Intercity Performance

“Surrender your ticket within 3 (three) hours of departure of last train in case you are unable to perform journey.”

Well, there was definitely not going to be any performance: missed the train by forty-five seconds. It was just pulling out of the platform as I reached, I thought perhaps I could make it, but there was more than a hundred metres to cover and it was picking up speed. And all because Bangalore City Station decides to use only four of the twelve ticket counters it has set up! I wish I had read the reverse of the ticket though, I didn’t know about the refund on the ticket. So I decided to take the bus from across the road: the Chennai State Express, not much of an express though, it stopped at every place possible and never went beyond fifty kmph.

The seat next to me was occupied by Anand Babu M: full name, or so he introduced himself while tapping his chest. I spoke to him in Tamil, but he refused to answer in Tamil, replying to my queries in English. And his English was worse than my Tamil.

I asked him what he did. He took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, a letterhead for ‘V.S. Technical Works, Chennai – manufacturers of all types of bearings’

“So you’re an engineer then?” I asked.

He nodded. They were the largest manufacturers of ball bearings in India. They supplied the bearings for crankshafts, pulleys, cranes and a number of other such mechanical wonders.

A few minutes later he produced another card from his pocket. This was another job he did. This one was in Kohlapur, in the garment business. Apparently he was the manager of Royston garments, India’s largest garment manufacturer, even though I’ve never heard of them.

“What about V.S. Technical works?” I asked

“That is side job. When manager call I come.”

I wondered how he could be an engineer. Perhaps he was a salesman? I asked him.

“No, no. Technicals!”

“So, now what are you going to do in Chennai?”

“Boss call. Urgent. So I come.”

It seemed a fair explanation.

Later as I was reading (Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar) Anand Babu M: full name tapped me and pointed out a huge manufacturing plant that we were passing. “Hyundai factory” he said, while rashly driving an imaginary car. “Very big. Two thousand kilometres.” I suspect he may have been exaggerating. It seemed to be a trend with him.

I fell asleep for a bit and awoke just after noon. We had reached a rather desolate town. The vegetation was brown and everything was dry despite it having just rained.

I asked Anand Babu M: full name if he knew where we were.

“Sriperumbudur” he remarked grimly. Not seeing any recognition in my eyes he continued to explain “Here, Rajiv Gandhi, finish!” This ominous statement he accompanied with a severing of the neck motion.

A little further on and the rain started to come down rather hard. Everyone closed their windows. The bus creaked along. My window didn’t shut completely; water leaked in. Anand Babu M: full name, showed a considerable amount of ingenuity and borrowed a biscuit wrapper from the couple in front of us and wedged it in the window. I smiled gratefully. I thought it was awfully kind of him.

As we neared Chennai I stared counting the milestones before falling asleep. I was woken up just outside the city. Anand Babu M: full name was getting down here. He bid me farewell (“Ok. Thank you.”) along with a little bow, his hand upon his heart. I waved goodbye.