Mumbai Matinee

I had been waiting for this for a long time..March 1st. It was my colleagues wedding. Both of us had joined IBM on the same day and had undertaken the ELTP training. We were very much in touch with each other for the subsequent 5 and half odd years. A lot happened in these years and we had known about each other's life fairly well. I was even involved in his 'girl-seeking' process. Finally, the D-Day had arrived. I had decided to attend his wedding come what may.

As per the initial plan, my friend Ananth and I were supposed to go together. But we found out that 3 others from our office were also going by bus to Mumbai to attend the same. So we decided to go together. From the word 'go', we had nothing but a series of comedy of errors.
The first one being Ananth forgetting to pick the other 3 up from their houses. Poor guys kept waiting only to realize at the last moment that they had been subjected to this. At 5.30am, they had to hire a rick and come rushing to catch the bus. So there we were, waiting for the bus. A mini-van came and picked us up and took us till the bus stop. We boarded the bus and it was all confusion inside 'cause there were no seat numbers. Somehow we managed to seat ourselves. The rest of the journey till Mumbai was mostly eventless.

At about 9.45am, we reached Andheri. We had to take a rick to reach Versova, the venue of the wedding. Rick guys pounced on us the moment we alighted from the bus and they said it would cost us 180Rs. After much haggling, they came down to 150Rs. since 5 of us were there, we would have had to hire 2 ricks. so, we thought a single taxi might prove to be cheaper. The moment the rick guys overheard our decision, they dropped their quote drastically to 100Rs. The fact that they were pestering us so much made it even more evident to us that they were taking us for a ride. We walked about 50 meters and found another rick guy who was willing to use the meter installed in the rick. Finally, we reached the venue and had to pay only 44Rs. IMAGINE!!

The wedding was in a bungalow which had a beautiful sea-view. We had tea and stuff and were just wandering here and there aimlessly. Soon we met some colleagues there and started chit-chatting, then had lunch, bid good-bye to the newly weds and decided to head back to Pune. We did not have tickets though.

One more person joined us and we were now 6 - Ajith, Ananth, Humayun, Nizar Sujith and I. After loonggg discussions on how to reach Pune, the final decision was, hold your breath, to take a local train from Andheri to Dadar and then a bus from there to Pune.

We bought 6 tickets. 2 people's tickets were combined into one ticket. After much deliberation, we figured out which direction the train to Dadar would come from. The train arrived. I got into the ladies' compartment (my ticket with sujith) and knew nothing about the mix-up the others created. Apparently, Nizar and Ananth could not board the train. And, the great Ajith, Humayun and Sujith got into the First Class compartment thinking they had my ticket with them and that I might be caught in Dadar when I get down. No prizes for guessing that the TTE caught them. Don't laugh if I say that they were using their tickets to fan themselves like heroes. What followed next is history. They had to pay a whopping 450Rs. fine (err.. rather bribe). And subsequently, got kicked out in the next station. They were determined this time. They went and bought First class tickets and got into the next train. But, much to their dismay, none checked their tickets this time. Life is ironical...

In the meanwhile, Ananth and Nizar thought they'll act intelligently. They went ahead and bought 2 more tickets for a fast train from Andheri to Versova. It turned out that the tickets they already had could be used for the fast train also. All this while, I was putting up with the pushing and shoving happening in the ladies compartment. The only entertainment for me was Ananth's phone calls which kept pouring in every 5 minutes to tell me a new sob story.

Finally, I got down, or rather got pushed down at the Dadar station. Soon Ananth and Nizar followed. It took a while for the heroes of the day - Ajith, Humayun and Sujith (now known as sujith, the jobless) to reach. Then we had to stand in a looonnnggg queue to get our bus tickets to Pune. In the bus, 2 blabbering aunties forced their company on us by blabbing away to glory about their kids and husbands. We alighted from the bus and 6 of us cramped ourselves into a car and reached our respective homes.

In all this confusion, there is only one thing I learned. It is the fact that Ajith and Sujith are neither brothers, nor twins. I always thought they were. One funny question enlightened me. In the rick, I asked them if they had any sisters.. Sujith replied saying he didn't have any but Ajith had. After yet another round of quarreling, I believed that they just looked similar and spoke the same language and were roomies.. but were not brothers.


If this can't qualify for a matinee movie, what else can??