Wednesday, April 01, 2009

#2 How She Met Him: Platform No. 5

Every MB I had read, every love story I had witnessed. Nothing, nothing had prepared me for that scorching hot January of 2006. Away from my homeland----Delhi, I was with my boss waiting at the Madurai Railway Station Platform number 5 for Vaigai Express to arrive.

I had often imagined how it would be to live inside a bubble. My three days in Madurai had given me quite that impression. Everyone around was busy talking in decibels that could seriously injure your ear-drums but I could not comprehend a single word----man it was frustrating. I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the crew members from Delhi. My simple logic for the so awaited arrival: I will have more people to talk to.

As the great Phoebe of the Friends hexagology had once said, “If you keep watching the door it never boils.” The train remained true to this dictum and decided to test my patience to the optimum by delaying its arrival for another 45 minutes. Waiting at the platform my boss and me had discussed at least 50 books and 500 people we really liked and hated respectively.

My fantasy of falling in love was about to realise, I could sense it. Talking to the person, we were on the platform to receive, I had had a gut feeling that something spectacular will happen. I had been in touch over the phone for the last two days re-confirming the scheduled arrival, name of the train, coach number and other such mundane details. But the distinct flavour of Delhi that his voice had brought to me miles away in Madurai had surprisingly replenished my energies. I was looking forward to meet him.

Seeing him for the first time was the realization of all my teenage fantasies where a typically MB hero would sweep me off my feet just purely on the merits of his being. He was not conventionally good looking. Generally not what a girl is looking for at my age. The hair that covered his crown were streaked white. He wore a cap for most part. Was a very casual dresser. Not a typical prince charming. BUT…but…He exuded raw charm that I had only read about. His every move, his manners and mannerisms only reinforced, mind you in very strong measures at that, his ultimate being. Judging him a good person was not difficult at all. In fact, one look at him and I knew he was a well educated and a learned man… He had something about himself that just…just made me instantly Fall In Love with HIM.

*A pure figment of my imagination, with a little reality thrown here and there.

25 comments:

Patty said...

I like this layout and colors. Is the story one about you, or something you have made up? Nice story.

yamini said...

very beautiful. doesnt look entirely like fiction, though :))

vipin said...

Would like to repeat following two commands and check the response of computer.

repeat Patty ;
repeat yamini ;

Priyanka Jain said...

Hey Khot,

I loved the narration bit. Though you could have added a little bit more on the station activity and how things were going in the background (as in a little more about the station activity woven with your plot) which still couldn't fathom your focus away from 'THE MAN'.

But hell!! I can't even be 20% as good as this. Lets write some story/script together. What Say?

Cheers,
Priyanka

Priyanka Khot said...

Thanks Patty! Even I like the girly flower and pink :-)

Although I had been to the railway station and was waiting for the crew to arrive in 2006... I did not fall in love :(

So falling in love part is fictitious... but the station part is true!

Priyanka Khot said...

Story Teller will check out Tell A Tale soon and promise to be there soon :-)

Priyanka Khot said...

Yamini,

I am so glad you think that it is close to real... guess I am a good fiction writer as their primary job is to make fiction seem real!

Thanks :-)

Priyanka Khot said...

Thanks Vipin!

Hope my answers to Patty and Yamini answer ur questions as well!

Priyanka Khot said...

Thanks Jain,

Well, the station was a barren land plus everything was quite alien and this happened ages ago.. so I hardly remember anything except the magic of the moment (which BTW is fictional). :-)

fatoori said...

bas itna hi!!! aage kuch nahi hai???

Razzer said...

Hey RJ...maybe u shud cntinue on this..don't u think?? Make it twist n turn...hmm??

:-)

Toon Indian said...

nice one..I thought you would take it a bit furthur..the story I mean :P

Indrajit said...

Hmmm...

Good. Good. :)

Tc.

keep penning...

Jagjit said...

Nice. I like the story. Purely imaginary? If that's the case, you have a great imagination, because it looks like a real incident and your impression of him seems too real. Welldone. Keep writing.

अनिल कान्त said...

Nice writing...lovely story !!
intresting !!

मेरी कलम - मेरी अभिव्यक्ति

R. Ramesh said...

aiyooo..love in madurai...en deivame..hey priya..good narration..ya.i also agree with yamini.doesnt look entirely like fiction..hahha..who's the lucky guy?????

Michel H Ashton said...

Is this a true event by any chance .....like your genre

Abhishek Bhadra said...

hey priyanka, is it true that even when writing fiction one needs to draw inspiration from some similar fact?...& if it is so did something like this happen ever, maybe somewhere else...?

nituscorner said...

ohh !!! it ended too soon. do write a sequel for it....would love to know more.

Anil Sawan said...

aha, the title made me read the story and luvd the fact tht i read it :) nice description :)

Tan said...

I forgot that saying about "Reality is Stranger than Fiction" ... loved the story... the last words of yours let me remember that!!

Kaushik Bhattacharyya said...

im new to blogging n was browsing thru the list of delhi bloggers.... i stumbled on ur profile and found it very attractive....the quality of the posts as well as the overall feel of the blogspace is very attractive.....i wont b audacious enuf to say keep up the good work but it was worthy of a nice comment

Amritorupa Kanjilal said...

what a lovely little story priyanka... i wish it were real :)
i've posted two poems since u last visited. pls come have a look.

SomeOne said...

We should never care about appearance of any one, we should judge on behavior.

Unknown said...

Although you title your story "How she met him" and you didnt promise an ending or even a continuation...but I felt a need for a what happened next...missy...finish your stories next...