SMILE IN TRAIN 2.0 (An astonishing filmy journey)

India is famous for three things all over the world. It’s Spicy cuisine, Cultural and ethnic diversity, and Bollywood. Bollywood is in our DNA by default.

Every person in India is influenced by cinema one or the other way. Javed Aktar once said, “At some stage in life every Indian must have dreamt of working in Cinema”. I absolutely agree with this. Do you? We love ❤️ our Cinema. Be it Romcom movies of the North or action packed movies of the South. Soulful music of the East or exquisite dance of the West. We just love cinema because they sell to us our dreams and fantasy’s.

            Bollywood and Trains have this intimate connection. I was travelling from South India all the way to north India in train. As I boarded Sampark Kranti Express, which is as fast as Rajdani Express. All sorts of memories of Bollywood movies in connection to train start flashing in my mind in a loop. 

It all began with memory of Chaiyya Chaiyya song, followed by scene of DDLJ especially Ja Simran Ji le Apni Zindagi and Shahruk Khan with his outspread arms helping Simran to catch slow-paced train. This sobbing 😭 scene connected me to comedy 😝 scene of Chennai express. Where Srk with same outstretched hands to pulls out Meenamma and her goon cousins with slow music in background. 

It astonishes me how our mind travels. I started wondering, Could this ever happen with me? I would really love 😍 to see a beautiful Senorita in train and sing 🎤 to her Tujhe Dekha Toh Ye Jana Sanam or play Antakshari, just how they do in Chennai Express. The very next moment I burst laughing. I told myself “it happens only in movies and not in real life”. I’ve travelled hundreds of times and never in those hundred times such thing happened. Therefore, I put aside my imagination and started rolling my luggage underneath sleeper berth. I saw hockey sticks  and cricket bat that got me thinking of Chak De India. I was being too filmy. I told myself, “I’m just as normal as everyone and there are millions of India who perhaps reason similarly with regards to movies”.  

           

            Taking my pillow and bedsheet, I occupied my upper berth. Just before the train started moving, I heard voices of girls talking. I told myself “enough of this madness”. First, I imagine romantic thing from movies and now I’m hearing voices. I looked down, to my surprise, the voices I was hearing were not imaginary. It was as real as flowers in garden. There was a big group of girls. Some thirty of them. Few of them had tomboy look with short hairs. Many of them were wearing Jersey with India written on the back. Their skin tone was darken by sunburn, yet they look as pretty as angels do.

‘Dene Wala Jab Bhi Deta, Deta Chappar Phaad Ke’ I thanked God. All I had asked was Simran from DDLJ. Nevertheless, he is truly gracious. He gave me entire team of Chak De India. 

In no time, they occupied berths. Chicks were everywhere to my left to my right, to my front, beneath my berth and below that berth. All compartments were filled with flowers , except three berths that was filled with thrones. Then, I heard their coach warning No talking to strangers. All hopes I had were trashed in a sentence. Then, I remembered restaurant scene from Chak De India, how girls bashed up boys. I decided not to engage them and just be a silent predator. I was watching them with so much admiration. I saw them unzip there bags. I started comparing their bags with that of mine. My bag was full of Gadgets – Mobiles 📱, Speaker, Kindle, portable charger 🔌 and headphones all entangled in one another. Truly, girls are more organized and tidy; they had all make up accessory – Lipstick 💄, creams, body lotions, fruits🍓 and snacks🍟. They had even carried toilet paper. That was very thoughtful. As I discussed earlier in my blog. Girls have this incredible ability to sleep for long duration. Some slept way past lunchtime. They look cute even while they are asleep. Another cluster of girls was more active and happening. They got up early, started enjoying their journey, chatting, making noise and playing dumb charades. Kindle makes perfect travel companion but I had something better and more enjoyable. I was pretending to read Kindle. Truth, be told, I was watching and listening to them. Then, came a moment when my fantasy of playing Antakshari on train inspired from Chennai express, came true. Post noon it was scorching hot. Girls were using wet tissue for temporary relief from heat. Two girls opposite my upper berth were competing as to who will survive longer without wet tissue. Both of them brown skin, yet so beautiful. I proposed one of them (now don’t let your imagination run wild, read complete sentence) to play chain reaction on phone. Three of us played chain reaction for hours. In beginning on purpose, I lost many games “Har Kar Jeetne Wale Ko Bazigaar Kehte hai” after which I didn’t let them win.

            Next day morning as we were close to our destination, I invited her to play again. She replied with action, as she was not supposed to talk. She got her right hand near her neck and moved it slowly as if it was a knife. She meant she’ll be screwed if anyone sees her playing. I packed my bag came down. I found out one of slipper was missing form its pair. I couldn’t walk with one slipper, neither could I walk bare foot 👣. Therefore, I had to unbox my new shoes Nike Air Max 2017.That got me all attention form girls. As an athlete, they knew its Worth. On release, Nike claimed it to be world’s most Lightweight shoes.  Train stopped at Destination, it was 20 minutes late from its schedule time.

I was the last one to get down as I was searching for my lost pair of slippers.
As I got down, I walk passed Chak De Girls, at this moment I remember one more filmy dialogue ‘Palat’ I turned around saw her Smile, followed by waiving hand to say Good Bye. 

I waived my hand with much more effort than usual to say her “Bye”.

Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte…..

After reading this article if there was atleast a tiny little smile 😀 on your face. Do subscribe and follow! So that I can often make that pretty smile 😀 of yours reappear. Your smile worth a million 💎 to me.