Neo Imaginations

            Travelling without ticket is an offence and a social embarrassment too. But meet the superstar of WT world (Without Ticket), Arun Sharma. He is a serial WT traveller. Not that he has a problem buying tickets but he does it for sheer passion. He can be seen very often swinging between Delhi and Jhansi his native place on weekends. The moment he reaches Railway Station his eyes start beaming with enthusiasm to display his talent of ticketless travelling.  He has conquered all big brands  like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, Sampark Kranti and so on. To my surprise he has travelled all classes ranging from 2 AC to General Compartment without the least fear of being caught and assaulted publicly. He is impeccably dressed and a complete business class looking guy. His confidence is more dominant than a person holding a confirmed ticket for that matter. On few occasions when he travels on officially issued tickets he feels unea...

              The board examinations just got over and me being a book worm had nothing to do better. During the examination time, i kept convincing myself to burn nights at the pretext that i would sleep endlessly for days. But sooner the exams got over my lost sleeps too did not knock the door. TV did the best distractions all through the exams but after the tempest, it too had nothing to offer. Completely bored to death i walked to a friend staying nearby, named Nikhil (SRK look alike).  Nikhil was a casual secret smoker. As i reached him that late afternoon, we went to a grocery shop nearby. He bought a cigarette for himself and a chewing gum for me. I had a Rs 10 note in my pocket and with that we both started walking the adjacent railway track behind the grocery shop. It was almost 5 pm and quite shady. I dont remember how long we walked that day because we were so much lost in our own conversations about girls and prospective...

                                               It’s a story of a taxi driver whom I met while commuting from Bandra terminus to Kurla Railway Station in Mumbai (I still call it Bombay sometimes). After my train Ranakpur Express left me at Bandra   Terminus I was in a hurry to reach Kurla Railway Station for my onward journey to Bangalore (namma bengaluru) my home.  As I moved to the exit way on the Bandra terminus I saw him in a crowd vying for his customers amongst his peers. Unlike others he wasn’t loud and audacious. He was subtle, content and cheerful. I made my way towards him. We settled for an appropriate fare and he parked my luggage with oblige. On a smooth day it’s half an hour drive with moderate traffic as I know very less of Mumbai.  As we started moving from Bandra terminus he started with a conversation and asked m...