Just aise hi.....

I wrote this letter to a friend, which came out well in the end. And so I thought to post it on the blog too.

Heylos,
Im sitting here wondering what to do. and so i decided to do what i like most, write. just aise hi.....no agenda at all.

let me tell u in detail about my mumbai trip.

day1
i got up at 4.30am. the train was standing at dadar station. it looked so much familiar to me. probably the 4th time i had taken this train to get to dadar at this time of the day. but this time, i was going further. i was to get down at cst (or vt, as most people still call it). reached cst at 5 sharp. got out of the station and asked a person which bus would go to afgan church. he showed me the bus stop from where i will get the bus. there were no buses at that time of the day, but there were taxis. shared taxis calling for navy nagar. they would take just Rs.10 to drop me at afgan church. But then i thought this is too early to go. People wud be sleeping and i wud unnecessarily wake them up. I decided to just wait at the bus stop till day break.

there was another person standing at the bus stop. just the two of us. at first the person looked a guy. short hair, dressed like men, sport shoes. But a more closer look told me she was infact a gal. I love gals who wear sport shoes, and so that brought me a smile on my face. I dont know why, but she resembled artee to me. I had not seen her for some years now. Didnt really know how she looked. and this gal was in some way resembling her. But then if she was artee, she would have recognized me for sure. or is it that I too have changed? The latest pic she saw of me was with beard. This time I had no beard. I kept thinking all this while standing there. she too just stood there at the bus stop. so what was this gal doing so early in the morning? did she come this early to avoid the crowd in local train, or does she like me enjoy the early morning? and why is she waiting at the bus stop? take a cab and go where ever she wants to. maybe she too likes to just sit and watch people come and go.

then from nowhere a little cat came. meow meow!! stood next to me and more of meow meow!! then came two sweepers, who started cleaning the pathway. and then came out the sun. it was day break. good enough time to wake people up even if they are sleeping. and then came my bus. It was route number 125. It was headed to navy nagar, and afgan church was to fall en route. the bus was was Rs.5.

I reached afgan church in less than 10 min. it was the cantonment area. I had never seen Mumbai so green. And i could smell fish. The sea must be really close, I wondered. I called up artee from there. As expected, the lazy bum was sleeping. Good i waited for an hour, I thought. She directed me to walk back on the road, and then take a left before a big tree. I saw the big tree and started walking towards it. For some reason, I saw this army guard standing and I asked him for directions to II granadiers mess. This guy was from Haryana. Just listening to our style of Hindi made me feel so happy. It has been sometime since I heard that accent. And to hear it in a completely unexpected place is so much more fun. Anyways, this chap asked me to just walk straight and not turn anywhere (unlike artee's direction, where I had to turn left). so I just walked straight. And I walked out of the cantt area. I realized, my sis was more intelligent than this chap, and I should have listened to her. So I turned back. I started walking back to that big tree I had left behind. I saw this car coming towards me, really slowly. And just as it approached me, "BEEP! BEEP!", full blast horn. "Arre maine kya kiya, main to side mein hi chal raha tha. the whole road is empty". Must be a lady on the wheel I thought. And I was right. It was Artee. she had come to pick me up. I got in the car. It had been years since we last met. Before I could start yelling on the loud horn thing, she started " I asked u to turn left from big tree....seedha kyun gaya....boom boom!! dhishum dhishum!! rat tat tat!!.....non stop machine gun fire.....ufff!! yeh ladkiya subah subah bhi kitna bol leti hai....

we got back into the mess. and there was mausi ji waiting for us. I touched her feet, and she blessed me with her best wishes. for the next few hours (and then later for next 4 days), Artee's machine gun never stopped. And my ammunition never took off. soon, along with words, she also started throwing things at me. at first the pillow, then deodrant bottles, then whatever she could her hand onto. She had changed. As a kid, she was suppose to be this quiet little gal, who wud never speak, just nod in yes or no or just give a short and quick smile. "kya pagal ho gayi hai kya yeh?", I asked mausiji.

next we went to the naval hospital where mausaji had been admitted. its called the ashvini hospital. its suppose to be one of the two major military hospital in India, the other being R&R hospital in Delhi. It was right at the sea. I have never seen such a clean sea in Mumbai. Its how a sea is suppose to be. There were ships anchored at a distance. The morning sun was beaming down on the waters. This part of the sea, lies of the eastern side of Mumbai. So the reflection of the morning sun was something most Mumbaikars dont get a chance to see. The reflection from the water was so intense, it seemed like driving in front of a high beam truck on the highway, where one doesnt see anything but light. Later I realized there was a light house in the see, which I couldn't see due to this glare.

I met mausaji and Tuhina bhabhi. Mausaji had gone really weak. Had never seen him like this before. He was on bed rest for over a month now. Tuhina bhabhi probably didnt recognize me. The only time we had met earlier was some years back in Meerut. At that time there were too many people, and she could have easily missed me there. This was in a sense our first one on one meeting.

The whole day I spent at the hospital. I was all quiet, and just observing things, people, buildings. The army, had always attracted me as a kid. I was fascinated but almost everything about the forces, their uniform, their hair cut, the way they walked, the way they talked, they stood. All those things had moved me, inspired me for many years. But not this time. It all looked so alien to me this time. It was the first strong indication I got in some years, that I have changed as a person. Something which I was passionate about, something which moved me even in dreams, seemed so ordinary this time. I just could not relate to it anymore. I was surprised to notice this in me. I kept thinking about this thing in the whole of trip.

At the end of day 1, I decided to stay back there for the night. We ordered an extra mattress from the mess and I slept there only.