The good news is Uncle had a 300mm lens for me. Only hitch ... it's in Bangalore. As always though ... good luck shines, and Kumar happened to be on a visit to Bangalore, so he would be carrying my 300 for me on his way back to Valsad. All I had to do was pick it up at Kalyan at 09:40 PM. Easy enough task to do ... but I ended up 'doing a Chavan' on that one!
Doing a 'Chavan' requires that special level of absent-mindedness and bad planning that comes to very few souls (Chavan himself being one, and now me)! The legendary Chavan once missed a flight because he calculated "2000 hours" to be 10:00 PM. Another time, he made us wait a night at the airport because he got the timezones wrong and would actually only be landing 24 hours later. A third time, him and me collaborated to miss a flight, because I thought divine intervention would bring a "no-traffic-blocks-day" to Bangalore (Yes, my optimism knows no bounds!!!).
So I'm in the office at 8:00 PM, and I think, "9:40 is a long way off ... 20 minutes to Mulund / Thane in a rickshaw, and 30 minutes drive with Shantanu upto Kalyan station. Hmmm ... What was that? You wanna grab a beer? Well .. I guess I have the time." So Shraddha, Avinash, and me get to Pop Tate's and get a table when I start thinking "Hey ... maybe this is too close ... got to rush!" Shantanu calls to check where I am ... and I get the "Whattannidiot!" tone from him. That's when I decide to leave. It's 08:20 and I still have an hour and 20 minutes to get to Kalyan.
Why the roundabout route you ask? Why not just take a local train to Kalyan? Well ... I'm not much of a local train person ... too crowded for me. I'd probably never even get in! Plus, Shantanu had some new music in the car for me to sample.
"Rickshaw! ... Rickshaw!" ... no response. First signs this ... I've never had to wait more than a few seconds to get a rick at Pop Tate's! I start walking, and couple of hundred metres towards Vikhroli depot, I flag one down. 08:25.
"Mulund check-naka?" ... Nod of the head and I get in.
08:35. Gandhinagar. So far so good. Signal's turned green twice, and not too much movement. Not unusual for this signal, but it's usually clear past this. So chill. Third green light .. and I see it's not really clear! Does not look good!
08:40. Gandhinagar.
08:45. 30 meters past the signal. Still Gandhinagar.
08:50. We're finally clear. Someone chose the wrong time, and the "wrong-est" spot for an accident. 50 meters either way, and the traffic would not be this bad!
09:00. Nahur / Airoli flyover. We're supposed to be taking the left below this bridge and heading to Mulund(W). But it seems like my rickshaw man has other ideas. I check. He confirms that it's straight we go ... Well ok. maybe that other route through Mulund(East) is faster!
09:01. Halfway up the flyover. Point of no return. "Sir ... you want to go to East / West?". I could have smashed his head with a sledgehammer, but I did not have one handy ... so I let it pass. "Check-naka = Mulund(West)". I give him a minor lesson in Mumbai's geography, with as much sledgehammer as I can deliver in my tone of voice (which, my friends tell me, is not much). And we take that other route through Mulund(East).
09:13. Mulund check-naka. I pay the man and run across the check-naka to find Shantanu. He's waiting.
09:17. Shanto (Bangladeshi rock band) is playing something in Bangla, and we're off to Kalyan. Switch to Avial a little while later. Aadu Paambe. Is awesome stuff!!! Smiles all around.
09:35. The turn-off to Kalyan from the highway. 7kms to go. 10 mins before the train leaves Kalyan station ... Kumar calls to confirm it's running on time.
09:42. Very close to the station. The train has not pulled in yet, and I see hope.
09:45. Still not reached the station. Stupid traffic, pedestrians, animals. Kumar is waiting on the platform with the bag in his hand.
09:48. Flyover ahead. Now that's something we should not have been seeing! Wait a minute ... it looks familiar. Hmmm ... hmmm ... Damn! And then another Damn! We've overshot the station by a km or so!!! We're just turning around when Kumar calls to tell us that the train's leaving ... and there goes any chance of me using that lens in Thailand!
We did think about going out to the Bhiwandi hookah place for a bit, but realised that we had already taken the wrong turn and were heading back towards home! Probably a good thing considering the events of the evening. Tomorrow already looks like a better day ...
Doing a 'Chavan' requires that special level of absent-mindedness and bad planning that comes to very few souls (Chavan himself being one, and now me)! The legendary Chavan once missed a flight because he calculated "2000 hours" to be 10:00 PM. Another time, he made us wait a night at the airport because he got the timezones wrong and would actually only be landing 24 hours later. A third time, him and me collaborated to miss a flight, because I thought divine intervention would bring a "no-traffic-blocks-day" to Bangalore (Yes, my optimism knows no bounds!!!).
So I'm in the office at 8:00 PM, and I think, "9:40 is a long way off ... 20 minutes to Mulund / Thane in a rickshaw, and 30 minutes drive with Shantanu upto Kalyan station. Hmmm ... What was that? You wanna grab a beer? Well .. I guess I have the time." So Shraddha, Avinash, and me get to Pop Tate's and get a table when I start thinking "Hey ... maybe this is too close ... got to rush!" Shantanu calls to check where I am ... and I get the "Whattannidiot!" tone from him. That's when I decide to leave. It's 08:20 and I still have an hour and 20 minutes to get to Kalyan.
Why the roundabout route you ask? Why not just take a local train to Kalyan? Well ... I'm not much of a local train person ... too crowded for me. I'd probably never even get in! Plus, Shantanu had some new music in the car for me to sample.
"Rickshaw! ... Rickshaw!" ... no response. First signs this ... I've never had to wait more than a few seconds to get a rick at Pop Tate's! I start walking, and couple of hundred metres towards Vikhroli depot, I flag one down. 08:25.
"Mulund check-naka?" ... Nod of the head and I get in.
08:35. Gandhinagar. So far so good. Signal's turned green twice, and not too much movement. Not unusual for this signal, but it's usually clear past this. So chill. Third green light .. and I see it's not really clear! Does not look good!
08:40. Gandhinagar.
08:45. 30 meters past the signal. Still Gandhinagar.
08:50. We're finally clear. Someone chose the wrong time, and the "wrong-est" spot for an accident. 50 meters either way, and the traffic would not be this bad!
09:00. Nahur / Airoli flyover. We're supposed to be taking the left below this bridge and heading to Mulund(W). But it seems like my rickshaw man has other ideas. I check. He confirms that it's straight we go ... Well ok. maybe that other route through Mulund(East) is faster!
09:01. Halfway up the flyover. Point of no return. "Sir ... you want to go to East / West?". I could have smashed his head with a sledgehammer, but I did not have one handy ... so I let it pass. "Check-naka = Mulund(West)". I give him a minor lesson in Mumbai's geography, with as much sledgehammer as I can deliver in my tone of voice (which, my friends tell me, is not much). And we take that other route through Mulund(East).
09:13. Mulund check-naka. I pay the man and run across the check-naka to find Shantanu. He's waiting.
09:17. Shanto (Bangladeshi rock band) is playing something in Bangla, and we're off to Kalyan. Switch to Avial a little while later. Aadu Paambe. Is awesome stuff!!! Smiles all around.
09:35. The turn-off to Kalyan from the highway. 7kms to go. 10 mins before the train leaves Kalyan station ... Kumar calls to confirm it's running on time.
09:42. Very close to the station. The train has not pulled in yet, and I see hope.
09:45. Still not reached the station. Stupid traffic, pedestrians, animals. Kumar is waiting on the platform with the bag in his hand.
09:48. Flyover ahead. Now that's something we should not have been seeing! Wait a minute ... it looks familiar. Hmmm ... hmmm ... Damn! And then another Damn! We've overshot the station by a km or so!!! We're just turning around when Kumar calls to tell us that the train's leaving ... and there goes any chance of me using that lens in Thailand!
We did think about going out to the Bhiwandi hookah place for a bit, but realised that we had already taken the wrong turn and were heading back towards home! Probably a good thing considering the events of the evening. Tomorrow already looks like a better day ...
4 comments:
BTW, why is this phrase doing a "Chavan"? If you count it he has a slight edge at 3 incidents to your 2. And I've full faith that you can pull a stunt soon. Or two. Or more.
chalo isi bahane you remembered me! I am touched. :))
- Legendary Chavan
oops!that was pretty close...if u had not overshot the station i still doubt if u cud make it to kumar..coz kalyan station is(@9.45pm) all time crowded with long journey people,their laugages to add on narrow bridges....more over tracking kumar in shot span in such a junction seems to be actually difficult..better luck next time.
-wellwisher
Doing a Chavan..I think your stunts are worse than his!! Anyways..you should write more often!
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