Tuesday, September 30, 2008

In a bullish mood...

Ting....Yaaay…The stone I threw had hit the steel body of the bus stand shelter’s supporting pillar.

I finally managed to hit that pillar once out of my 5 attempts.Prabhu had hit it twice and nikki the wicket keeper of our school team has not yet hit it once..and obviously he was the butt of ridicule by the other two direct cousins of johnty rhodes.

We were a bunch of teenagers or probably adolesecent guys and were hitting upon something so unsinpirational and non-sexy like a a steel pillar. Gosh!! Imagine this if there is a ‘truth or dare’ going to take place somewhere in future and I am asked a question like - who did you first hit upon?. Pretty embarassing answer I have, curse those two guys who were with me.

Hitting upon the steel pillar was our favourite sport, coming from a boys school we didn’t have much choice about whom or what to hit upon. We played this game extensively when we waited for 7H the bus which takes us to the bus stand near our school.

And the probability of getting this bus was as much as getting an intellectual speech delivered by dubya.Still we used to wait there even after missing the 7-45 AM bus to catch the next one at god-knows when…The wait was not without a reason, the students from the nearby DAV girls school used to come for the 8 o clock bus and once they start coming in..all our boyish stone throwing games come to an abrupt halt as we start speakign about F1, Salman rushdie and world affairs in the fancy english we know.

There were times when the bus we waited for never came and as we wait the smart college dude would pick up his girlfreind in the bus stand and speed way. As he zooms past us we would have been praying deeply that a huge puncture comes to his bike, the brake cables get cut and a few more things nastier than what Paul McCartney would have thought before giving the 50million alimony package..but nothing happened though and every day he came in the same funky bike and at times the girls did change.

After making sure all the DAV girls have been properly sent off[heights of social consciousness you see] we would finally give up hope on 7H. Then our new age mode of transport comes in..yup the bullock cart which carries cement bags to the godown near our school. We thrust our hand out asking him for a lift, one big advantage in this lift is we can save the Rs.1.10p which had been given for bus fare. At the end of the week we would be having Rs.5 in our hands.

Three guys with Rs.15, trust me we used to have so much fun with that amount. We go to the parvathi bhavan sweet stall with the aura of businee magnets who are gonna buy it in a single cheque. Get individual menu cards and used to skip the cheaper chat section and go to the milk shakes page, after asking the waiter some weird combination of milk shakes which probably he wont be having we would sigh and say… ok lets go for chat. For the 5-6 spoons of bhel puri we used to demand a whole bucket of sauce. Else 15 rupees guaranteed a hollywood horror flick in good old grand theatre.

Coming back to the bullock cart ride. As soon as we thrust our hands out the old man with the red towel turban used to acknowledge with a slight nod of his head and will slow down his I-am-gonna-die-if-u-whip-me-once-more bull. Then comes the exciting part, getting into the running cart.

We run on, first throw our heavy bags into the wooden floor of the cart bringing more agony to the bull. While the other guys effortlessly jump on to the moving cart. I was always the lazy ass. I used to run for 20 meters behind the cart build up all the momentum and place my hands on the wood and jumpppp… Ailaa… from when did the wooden cart change into a thar cart.. Oh maan it’s the road and my butt is burning …thanks to that bullock cart.. wished for a massage from sandra bullock…ok enough of this bull shit.

My second attempt was always a success as I had the 2 guys catching me and overhauling me into the cart..most of the times I used to bump into the cement bags and get a gray hair .

Well…wait a minute why am I writing this useless adventure of mine here?.. It’s a total waste of space.. but then it so happened that today I had a small alteraction with a slow bullock cart rider near guindy. I abused him and was cursing him for getting me delayed to work. Then suddenly all those sweet memories of the past with bullocks flashed thru my mind and how I wished I could get all those days back.. those days where time n tide waited for everyone and everything… where having a mere Rs.50 note in my pocket used to make me feel I can compete with lakshmi mittal…days when we never ‘bought’ gifts but ‘made’ it, and however shoddy they were the ones whom we gifted it always loved n cherished it. ..

Argh..one of those days where I feel I am as old as the tortoise..Curse the bullocks :)

23 comments:

Meher :) said...

You know.. you should have tried jumping onto the bullock cart to re-live those days :P :D :D :D

And DAV which branch ya?

pRADdy said...

ah anna nagar payyana ;) ?

Nautankey said...

Sindhu,
Thanks for your great suggestion.. that wud have been the end of me as well as the bullock cart :)

It was the mogappair branch.Dont tell me you studied there...cant imagine meeting one of them whom i gave send off :P

Praddy,
Yup yup was annanagar payyan for ten years..bfore that it was thousand lites guy..and currently adyar payyan :)

Meher :) said...

Nopes... I was in Adarsh in Royapettah

There was a DAV in Gopalapuram nearby - thats why asked! :)

Nautankey said...

Sindhu,
Same pinch...me too adarsh student. Picture of an adarsh student..LOL..that was one funny thing they printed behind notebooks.

And guess that DAV u said is a boys school.

Meher :) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meher :) said...

Ohhhh! You also Adarsh Student ah???

And I heard this dialogue somewhere before - "Picture of an adarsh student..LOL..that was one funny thing they printed behind notebooks."

Who are you man??

Nautankey said...

Sindhu,
LOL LOL...guess thats enough clues for you ok.I have even given you that punch line :P.

Meher :) said...

I knew it!!

You are really a nautankey fellow!! :D

BTW, I was the one who told someone else also :P

Nautankey said...

Grr..silly dhans was planning to play with him for some more time. And plz dont tell the other somebody :)) u-know-who :P

Meher :) said...

:)) we were wondering who you were actually and I thought we could play with you, but he called & confirmed :D

Dont worry - I will not leak the secret :P :))

Unknown said...

Bullock carts are my offbeat favos too... Have tried being transported in them when I visit my mama's in coimbatore :D But way back then horse carts were too the in thing there...can't make up my mind on what walking rythmn suited me better :)

Saari but can't make heads and tails out of school kadalai potufying thingies in chennai :D

rauf said...

i couldn't pick up the courage to tell the gorgeous thing that this bus stop is no longer in use, the bus doesn't stop here any more.
i wasted 20 paise and smoked two cigarretts in pure Dev Anand style squinting my eys, my collar up blowing the smoke to the sky. two cigs later her boyfriend picked her up in a stylish red Jawa (later Yezdi). smoke was all that was left of me.

i used to blackmail my sis in law (cousin) because i used to get her that fairness cream 'fair and lovely' She was still a bride. No one knew about it. She'll empty half the tube rubbing rubbing on her face behind closed doors and i kept staring at her with my jaw open like a retard, waiting for my extortion money. Waiting waiting inside and my friend would be waiting outside. then after a long wait with her face full of cream she'd pull out a 5 rupee note and say keep your silly mouth shut.
yep
i disappear. 5 rupees were a lot of money for two to go to the movies. Casino usually.all Paramount and UA movies.

oh ! i see some neighbours here, Royapettah Aadarsh ! well well well.

Nautankey said...

sindhu,
Danks

Curious,
Haan horse carts are also good..but they are faster...once went in a camel cart.I wud vote for camel cart as the best,that lethargic walk gives us a feel of the lazy vacation mood we are in.

Kadalais? wots that? :P

Nautankey said...

Rauf,
Well I can imagine how much Rs.5 meant few years ago. With Rs.50 at times I would feel let me make a movie:)

And royapettah adarsh...hmm i normally keep off from them probly due to another neighbour, the new college :)

Ruth said...

Waste of space? I smiled all the way, such vivid images of life for you boys (and rauf too!) with a bullock cart, girls, bus stop, saving and spending rupees. I have to laugh considering your comment at sync about the economy - bullish it's not!

Thanks for the smile.

Aarti said...

hey
now, that is an interesting post.... can quite visualise the whole thing.. even today granpa talks about expensive an anna/50p/1re etc was and how much they spent on mom's wedding saree..he he...:D

btw, wanted to let u know that couple of us bloggers[from chn,blore] are planning on meting up on 18th at amethyst, around 4pm.. would be gr8 if u can drop by.. pass on ur mail id or mail me on aaroo4 at gmail dot com...

thanks!!:)

Aarti said...

btw, read that ur from adarsh?.. i studied in anna adarsh-11th n 12th :D

Nautankey said...

ruth,
I am sure even girls would ahve their own vivid memories though it may be less adventuristic than boys especially in a conservative city like mine.

Somehow the economic angle comes in everything we speak or write recently :)

Nautankey said...

aaarti,
nice to know ur from adarsh too. My house was near bluestar so mornings it was DAV and evenings Anna adarsh :P ..gosh wat a adespo I had been.

Great to know abt the meet.. will mail ya

Princess Stefania said...

We were a bunch of teenagers or probably adolesecent guys and were hitting upon something so unsinpirational and non-sexy like a a steel pillar.

I loved the post. I'm bookmarking this blog. :)

Nautankey said...

Princess,
Thanks a lot :)

Anonymous said...

As usual this gave me a smile! Whenever Im a lill tired and bored at work I just need to read ur posts!