If you are a typical Chennaiite, then you would understand the title. If not, replace the words ‘Dei’ and ‘da’ with ‘dude’. You see, that is the beauty of the language we speak in Chennai. The same word ‘dude’ can be expressed in 2 different words. Hailing from this awesome place is an even more awesome person. He is a comedian who stands tall (stand-up comedian). Meet Aravind.
One of the people who have made me laugh as hell is Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean). The next one is Aravind. I was introduced to him when someone shared a video from his Facebook Page. It was something about a single man travelling in trains. Dear Aravind, we have a lot in common, which includes being #foreveralone.
I studied Engineering in Ooty for 4 years (my degree certificate is laminated well and happily sleeping in my bureau). But whether I studied or not, I travelled up and down umpteen times in many trains, as a single college student. I travelled mostly in the Nilgiris Express (Blue Mountain) and the Kovai Express too.
My dad is a retired railway employee. He used to come with me to send me off, and whether I looked at the reservation chart or not, he would run to have a look at it first. I would slowly peek at the chart from behind to see if there is a ‘good travel companion’.
Every single time there would be an old couple next to me asking for the lower birth. Once, there was even a businessman. And every time, someone or the other would ask me ‘Single ah?’ For once, I was happy to see that there was a ‘19F’ on the reservation chart. But I forgot to see that there was a ‘20M’ next to it.
These people asked me for the ‘side lower birth’, which was allotted to me, and they pushed me to the ‘Side upper birth’. They both had separate births but decided to take my lower side birth. For those who do not know, lower side births are the most ‘private’ places in a railway coach. I used to travel in AC coaches with my dad’s ‘OC’ free passes, the curtains in AC coaches (which have not been washed or dusted for years) make the side lower births even more private.
They got into my lower birth and in the middle of the night, Mr. TTR (ticket checker) came inside and opened the curtain. The ‘19F’ gave a slight scream. I was sitting on top silently chuckling. “Dai, Enoda Side Lower Birth ah Pudungeneengala, Nalla venum da. Nalla Venum”.
But then again, every time, the single journey continued, and it became a routine for me. Whenever I see my ticket with a ‘lower birth’, I knew that it was the Railways luring me, just like Facebook friend request suggestions, which shows a nice profile, and says ”You do not know that person” when I try to send a friend request.
“Dei! I was not ready da”.
I have not finished yet. This is another reason why I like Aravind. I really love this dialogue. You know, it has been useful for Aravind when his friend denies a front seat in his Maruti 800 due to his girlfriend. But in my life, that dialogue works much better.
I finished studying engineering after 4 years, ‘singly’ travelling in the train, and donating 4 Lakhs to Anna University which went into Amma’s fund. After all this, I went and applied for jobs everywhere. When I got the offer letter, the salary was 6000 INR per month only. My reaction to the HR: “Dei! I was not ready da”.
I went to Pizza Hut, ordered a 100 rupees pizza, and the bill was 200 rupees. The charge on the menu did not include service tax, sitting tax, and breathing tax. “Dei! I was not ready da”.
I was standing at a traffic signal which was ‘red’. The people behind me keep horning even at the traffic signal. “Dei! I was not ready da”. Even the signal is not ready.
When I was happily browsing Facebook, looking at Aravind’s FB Page, suddenly I got an SMS from Airtel (only customer care sends SMS these days). When I opened the SMS “Today is the Last Date To Pay Your Telephone Bill”. “Dei! I was not ready da”.
All of a sudden, one of my friends called me and said “Dude, I am getting married next week. Please come da”. “Dei! I was not ready da”.
My so-called relative who is 60 years old comes to me and asks, “How old are you?”. When I tell my age, he looks at my parents and asks “When is your son getting married?”. “Dei!!!!!!!! I was not ready da”.
See.. we have a lot more in common. Thalaiva, you are great! I see Aravind as an amazing stand-up comedian, and I wish him all success. (one Cranberry juice please!)
Please visit his Facebook Page to understand my blog post. It's hard not to laugh at him. Seriously!
Gud one .... Enjoyed it.... LOL...
ReplyDeleteDei, that's "berth", not "birth". "Birth" means coming into existence.
ReplyDelete