Hands cupped
around my lips, head lowered and chest heaved, I took in one deep breath and
made the cry of a Battle Trumpet – “SATSANG INU ORU YO KODUKK!”
And a Thunder
struck inside the hall – “YOOO YOOO YOOOOOOO!!!”
PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
As if my hands
and legs were about to drop off, I blasted from the end of the hall and dived
into the stage, followed by the mad crowd of Party Animals behind me. I was on the
stage and then off the stage, bouncing on and off and the entire auditorium had
been uprooted from its seats. Boys and Girls bounced off their chairs, shook
their legs and threw their arms about; it was one hell of a crazy spill. Just
how the cultural event is supposed to be. The Biggest, Baddest party in the
city.
We waltzed to
rock and bounced to the melody, sang along for the solo and howled for the sing
along! I could feel the ground literally shake beneath my feet as I sat down to
catch my breath. But then this guy came to stage with this song and I lost
control again. The event stretched into the night, and by then I had drained
out every calorie in my body.
Dinner was a dim
memory for me, as I made quick job of it and got back to my friends outside. “So
when are you leaving?” one of the buddies asked and I told them of a wedding I
had to attend the next day in the other end of the state at Trivandrum, which
was a ten hour bus ride from where I was. “So, I will catch the mid-night bus!”
and we walked around the hall.
******************
“When can I get a
bus back to Trivandrum? I need to reach tomorrow night”, near the reception, I
saw my little worried friend, the only other guy who had come from Trivandrum,
and my mouth stretch into a idiotic smile. Because that guy over there, who was
enquiring about the bus… I had met him about a week back at another party in
Trivandrum… And he had a Brutal weapon! A weapon of Mass Destruction!
“This is no
ordinary guy” I grabbed him by his shoulder and introduced him to my friends, “This…
is The King of Chalu!” I announced with sufficient dramatic effect, “Come on
dude, let these guys have a taste of your medicine. Go on, shoot your best
stuff!” And that guy instantly forgot his bus booking woes and got to business.
He cracked Chalus, until all of us could breathe no more! “Do you know which
snack makes us scream? Any guess? It is Ice-cream (I Scream)” As irritating as
Chalus can get, there is something addictively fun about it. It was Awesome!
“Come on, let’s
have a Lime soda”, one of the buddies suggested and we walked to the little
shop outside, the tirade of Chalus still continuing. “So when are you heading
back?” I asked him, and we exchanged our travel plans. He was going to stay for
the night and head back the next morning. “Alright then, my car is here?” He
said heading back to the auditorium. “Where are you going to crash tonight?” I
asked him and he told me that they had made arrangements at dormitory, some
place close. I finished my Lime Soda.
And after one
hour, I found myself yet again at the wrong end of the Chalu King’s tirade.
Yeah, it did sound fun when the others had to listen to it, but not so much
right now!
Since the next
bus to Trivandrum was only at 1 am in the night, my host CA Sanal suggested
that I stay at the dormitory till then. “Sanal ettan will take some rest over
here and go home at some 12.30. On the way he will drop me at the bus-stop and
I will catch my bus home.” I informed my plan to the guys and they took me to
the dormitory. They had already started the party. A little tea party!
“Want some fresh
air?”, “Oh sure!” I exclaimed and stuck my head out of the window to have a
deep, full, satisfying breath of Fresh Air. Wow, did my lungs desperately need
that. “Where is the tea?” I enquired. One of the guys pulled out a flask from
the cup-board and poured tea into one cup, from which we took turns to drink.
“Hey guys”, the
kid who helped manage the dormitory came in and told, “You are not allowed to
have this over here. And if you really want some fresh air, please go to the
terrace, or we all might fall in trouble!” He informed. He decided to stick our
head farther out of the window for some fresh air… So that the smell of fresh
air won’t linger around the room.
I don’t quite
remember how many cups of tea did I gulp
in. I am pretty sure it is much lesser than the other guys, except the Chalu
King and one other fellow named Sachin, neither of them had tea. But I do
remember that there was a lot of music after that. We took turns to sing. I
don’t know which song we all sang, but I sounded as if the night was whispering
I some poetic breeze, with the stars dancing in the sky… and… and… and then it
was all a blur…
******************
No! I am not
going to blame anybody. I very clearly remember Sanal ettan waking me up. But
then, I was so tired, and there was music, and they were my friends, and then
there was tea, and I was tired… and somewhere in the middle of the night, I
decided to stay back. “But what about the wedding you were supposed to attend?”
The Chalu King, who will henceforth be called CK, enquired. “Oh sure! Drench me
in guilt and now do you feel happy”, I thought to myself and said… what do you
say when you don’t have an answer? Yeah, you just beat around the bush and talk
about something else. I did that.
But on the bright
side, it was decided that I would travel back with CK, which was a relief for
both of us. So we trolled around much of the morning in the dormitory. All that
dancing and tea made us so tired, that we hadn’t taken bath till around 10 am.
We had decided to take the bus at around 3 pm, but then this happened and that
happened, and finally we decided to stay for the cultural, which would begin at
some 5 pm, and leave after an hour or so at 6.30.
And that meant,
dancing till your bones broke, howling till your throat cracked and celebrating
till you had no more muscle left in your body! “Is he stealing that purse?” The
host of the event asked over the mike as he saw me grab my backpack and sneak
out of the hall. “No, it’s his bag”, my buddies bailed me out. “Alright, then
can we have a loud applause for our guest in Trivandrum!” There was some cheer
as I made my exit?
CK and I caught an
auto to the bus stand and over there, We Were Stumped. “All Buses to Trivandrum
are full!” Of course, it was a Sunday! All buses had to be full. And I had to
be at work the next morning.
******************
“Any buses to
Trivandrum? Any booking? Private bus? Transport bus? Anything” I called up half
a dozen guys and nobody could help out. We were in deep trouble. Until we saw
one glitter of hope – a deluxe bus that went till Trivandrum, “But you have
seat availability only till Thrissur!”
“I guess we will
have more buses from Thrissur”, I opined. “The odds or same as getting a bus
from here”, CK responded. He had a point. “Well, let’s find out?” And we took
the leap of faith by taking Thrissur tickets in the bus.
Ahhhh! Finally!
After 3 days of travelling and dancing and partying and all that tea, the
cushion seats of the deluxe seats felt Bliss! Thrissur was a 3 hour journey, so
I could comfortably grab a nice, peaceful 3 hour sleep. Or so I thought.
“Hey, can I have
your power bank?” CK shook me awake. “Oh sure, but there isn’t so much power in
it. I think it can do for some 10%.”
“What about your
phone?” He asked. “Never mind”, I said and quietly slipped into a nap.
“Hey!” I jerked
out of sleep. “You know what, you should charge your phone. You only have all
the contacts. We will need it when we reach Thrissur.” CK suggested. “Yeah, you
are right!” I agreed drowsily and plugged my phone into the power bank! And off
I go to sleep -
“Hey! Do have a
data pack?” CK shook my shoulder and asked. He was so punctual. One second
later and I might have actually caught some sleep. “Yeah, why?” “I want to
check redbus, see if I can get a bus from Thrissur” I gave him my phone and
turned away to shut my eyes.
“Bloody
Blundaleomite!” CK shouted and shoved the phone back to me! I had no idea to
what sin I was paying the price. I painfully pulled my eyelids open, grabbed
the phone from him, put it in my bag and – “Hey, don’t forget to turn the data
off. Takes up a lot of battery!” Why don’t you just killed me now??
“Hey!” ALRIGHT
THAT’S IT! “We reached Thrissur” Well, I didn’t have much difficulty getting
up, as I barely caught any sleep. But as I turned around to look at my busmate
– CK, I swore that if he did this to me one more time, I would strangle him by
his throat and catch my next bus to Viyoor! The Prison!
******************
Just one bus was
available to Trivandrum. A super-fast transport bus and its seats had filled
up. It was going to be a 7 hour journey, so we could not even imagine standing
all the way. But it was not as if I was going to get some sleep anyway! “But
there will be people who get down at Kochi, which is just one and half hours
away. We can get a seat after that”, CK said. I felt that was a decent deal. We
got onto the bus. I thought it was bad enough being woken up from my sleep 15
times in two hours, but then…
“What do you call
a mother who always Prays? Premam (Pray Mum)” Apparently CK cracks
substandard Chalus when he is bored. As if the regular Chalus weren’t bad enough!
“Alright! This is
it! I can’t be the only one to suffer this fate. If I am going down, I am
taking the world with me!” I announced and whipped out my phone. “Go ahead Bro,
hit me with your best stuff, and I am going to post it all in our Whatsapp group”
His face lit up like a 500 volt bulb and Chalus cracked out of him like…
Crackers!
Now that was fun!
CK and I laughed at our jokes as we passed it on to various Whatsapp groups.
“Seriously dude”, CK looked up to me and ask. “How is this possible? I mean,
how do you manage to party wherever you are?” I look at him and stated, in a
matter-of-fact manner – “I don’t manage to party… I AM THE PARTY!”
******************
Have you ever
felt bored in a bus journey? Have you ever looked out of the window and felt,
“How much farther?” Well, the next time you are on a bus, stop looking around
and close your eyes. Close your eyes and concentrate! Focus on the gentle sway
of the bus; this way and that way, this way and that way. Listen to the sound
of the engine, there is a beat to it. And hear the gear change? There is rhythm
in it too. Occasionally you can hear somebody whisper behind you, maybe hear a
child cry, or an uncle snore and kid yawn. You can hear the yonking of the
vehicles outside and the sudden breaks of the bus. Feel all that happen around
you with your eyes closed, and all of a sudden, everything appears to be
magical.
You know why that
is? Because when you close your eyes, you lose control of what happens around
you. You are so accustomed to sight, so much that when you close your eyes even
for a second, you feel yourself at the mercy of destiny. And when you are in
this zooming bus with your eyes closed, at a deeper level you realise that you
are not in control of anything at all. And that makes you appreciate stuff! The
cry of the baby and the snoring uncle, all that looked irritating to you, will
sound beautiful. You are just standing there idly, and yet zooming past
vehicles and trees and bumpy roads at 60kmph, and you are still alive, still
safe. At that moment you thank everything around you. The driver, the
conductor, the bus, the transport
department, the other vehicles on the road and everything else.
And suddenly, all
those little things appear to be pretty. Perhaps that is how it is with life,
isn’t it? At Kochi we got two comfortable seats, and I continued to think.
Little things that annoy us, little things that upset us – the ego within us,
that we are in control of the world – isn’t that responsible for our
depression? Maybe if we shed our ego, try to acknowledge the fact, that the
reason we are sitting in front of this computer is so many amazing people and amazing efforts around us,
not even a fraction of which belongs to us, makes us feel so small. Makes us
appreciate all those millions and billions of tiny things around us. And maybe,
all those millions and billions of little things around us, that is called God.
At 5.30 in the
morning we reached Trivandrum. CK caught an auto home and I took another bus
home. It was cold outside, and I was still in the hangover of the past two
days. The energy was buzzing in me, and at the same time, I was terribly tired.
Maybe will have a nap for a couple of hours before I head to office. I dropped
a message to the guys back at Kozhikode that I had landed safely. Even at the
break of dawn, they were quick to reply. Some people can be so full of…
Love
