‘गाँव’ outing in a ‘शहर’

Foreword: It is my first writing after quite a while now, purely informal, and an attempt to have a self-check on my ‘enhanced’ style of writing. I have been hand-writing continuously throughout the year, but all are my mission-based hand writings. If you decide to read this, read at your own time and mood, as I am not writing for you but for self.

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After a long hiatus and in a period where my mind is in a state of hotchpotch, I had found time for having a ‘relaxed’ outing, thanks to my dear classmates and friends, Ekta, Anurag and Ankit. So, as it goes, this is the description of events in the 4-odd hour time that we had spent together.

Every weekend, we meet in the class; listen to day-long lectures, which include urdu shayaris and patriotic or motivational ‘theories’ (deliberately not mentioning the exact thing!) by our favorite professors; discuss few topics amongst ourselves; take breakfast, lunch, ice-cream, and chai breaks; have some banter;  and then disburse into the world of week-day jobs.  So, in order to have a cut to this routine schedule, we all decided to have a dinner party (sponsored by me :P) on Sunday after the class.

As it turned out be Sinha Sir’s last ‘official’ class to our batch – unfortunately, the last ‘official’ classes of both Sinha Sir and Tarique Sir are sleepy and boring (Ekta, you better know who has slept more in the class :P) -  we heard the word, ‘God Bless’ very soon, contrary to our expectations. It was just around 5 PM in the evening. Obviously, the time is too early to have dinner! So, what we did?

Ankit came out with ‘imax में film देखने का’ plan and we all gave thumbs-up to the plan after the initial dilly-dallying. So, we had a drive on the necklace road, stopped in the middle to have a brief walk in the side-by garden - Ekta had a pink candy, while we guys had corn and ‘masala మరమరాలు’ - before heading to imax. Between, Anurag was giving a profile on how he is living in a ‘गाँव’ of Hyderabad and how he earned the tag of a ‘driver’.

We had reached imax with a pinch of doubt on whether we could get the tickets for the show – luckily we could get the tickets, the sponsor being Ankit, for the Hollywood flick, ‘Taken 2’, albeit in the first row, where the gigantic screen was showering its aura on us. Meanwhile, Ekta was cursing herself for not being in ‘imax वाली dress’ :P, though we cheered her up by saying, all the eyes of the guys were on her (which was not true :D)

Interestingly or coincidentally, for all of us, it was not the film that mattered; rather it was the ‘environment’ of watching a film after a long period in our own respective lives. Throughout all the intense action in the film, we had a point or two from it – like we got to know that Ankara is the capital of Turkey (though we initially wrongly thought Istanbul to be its capital), how to draw concentric circles in locating a place, etc. – well, let me describe one scene in the film that impressed me: the protagonist, Liam Neeson asks his daughter, enacted by Maggie Grace on how her mother described would be the first moment when you meet your ‘love’, the daughter said, “in mother’s words exactly, it would be ’magical’” – though it seems unrealistic in the real world (by nature, I am a ‘practical realist’) but the way the scene was captured has caught my attention! Between, the encyclopedia of our group, Mr. Anurag was telling me and Ankit about some or the other history pieces of the Hyderabad city and I was remembering the titles of Mughal Administration, ‘मीर-इ-आतिश’, etc… seeing the आतिशबाजी in the film.

After the film, we had started to Papaji Dhaba – Anurag and Ankit took their bikes, while I and Ekta vroomed in the car. During the drive, we both were chatting on one’s interests and finally reached the place. We had food – Rotis with curries: Butter chicken (Anurag and me), and the special dish, ‘Veg Ashiana’.  Between, Anurag was throwing few shayaris – which I frankly did not understand. And yeah, Ekta was telling me about ‘कनीज़ का सलाम’ – which I understood 50-50! :P Finally, when the bill came, and I opened my wallet, it was the filmy situation for me :( The cash I had was not sufficient enough to pay the bill and the Dhaba doesn’t have the card bill payment – I was feeling too embarrassed, mind you, it was my party!!!!! Anurag helped me in settling the bill. After coming out, I literally dragged Anurag to the ATM centre to give him the cash. Then Anurag again threw one shayari of which I can only remember – “इत्तेफाक से जिद का मरीज़” :P – Only after handing the cash to him, I was feeling satisfied that I had given the party.  

So, all in all, it was a party day for us – starting with:

Ekta – Took out her purse on that day and paid towards lunch, breakfast, ice-cream and chai;

Ankit – For the film tickets;

Me – For the Dinner; and,

Anurag – The next outing’s sponsor: P

Finally, we had disbursed in the rainy-like weather – Luckily no one got drenched! That was the fitting end to our relaxed and “‘गाँव’ outing in a ‘शहर’”! :) The only thing that I was bothered with is that I did not have the camera to capture the beautiful moments! :( 

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