My nap didn't come easily. Right after we got back on the road, someone
put on a movie . And who wants to miss a
movie for a nap?? The movie was 'Godfather'. Not the Marlon Brando one!
That one would have surely put me to sleep, no offense to the great
movie it was/is. This 'Godfather' was a Malayalam comedy movie. It's
probably been remade in every Indian language by this director called
Priyadarshan. It was a comedy flick. So it kept most of us up for it's
whole length. I was about 1 in the morning when the movie got over. I
felt my eyes drooping. The next thing I remember is waking up with a
start, somewhere at 2:30 am. I looked around to see everyone dozing off.
From somewhere, I saw 'Beautiful' getting her 'beauty sleep'. Some
sight to watch! I almost giggled like a 6 year old girl after watching
her sleep. She looked like a well-fed baby sleeping, despite the fact
none of us was exactly well fed. It was cute, albeit in a very 'awkward'
manner. I was like "Eh! Chuck it! Let's doze off!".
Somewhere
at 4, I was awakened by another bunch of monkeys monkeying around..
actually singing songs. The night was cold, as it is, and now, the
noise!
So sleep jumped right out of the window(quite literally).
Here's
how I had pictured my journey to Chennai. Had I been left to my own
devices, I'd have gotten a train ticket in a General compartment(as all
seats would have been booked on a Friday night), had a terrible night,
most certainly without a seat to park my arse all throughout. In the
morning, on getting down at Chennai, I would have looked and felt like a
zombie. But then, somewhere, sense prevailed. I left my devices behind
and got into the bus a few friends from the college had organized.
Finally,
at around 7 in the morning, we halted to wash our faces. We were on
National Highway 45, which looked like it was in the middle of nowhere.
It was a beautiful morning. The sun was all up and shining. It all felt vey warm and cozy. Somehow, we all managed to clean our pearly whites and flash it around. I went to get some water to drink, and ran into 'Beautiful', brushing her teeth in all her glory. I hadn't noticed till then that she had dimples when she smiled. Okkkayy!! Moving on!
Sometime ago, when we got down, some senior bloke put all his 120 kilogram weight on his wrong foot in the wrong way while getting down from the bus, and fractured his leg. Ammmmazing!! After we were all done cleaning up all we could, the seniors started discussing about the nearest clinic we could get to.. Well, that meant a delay in my scheme of things, specially as I had to go a bit further than the gang I was accompanying.
The fellows and ladies from my year were all loitering around the place, unaware that we had to get moving ASAP! I was looking around to tell everyone to get back into the bus. Just then, I caught Beautiful's glance. She was with all the remaining ladies. I gestured her to get them all into the bus. And you know what?? This is how I felt for doing that
Just before 'Beautiful' got into the bus, we had this meek chat about how I would figure out my way to my place after getting down at IIT. Frankly, I had no clue. But I put up a brave face and said something like "Eh! It's easy. I'll figure out a way anyway."
"Confidence is a good thing...Specially when you get to show it off in front of ladies at a time when you have no clue what you're going to do."-Me(Of course.....)
So off we were again, this time taking a detour in search of a clinic to fix the broken senior. And we found a clinic somewhere not far from where we began
looking. It was another hour before we saw any new road. It was about 11 in the morning by now. Strangely, none of us felt hungry. Thankfully I had a book with me. So were I to die, it would surely not be out of boredom. That being specially because even if I didn't have the book, there was a circus going on in the bus any
way, with all the singing and chatting. There were of course many among us who decided to doze off, after failing to get any shut eye last night. The side-boards on the road indicated another 100 km between us and Chennai. So it was going to be a long wait, or so I thought. Thankfully, it wasn't long before we saw the city's outskirts. Except for this dude who was really shouting right into my ear, everything was going fine. I was sitting on a window seat, I managed to finish off more than half the book since I started it in the morning. All of it despite this loud arse sitting right next to me. By the way, he belonged to the 'Over-Zealous' party.... Actually, he was the party leader. And it felt great to know how much untapped patience I had within me.
Entering Chennai, it felt like Mumbai, the place I call home. Not that Chennai had the same hustle-and-bustle, but there was something that got me to admire the city. In the beginning, I credited my admiration for the city to it being a Satuday that we landed in Chennai. But the following days that I had the fortune to spend my time there just deepened my love for the place. We crossed the Chennai airport, very reminiscent of the Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. Same design philosophy shared by all three of them. Simple 'V' shaped Wishbone-like members holding the roof up.
The roads reminded me of Delhi, or whatever little I remember of Delhi from my visit about 5 years ago. No clue what it was, but the city connected with you in a strange manner.
Any way, by the time I was done admiring the city, we had reached IIT Madras. I got my bag, got ready to get off the bus, and just then, brushed my shoulder with 'Beautiful'.... And I mention stupid mentioning this. She was probably the only lady I knew well in the whole bus.What I blurted out to her sounded like "Catch you later!". I am not sure if she understood a word of what I blurted. Getting out through the IIT Madras main gate, I felt miserable for not even telling a 'goodbye' to my friend Shree, who had been around with me throughout.
But then I had a whole day ahead of me, and I was getting late to get to my 'Final Destination', and all my worries got left behind the main gate, though I would return to it that night.
I was in Chennai for the Literary festival organized by The Hindu.
I was there to be 'Lit for Life'....
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