A beautiful girl was looking at me from inside the bogey. She had put both her hands against the black window pane and had put her face inside them to increase the vision. She was looking all the more gorgeous in that pose. It takes about 15 seconds for rani to stop after we jump on it. I stared at her for that short & sweet period and for a moment forgot about my Youngistaan. It halts, everyone shouts. Policemen hurled his stick at us and so the gate opens.

I missed it. Missed it again. It was 3rd from the front. Salim got the food again. I am happy only because the one who yelled "3rd from the front" went to the 6th, what a loser!. I jumped back on the platform, took off my shirt and tore off the pocket; it's anyways of no use. I abused my luck and sat down. The sun is almost set. It's teasing me from the window pane, all happy and red. Smiling behind my back and making me see him through the pane; bastard !

Rani waits for about 10 minutes on our platform. I stared at the sun for 10 minutes continuosly. It set and my eyes quivered. I rubbed them and when i looked up at the same pane, i saw her. Sweet mother of all gods. I forgot her as i was busy with my disgust. I winked at her like Shah Rukh Khan and smiled like Aamir. She smiled back. She liked me.

Then i gave a head nod. She smiled again and came at the gate. It was stint time for me. I lied down and got up like Shaun Michaels from WWE. Then i took a curve sharply and jumped to the heaven's own gate no. 5. She laughed mysteriously and Saheb hurled his green signal; dreams shattered. That dog hates me, badly. He couldn't wait for a minute. I had no choice but to jump down. I waved at her and gave her a flying kiss. She went inside, came back again and threw a thanda bottle towards me. I opened it and took a huge gulp.

"Youngistaan" .. the name is perfect.