Bheja Fry - Part I

Missing the first train ever

There has been a regular motivation to put the incidence of Yasha and me missing our train to Bhopal into my words. Here goes the story of our most trusted and reliable Pappu Bhai and his colleague Abdul Bhai. They made untiring efforts to ensure that we miss our train to Bhopal. The story also covers our journey thereafter.

Characters

• Yasha Verma, beautiful, confident student of MICA PGDCM
• Abhishek Shandilya, most experienced student of PGP-17
• Pappu Bhai, most trusted auto driver of MICA
• Abdul Bhai, an amateur auto driver
• Bhavin Patel, owner of “Hotel Decent” near Ahmedabad Bus Depot
• Rinkesh Arondekar, formerly a human, now a resident of Palaash 

Background

In the past decade, I have lived away from my home into various cities like Kota, Indore, Pune and now Ahmedabad for education and work. Over the years, I have developed a habit of travelling alone. I have always reached Railway Stations just a few minutes before the departure of the train. At times I have caught trains even after reaching stations beyond scheduled time of departure. I had a confidence that no matter what I don’t miss trains. But this confidence was broken during Term-II holidays. It is often said that a novice swimmer is safer in water than an experienced one, as an experienced swimmer starts trying butterfly strokes in turbulent water. This is where the probability of making mistakes rise.

But, this was not the case when Yasha and I decided to travel to Bhopal together during Term-II break. I was extra cautious to call our beloved Pappu Bhai at 1:00 p.m to inform him to come to MICA at 5:00 to pick us for station. Our train was scheduled to depart at 6:45. Later, I got a call from Abhishek Shandilya and he asked me to leave MICA early as there was traffic on the way to station. But I royally ignored his warning as I thought it’s my age of taking risks and gaining experience which Abhishek Shandilya has in plenty.

Pappu Bhai’s surprise gift – first moment of truth

I woke up as my phone started ringing. It was Yasha. She asked me whether I have called any auto. I told her that Pappu Bhai was coming at 5:00. It was already 4:30. I started packing my bag and called Pappu Bhai again to ensure that he is coming. He replied saying that he is in the city and will send someone. Yasha and I decided to move to the main gate to avoid any delay. I came to know there that Yasha was suffering from stomach upset.

It was 5:15 and no auto was seen at the main gate. We called Pappu Bhai again and he told that Abdul Bhai is coming in 5 minutes and gave us his number. Abdul Bhai missed our calls many times before finally picking up and told us that he is coming in 5 minutes. It was again a chain of multiple calls with the same reply of 5 minutes. Finally to our relief Abdul Bhai came at 5:40 p.m. There was still 1 hour left for our train to depart and we could have easily made it.

Abdul Bhai’s surprise gift – second moment of truth

As our auto started off from MICA, we discussed Professors, Placements, Sankalp, Food Joints in Ahmedabad, Late Night Parties, Palaash–28, Thakur Chacha, Bhopal, Mathew’s Movies and of course Roxy. Bhai-Waah! The discussion was reaching heights and Abdul Bhai was entertaining himself with MICA gossips. We didn’t know that he also wanted to surprise us like Pappu Bhai. He turned out to be more innovative. He was driving us to Airport instead of Station. I saw the first sign board for Airport and ignored it as 75% of the way from MICA for both Railway Station and Airport is common. But on the next sign board, I questioned Abdul Bhai that where was he going, though somewhere in my mind I already knew the answer. As he replied, “Airport”, it was the extreme stage of our bheja-fry. I felt like banging my head on some wall and Yasha felt like killing someone (probably Pappu Bhai). I asked Abdul Bhai who told him to drive us to Airport. He replied, “Pappu Bhai”.

As expected, Abdul Bhai took a U-turn and we re-traced a long route in opposite direction. On our way back we were getting the updates from Abhishek Shandilya, about the arrival of the train. Yasha was quite sure that we would miss the train but I was still confident that we would catch it. As we reached the station the train just started and by the time we reached the platform it had vanished.