Wednesday, October 12, 2005

neW yeaR @ railwaY platforM

“How about going to Juhu beach to celebrate the New Year?” The idea came from George. Well, since it came from him, who had a proven track record of coming up with ideas which end up in scrapes, we were kind of reluctant to show the green flag. New Year happens only once in a year and wise men say that a bad New Year will have its effect on the entire year, made us think about it a bit more before jumping in. This coupled with our pathetic situation on the work front with more number of night shifts and heavy work load all under the swathe of an emaciated wallet; didn’t allow us to take a risk. But George was so convincingly propounding that it would be a nice time and we would get a chance to see the real chicks of Mumbai and so and so; we finally decided to give it a try.

By 6 pm all of us were ready. Everyone was dressed up in classic macho man attires to drive in the attention of the fairer sex. We moved towards Juhu beach which was like one, one and a half hours journey from our place. En-route we managed to have a heavy dinner also. Once we reached the beach, our usual leg-pulling sessions started. The baton got circulated several times and each and everyone in the gang got a chance to experience it. We did that relentlessly; without neglecting the “crowd” around us.

Came midnight and the crowd cheered themselves to welcome the New Year. Someone started the countdown and everyone else repeated it in one voice. Who knows whether the timing was correct or not! The moment the count down ended, a cracker went up the sky and exploded into a beautiful sea of light. Then there were a foray of them; of different colors, in different shapes and sizes.

At about 12:30 we decided to return to our flat as the metro train service of Mumbai stops at 1 am. Now came another suggestion from George, which was about taking a promenade to the railway station? He said that it would be interesting to walk to the station on a New Year eve that too in the night, having “fun filled” talks. He also reminded that we had 30 more minutes to catch the last train. We wouldn’t have agreed to his words if not we had seen the group of girls who started walking in front of us. In such situations, you don’t need someone else to guide you and make such strategic decisions.

Well, the stroll was interesting and all but realities nibbled us and let us realize that the distance to the railway station was more than what we had expected and by the time we reached there, the last train had already left the station. Kurla railway station, 1:30 in the night, seemingly empty platform and a few beggars here and there and then there was our gang. A few police men were roaming around and luckily, despite us making such loud noises, they didn’t turn towards us. The conditions were ridiculous and we had to go to our office the next morning. But all we could do was to spend time at the station in one of those old wooden benches and wait for the morning train to come. And the wait started by giving bumps to George for coming up with such an awful idea. The bumps sessions continued periodically.

But yeah it was fun. To spend a night in a railway platform that too on a New Year, engage in insane talks that too in the late night and have the occasional bumps sessions. Next day in the office I was doing coding that someone clouted me on my back. It was my Project Leader. I was wondering why the hell he did that even though I was busy in coding. Later I realized that I was doing coding in my dream. Actually I was dozing on the chair due to my lack of sleep the previous night. Gosh! That night-out at the railway station...


29 comments:

kickassso said...

I spend Eons at the bus stand at East fort these days.I bet i spend 4% of my life there...
btw while you were there, you could have tried your hand at some kooli pani!
a bunc of s/w enggr's doing kooli pani would have been a sight to see :D

milo said...

sounds adventurous...wld love to spend such a night wid my gang of frnds...

sinusoidally said...

That is such a fun New Year's memory. See, no matter how silly George's idea was, he gave you all a story to tell your grabdchildren one day...maybe more!

Sujith said...

> niki
hmm only coding was the dream! :-) ha ha no none of us caught a cold, bt yeah it was gr8 fun..

> kickassso
hmm.. we really thought about it u knw.. ;-)

> milo
sure u can also give it a try! bt it shud happen with out any planning, then it is more fun.. :-)

> sinusoidally
George is one nice kind of a person. i knw he will read my comment but still, he is the "game for anything? yes!" kind of a guy.. and i like that attitude.. in fact we had many such (mis)adventures.. btw u read my post in a different angle.. :-)

Geo said...

ha ha ha...

good old memories...

we did have a hell of a time...

like someone above mentioned, it indeed gave us a nice story to tell our grandchildren... :_D

nestpa said...

One time, we guys were sleeping on the pretty uncomfortable benches of the Ernakulam South Rlwy Station, hoping to catch the first train back home to Trivandrum, in the morning. The train was already on the platform, being the first train to leave the station in the morning and all. A good policeman (they exist), invited us to sleep in the train, and even recommended getting an Aamathiri, mosquito coil, so that we'd hve a good sleep!

Geo said...

I think u forgot some juicy titbits :_D

Like some 10 or 12 of us were waiting at Kural Station, waiting for the first train, fighting mosquitoes, watching rag pickers’ fights and all...

Since none of us could sleep, we decided to call our friends in Chennai and disturb their sleep. And when we called, it turned out that they all were enjoying their new year in a full nude dance bar at Pondi. :_( All we had for company was the dance and songs of mosquitoes, and they lookin at you-know-whats of you-know-whom... Anticlimax again :_((

-Poison- said...

aha...is Geo the george in question?
:-?

Sujith said...

> rabbi
cool! so u also had similar experience..

> sangeetha
oops!! only coding was the dream, rest all happened ;-))

> geo
hmm.. i didnt forget abt that.. ;-) the mosquitos were also full nude ;-))

> neil
ha ha.. thts a nice experience.. oh policemen do things like that eeh!

> poison
;-)

Geo said...

@-poison- : Precisely ;_))

Invincible said...

Great NewYear eve !!
Thanks Geo for making it so memorable n giving us a chance to laugh out on it :D

Invincible said...

Jithu, if you are not aware,
there is some serious battle going on between IIPM and Blogger community. Pls drop by my blog for details.

Thanks !!

silverine said...

Looks like you guys had a memorable time at the station. But what did you do wrong to start New Year on the wrong foot? :))

venus said...

I am picturing your son reading your book or journal one day with the title: a New Years' eve at Kurla Station!
I'm envious that I am not having such fun :P

Sujith said...

> geo
u said it.. :-)

> invincible
hmm.. yeah! btw i have been following the IIPM - JAM allegations for a while.. i read ur post. its really commendable that u come up with a post for that..

> silverine
yup definitely we had a wonderful time.. it was AN experience.. wt did we do wrong.. hmmm...

> venus
ha ha.. tht was so futuristic.. ;-)) btw u can also have the fun.. sort of planned one :-))

Anonymous said...

pretty good experience...u'll never be able to erase these kinda stuff frm ur mind...even thou u want to...it will remain intact...makin' one smile wen we go down our memory lane while takin' a small break frm our monotonous lives...i kinda luv da feelin' which makes me warm...no matter if am in a vry bad mood too.

Krishanu said...

ahhh...what the male of the species will do for the attentions of the female. a prime example of the old adage 'boys will be boys'. well at least you had fun, spending the night in a railway station (something i have done but not willingly at all) and then sleeping on the job ;).

btw thanks for stopping by my blog. do visit again...

Sujith said...

> tangy
u r correct.. things like this will remain for ever. and now when i think about them it makes me smile. hw mischievous we were! well, nothing changed now as well.. :-)

> krishanu
ha ha.. wt else man.. thts wt we men are made for. ;-)))

> banished soul
surya mole, thnx for the appreciation.. btw did u do the same thing sometime? nahi, just for a cross checking :-))) just kidding.. yeah a belated happy onashamsakal to u too.. :-)

divya said...

quite an adventure..

Aditi said...

hehe...
nice post.
thanks 4 visitng my blog

Aashi said...

that must have been fun...late night,walking,talking,bumping!! he he...NJOY!!

Sujith said...

> divya
thank you.. :-)

> aditi
thnx yaar.. :-)

> af
yup it was real fun.. bt lost fun.. donno whether its possible anytime in my life. :-(

Fursat said...

hey Thank u so much for being at my blog...h r u doing?

i am sorry cudnt read ur post...i hope all is fine with you...

take care

God bless u !

Anonymous said...

hey...i left a comment here earlier and now i cant seem to find it!! :-(( anyways...u take care, and thanks for droppin by my blog

Anonymous said...

u see not all of them had to go to office the next day (and that included george i remember ;)
nice new year that...
and those mosquitoes...
how could any one forget...

Anonymous said...

wat a way to usher in a new year....:-)!!
cya arnd the rly station!
Divs

Sujith said...

> neetie
yup mam, long time no see.. am doing fine.. hw abt u? btw i read ur post.. :-)

> chips
oh really? no idea hw did it happen! mabbe some server side problems.. anyways.. same to u too.. :-)

> kg
dey, yup i know that.. he he.. Jan 1 was a holiday except for a few of us!! ;-) it was an eventful new year.. eventhough we were really embarassed that day, when we think about it now, those were in deed the best days rt.. :-)

> divya
ha ha.. u r also plannin something similar this time arnd? do lemme know.. here is an experienced soul. :-)

Praveen said...

i have heard that what happens on new years tends to repeat throughout the year, so did you have to spend too many nights in the railway station this year? :)

Sujith said...

> praveen
ha ha.. naa. it didnt happen.. in fact i hardly traveled in train after that.. :-)