Reason...

Yeah..as I had said I would be writing about this person with whom I had a nice journey from Pune to Berhampur. We actually started talking to each other pretty late into the 30 hour journey that I had. Probably the reason being that both of us skeptical to break the ice. I had this gut feeling that I had seen him somewhere though I didn’t remember when and where. Finally after he told me that he is a student in XIMB, I realized I had seen his snap in some of the snaps that Jeet had shown me as few from the JLTs that they have. There are certain things for which I would remember this journey and this guy as well! The things that I would remember are:

Ø The oldest kid, Anisha shouting twinkle twinkle …into my ears at the top of her voice just because Manas asked her to.
Ø Anisha eating up half of my snickers…booo hooo hooo and me not being able to do anything.
Ø Manas devouring the newspaper “Mid Day” in the initial hour of the journey.
Ø Me and Manas handling kids all day and watching Lage Raho Munnabhai with them on his lappy so that the kids remain silent – A mini theatre.
Ø Me talking a lot to Kaushik , to door-karofy the initial boredom.
Ø Me about to miss my train on the Vijayawada station because of my looking out for the AS 1 compartment and Manas pulling my leg constantly after that.
Ø Me and Manas having an enriching conversation about careers today especially MBA and the pros of doing it at the so called “right time” standing at the door of the compartment.
Ø Manas running out of the Vizag station to get ciggies and also getting a storehouse of junk and the lady beside us actually thinking that he had gone out for the latter.
Ø Me having toblerones, snickers, dairy milk and ferrero rocher throughout the journey.
Ø Smelling nappies all day and night!
Ø Meeting CB after more than 6 months at the Secunderabad station early morning and eating Dairy Milk.
Ø Manas showing me the amazing snaps of XIMB and his b’day party and dance videos so that I don’t sleep off.
Ø The whopping number of coffees that I had in the journey.
Ø Not to forget, me relishing my chicken biriyani on the first night and Manas staring at it continually like a glutton.
Ø Me, Manas and the lady having a nicey discussion about MBA, married life and not to forget saas-bahu serials and kids at 10 in the night.
Ø The other guy trying to get really nice to me and he trying to pull Manas down all the time… had a ball of a time seeing 2 guys hitting back at each other with vengeance.
Ø Me thinking about going to CCD – aha, how I am missing that!
Ø Manas and me finally having a nice talk just before reaching Berhampur – a discussion that didn’t make much sense to me. What I mean is that a guy speaking up so much about himself in just a single meeting.
Ø Me reminded of Situ just because of the way Manas spoke and carried himself.
Ø Surprisingly enough, Manas asking me right on my face if I am single and also saying that he has broken off from a year old relationship.
Ø Me and Manas discussing about a common aim of setting up a small and part –time business of content development once done with out MBAs.
Ø Discussing life in XIMB and common friends – Anurag, Akhil, Anunay and Jeet.
Ø Manas confessing that his initial impression of me was that I was a Bengali and a person heavily into reading et al.
Ø Manas requesting me for some toblerones which I couldn’t deny.
Ø The bachas crying incessantly throughout the journey and Kaushik asking me to shut them up , rather to ask them to lower their volume.
Ø Dad giving me 1000 and 1 instructions till I reached home.
Ø Discussing places like Pune, Shirdi, Bangalore, Vizag and the backwaters of Kerala.
Ø Manas striking up a conversation with a guy and he offering him ciggies which seemed like heavenly manna to him at that point of time.
Ø The 10 month old boy staying more with me rather than his momma and the 4 year old girl becoming Manas’ GF – he he he !
Ø Manas asking me if I would have pulled the chain to stop the train had he missed it on the Vizag station since I was his co-passenger.

There is a lot more that I can write about my journey but then the most important fact that holds true was that I was missing something.. I wish I knew what exactly was I missing. Still, I would remember this journey as one of the most enjoyable journeys that I have had in my life.