Half past one in the morning on 14th of November 2009, the Mandore express going from Jodhpur to Delhi derailed 40 kms off Jaipur. Most NLU-ites having finished the exams and heading homewards to Delhi for vacations were on the train. One student, Sonal Singh, a first year, is among the dead. It was never reported why the derailment happened, whose mistake it was or even what actually happened.
A week has passed since I left Jodhpur. Now I am in Mumbai for my internship. And meanwhile, I visited Delhi, Chennai and Madurai (and Rajapalayam too, if you know anything about unpronouncable little towns in Tamilnadu).
I took the Mandore express from Jodhpur that fateful Friday night. I reached Delhi, thanks to Sargam who helped me catch a bus from Jaipur after the train derailed. On reaching Delhi, Tahini hugged me. Two days later, on reaching home - Bangalore, my mom hugged me. Two more days later, when I reached Chennai for a marriage, my entire extended family hugged me.
And four days hence when I went to our native town Rajapalayam for the reception, every grandmother or near-grandmother in sight hugged me, pinched my cheek, kissed my forehead, cooed how they had seen me as a two year old kid, how I had grown so much (excuse me, but wouldn't it be a problem if I hadn't grown at all?) , how I was the kid in their marriage videos dancing to my then favourite song 'chikku bukku chikku bukku railu banthu', how I was the kid who stole appalams* (yes, unfortunately caught by a nosy videographer who probably was insane enough to think it was cute and didn't exactly foresee the trauma it would cause me at this age when revealed in front of a battalion of nephews, nieces and younger cousins. Much like parents who click naked pics of their kids and save them as potential artillery in albums for posterity) and how 'colour'** I had been when I was two years old and had dark-ified over time. I had the 'studying in the naarth' factor which contributed to my inclusion on the list of 'rarely-sighted species' along with my 'Doobai' cousin Murugan*** and my UK-return aunt who weren't spared either.
By the time I got my hands on the koththu barota**** and idiyaapam*****, I had been roundly showcased and introduced to everyone who I had not seen in the past ten years and who I can safely assume I wont be meeting in the next ten years.
By the time I realised I hadn't slept for four whole days for more than three hours at a stretch, I had been put into one Kanjeevaram silk saree after another, decked in Joyalukkas jewellery, had sacred ash on my forehead on a permanent basis and had visited quite a few temples. I wouldn't have been surprised if at the end of the week I had forgotten how to walk in Nike shoes and learnt how to eat properly liquid payasam off the banana leaf like any good Tamil girl.
Before my aunts could delve too much upon the length of my hair and how the fact that I leave it open most times provide little scope to make a flower arrangement on my head, it was time for me to leave for my internship. So digesting the two meals the Air India Madurai-Chennai-Mumbai flight gave me, I drifted off to sleep reading Chetan Bhagat's Two States, sympathizing with the Indian marriage woes the book describes.
Marriages are good fun as long as you are not the one getting married. Whoever thought of the concept of marriages had a social orgy in mind for sure.
*appalams - It is the same as poppadams. It is the subject of Intellectual property rights dispute between Tamilians, Mallus, Kannadigas and the Telugu people as to who invented it.
**colour - No no, don't think VIBGYOR. In South Indian terms, one is 'colour' means one is fair. Yes, we Indians are racist.
*** Attention Attention. My cousin Murugan is Nallavar, vallavar. Naalum therinjavar.Karunai kadal. (Good man. Virtuous man. Sea of pity). Neer vaazhga, kulam vaazhga! - Inserted on request of Murugan himself. (On a serious note, may his shoe laces untie. He reads my blog but never leaves a comment.)
**** Koththu Barota - Distinct from paratha as it has many layers. Speciality of Madurai. Mashed up Barota with spices and masala.
***** Idiyaapam - Rice noodles with spices or sugar.
P.S. Ramsub and I are in Mumbai for our internship. We are new to the city. Would be great if you guys could leave a comment telling us places we could go to and places we could try out. We are both foodies and would love to try anything new. So pretty please :)
