Love on the Chook Chook (A Tragi-Comedic Experience)

Ernakulam Railway Station, morning 7.30 a.m.

I had just landed along with Kissy, A college Mate on another Train!

"Hey Rosh! Where is Vipin, Man? He had promised to be here!!"

"No Idea Bhai. Let us wait. There's Plenty of Time for the Express"

[Since this is a story...names have been changed...Kissy will remain Kissy...no real names given. So, No Fear!]

We deposited our luggage in a heap near a bench and sat down to wait for the other college mates to come.

We were the students of Regional Engineering College, Durgapur, West Bengal. Kerala had a quota of 6 seats including reservation in REC Durgapur. It was our Summer Vacations and we had all gone home to enjoy and were returning back to College.

"Yaar. No Charakks here Man!!"

["Charakk"....in Malaylam means "Goods"...Same as in "Maal" in Hindi]

"Saaley...!! There is nothing but charakks in your mind. Remember our picnic to the barrage where you called a couple of aunties charakks and their Hubbies came to beat the shit out of you?"

"Yaar. How can I forget that. Anyway those aunties were real Maals!!heee hee"

"Saaley. Bhaag. So you want to get a thrashing in your Home ground Also? Well, Count me Out!!"

I wandered down to the Higgin Bothams Bookstore, purchased a novel and a few magazines and settled down to read the mags. Kissy was already relaxing listening to music on his Walkman.

[This was a time before mobile phones and mp3 players. All we could lay hands was the good old Walkman!! Now the Cassette together with the Walkman are becoming extinct!!]

At around, 8.30 Vipin came to the station.

"Vipin. This Saaley is upto his old charakk tricks now. You better keep under control. We dont want to get thrashed!"

"Kissy....Any further Maal trouble...Tere Sir Kaput. Samjah?"

"Kissy..is a Skirt Chaser dude. You can never straighten a dog's tail. Same with Kissy"

"Theek hai. I am listening to Music. No Maal trouble. Satisfied??"

"hmmmmmmmmmm..."

Vipin went down to the refreshment booth and got for us some "Fruitis".

More Time pass..chatting about our vacations!!

"God knows what Bhose D.K has in plans for us in the new semester!! Woh to haraami hai saaley!"

"Yaar. My Suppli papers are starting 3 weeks down. Got loads to study. Otherwise M/s. Moorthy and Iyer will skin me alive.Are they Human or some sort of vampires. Khoon Choostha hai saala."

"Chal. Everything will be Ok"

By around 11.3o a.m, the Cochin Patna Express, slowly chugs into the station. We gather out luggages , walk down to the compartment which has our reserved berths.

Kissy and I had two side Berths near the Door. My Berth was the top one. Vipin had one of the long berths in the same area.

We had two more mates gettin on the train - Raky from Aluva(Alwaye) and Mani from palakkad (Palghat). By the time the train had started chugging, we had settled down in our seats.

After an Hour Raky joined us at Aluwa. We four began a card game to pass time.

We went up and down the compartment and found that it was berefit of girls - only aunties and mausis and naanis.

Kissy as usual sported a dejected look.

"Yaar. Rajasthan is more ferltile than this compartment. Not even one chick!!"

Vipin was his usual taciturn self. But Raky couldn't but pull Kissy's leg.

"Bhag. You and your Chick Business. Kya, do you have any plans to go into Poultry Business? No Wonder!!"

" Many of the seats are still empty. We cant loose hope. maybe, some chick will get on at other stations. After all we have to travel for 3 days and 3 nights...right??"

Soon, We reached Palakkad Station. Mani climbed in with his luggages.

We started to make a big hullaboo teasing mani singing..."Ding Dong Ding Dong...Mani Bajae"

It was then, a family climbed into the compartment.

At first it was the father, then the mother and then.....two girls.

Kissy suddenly sat upright..chest all puffed up reminding us of the Skinny Man-with-puffed-up-chest-when-girl -passes-by dept.

Both the girls were very beautiful. When they passed us, they looked at us, with a faint smile on their lips.

Kissy was overcome with Joy.

The train chugged on........

Some one yelling into my ear "Rosh! wake up! Its Madras Station Already!! Udd Yaar!"

I opened my eyes and there stood Vipin with his toothbrush in his hand!

I was mad at him for breaking my beautiful sleep "Oh yaar! it was a Good Sleep! Why the Hell did you have to break it?"

But he was not going to let me off to sleep again... "Lazy bones. Get up. You can sleep later in the afternoon"

I looked down from my berth to Kissy's Berth and found it vacant!

"Vipin! where is Kissy?"

"Romeo has gone with Raky to trawl the other compartments for "Maals"!!"

"Yaar. Kissy is going to misguide Raky for sure. Chappal se maar milke hi vaapas aayega!"

I got down from my berth, got out my toothbrush and paste and walked to the toilet/wash area.

The two girls who had got on at Palakkad were standing there, brushing their teeth.

"Excuse Me. Could i just wet my toothbrush a bit?"

They turned around.

Both of them were beautiful!!!

They smiled and stood aside and i wetted by tooth brush and moved away.

I stood at one of the doors brushing my teeth. I could see that both the girls were stealing looks at me on the sly.

Not wanting to miss the moment, i gave them a toothpaste filled smile and they burst out laughing and giggling!!

I too laughed with them. (Roshan's advise : Try to grab the moment, dudes! make the most of every moment, however akward they are!!)

After they had finished with their brushing and cleaning, they were still loitering near the doors.

I too had completed my cleaning and i gave them a "full colgate smile"!

They were impressed, I think, for they smiled quite nicely.

Not wanting to lose the opportunity, i gathered courage and asked

"Hi. are you going all way to Patna?"

"No. We are getting down at Kharaghpur"

"Ok. I am Roshan. We are Engineering College Students. We are going back to college after the durga puja vacations "

[I didnt bother to inform them that i was heading for Durgapur. What was the use?]

By this time, Kissy followed by Raky have joined me and is taking stealth looks at the girls.

Kissy starts poking me and I, getting his point, introduced them to the girls!!

[Balance to come...]