The Seven Hills Story

This is a piece I had written in 2009 which my friends feel should be put up on the official blog. It's so evident that I was an amateur then but I loved my narration!

This is how things went exactly on a 3 day visit to Tirupati. We were six of us - Myself, Pallavi, Abhijeet, Ananth, Murthy and Ullas, my BE mates. The train was scheduled at 1.15 in the noon and we had planned to meet up by 1 atleast. The train tickets were arranged. As its a overly flooded train, we had to go early and put our ass on the seats well in advance.

It happened so that I got 101 things to be done and was stuck up in this Bangalore traffic and was home till 12 in the noon, unpacked. I rushed back, did some packing which didn't consist of my night dress, goggles and things I needed the most while travelling. No breakfast, nothing, mom had packed rice flakes for the journey as I couldn't eat and I finally left home at 12.25 pm and got into a rick. Guys, I tell you, never fix anything on a Saturday in a place like Bangalore, I mean the traffic is oh so horrible only on this particular day. I was getting constant calls from my friends who had already boarded the train and were tracking where I was. 

It was 1.10 pm and I was still near corporation hoping for some miracle to happen. After all the mess I finally reached station at 1.20 pm to see the train leaving off the station. My hands and legs were shivering, didn't exactly know what to do. Then Murthy suggested me to chase the train to cantonment, the very next station. It would hardly take 10 mins for a train to reach the next station and imagine me chasing the train on road in that traffic would take at least 20 mins. I was yelling at the auto driver, loafer he was wantingly going slow and I warned him that I wasn't ready to miss the train again in cantonment. So he took me in the nearest and shortest possible roads. My phone was never so busy, all the friends in the train were yelling at Pallu, poor she, she got all the blasting. 

Finally I was near the cantonment station facing the last traffic signal and I saw the train arrive at cantonment station. I had left all hopes of catching the train even there. The rick bill was close to 122 bucks and I had 130 bucks ready with me so that I could save time and not really bothering to take the change back. I paid and started running into the station and in all this mess, my water bottle fell. I really didn't bother to pick it up as I was running. Some guy followed picking my bottle up for me. He went on saying- 'madam nim bottle togoli, train stop aagide'. Mixture of tension, anxiety, fun swirling in my head. I saw the train, but it was on the other side of the platform. Either I had to wave the train a goodbye or take the over-head bridge. I did none and placed my bag pack down, got down the dirty platform, crossed the first railway track, went past the shit and drainage pipe and at last placed the bag inside the train and placed my feet on the step. I made sure I got into some bogie and then go where my friends were seated. Boarding the train from the other side was a mess too because the height matters there without a platform to board. In the mean time that guy followed me with my water bottle and that's when I took it back from him and was finally smiling on myself. My friends were in a bogie behind the engine and I was at the tail of the train. I was in and called Pallu to tell the same. Next station was K.R.Puram, I got off the train immediately and ran towards the front, then again got into some bogie and started moving front from within. In the mean time, my friends had decided to get off the train if I couldn't manage to board even in cantonment and go in a bus wasting 480 bucks all together but I wouldn't have let them do that and I myself would catch a bus alone.

Wondering if this is reality or shooting of a movie. I was with my friends at last, all tagged me with a 'heroine' tag from Jab We Met :) needless to say, I was flattered that in spite of yelling at me, all welcomed me. The journey was great. I went on chatting my experience of missing the train and how I chased it for an hour at least.

We reached Tirupati at 8 pm and then everyone followed to my instructions as I was the only one who was well versed with the place and language as I go there every year. We had dinner and dozed off as we had planned to trek the 7 hills which comprised of 14 km all together and some 5000 and odd steps. So we were up and got ready at 3 am and started off. We reached the hill top at 7 am and by the time we were out of temple it was 12 pm. Had a good darshana, was worth the entire circus.

There were few more temples to visit, got done with all, had been to 'Srikalahasti' too. Two famous temples in South India. Now I feel the legs are talking, completely tired but was awesome to visit such a holy place. Ananth was a stand-up comedian for the entire trip with his poor Telugu speaking skills, he made us laugh like there was no tomorrow and as usual linking me with Murthy and my other flames.

I wanted to share the filmy side of me to have missed the train and the chase and the trip. Enjoy reading and imagine the picture and do leave your comments.

Chetan greets Shwe...!!

For those of us who are given to an archaic habit called reading, and have been reading Indian writing in English for a last decade or so, Chetan Bhagat (CB) has indeed been a favorite among many, at least among the youth. 

I was eagerly awaiting the next novel from CB after having completed 'Two States' almost three years back, which was his auto-biography about his love story with his second girlfriend Anusha, a fellow classmate from IIM-A, and the odds they face in convincing their respective families for the marriage approval. One roller-coaster of a novel it was. Hmm, me carrying perfect traits of a Libran, die-hard romantic and sensitive, couldn't help but fall in love with the novel which left me crave for more work/novels from CB. Not just for the love stories, the humor, charm, wittiness and above all, his simple but yet smart usage of the language had made me left asking for more.. So, I go pick up his fifth novel, Revolution 2020, from a nearby mall. 

Me - 'How many copies have been sold out in the past four days?'

Guy - 'Madam, we had ordered for 500 copies and here you see the last 6 remaining, and you are one of those lucky customers grabbing it, for we have to wait for another ten days for the copies to arrive. Cash or card?'

Me - I gave a wry smile and said, 'cash' and 'thank you'

Guy - 'Our pleasure Ma'am, happy reading.'

Very little did I know what the guy had wished me at the end while billing, would turn out to be heart wrenching at the end. I smiled, blushed, smirked, did all of it along with the characters of the novel and could sense the scenes happening right in front of me, such is the connection CB bestows on his readers while reading. Wonder what people around would have contemplated about me with their continuous gaze, but I didn't bother much and continued reading, be it in public transport Volvo's or during class hours. By and large, I was addicted to it. For those of you who haven't read the novel yet, hold your horses, I'm not going to uncover the story for you. For, I feel you should read it for yourself. But to give a gist of it, it's about two guys and a girl, their dreams, ambitions, friendship, love, relationships, sacrifice, a midst corruption. There's nothing revolutionary about the novel, since like any other Indian, CB is also prone to corruption and he believes India will be corrupt-free and a great place to live in, in the near future. 

On the verge of completion of the novel, Mr.CB introduces a twist which even a bollywood-masala movie can't produce. As I read on, tears roll by and here I'm at the end of the novel. Deep anguish and anger running through me thinking why on earth had he had to twist the fairy-tale story. Frantically, I take my laptop, log into Twitter, FB to reach out to CB and tell him how he made me feel at the end. To no avail, I couldn't reach out to him on either of the two social networking sites. Then www.chetanbhagat.com struck my mind, logged onto the Fancafe to post my feedback and I was successful this time around. Read on..

Dear CB, 

I hail from Bangalore and pursuing BE from VKIT, B'lore. I have been following your novels since teenage and have read all of them, Must say, all have turned out to be super hits. When I'm reading your novels, I must admit I easily connect to you as though I have known you since years. You were born to be a writer, hats off, you inspire youngsters like me who are passionate about trying their hands at writing. I just finished your R2020 novel, couldn't do more than weeping off at the end. Never expected it to be a turnaround at the last minute, why did you make it a sad ending, for I guess it would have lost its sheen had it been a happier one. Its said 'sacrifice is the true measure of love' which you proved in your do. Immensely touching and emotional. I cant wait to read your next novel. Please write for us, more and more, because you are simply superb at it. And I am not even sure if this feedback of mine will reach you and you will see it, if it does please do revert back. Waiting for response.

Your biggest Fan!

Days passed by and I gradually tried to get back to reality pacifying myself its only fiction, novel or perfectly suited to be a bollywood movie. 'Self-consoling'. As I returned from college one day, I got a beep on my phone. Guess what! An e-mail notification. Mail from the man himself :) I screamed my lungs out, composing myself, I went onto read..

Hi Shwetha Sharma,

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback on my work. Makes me happy when my readers say they enjoy reading my books.

Keep your support.

Hope you are doing fine in bangalore.

love,

Chetan 

My happiness knew no bound, I danced, rejoiced, celebrated in my own way so much so that I had almost forgotten the agony, distress I was into after reading the novel. 

PS: As such I always was passionate towards writing, blogging, but my curriculum never spared time for me. But this time around, after the novel and a modest reply from CB, I was inspired to the core and thought let me discuss CB in my first official blog. I now have a new e-mail friend !! Wink ;)