Weird Incident of the Week

This is what happened to me at the Nzm station on the evening of 27th July. I narrated it to a friend (Melissa of the 2nd post 1st roast ) and thought of making a blog post out of it. Realized it would be better to let it stay in the chat format. So ensoi, if you will. My take? Two people decided to go a bit crazy at the same time..
(replace by suitable yahoo smilies where necessary)

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Giles: so I'm at Nizamuddin station at Delhi to see off my bank manager by 9'o clock train

Giles: and he's gone to get a dinner packed at the Comesum food plaza

Giles: so while I'm waiting for him at the platform I notice this girl reading Super Commando Dhruva comics

Giles: you know about SCD?

Melissa: no

Melissa: whts tht about?

Melissa: :)

Giles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Commando_Dhruva

Giles: he's a comic book character which is very popular in North

Melissa: ok

Giles: so anyways usually you don't see girls reading his comics...

Melissa: ok..

Giles: and I'm interested, and I want to ask her about it but obviously this is India

Giles: and you don't go asking random ladies you meet about comics they're reading

Giles: 'cos you're afraid that you'll get beaten up types

Melissa: hmm. so?

Giles: ;)

Melissa: :D

Giles: then I notice she's got another one with her

Giles: and I am getting really bored

Giles: so I think of asking her for it

Giles: but then obviously the whole loop about getting beaten up again

Giles: :)

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: so nothing doin' and I just stand there looking at her awhile

Giles: then the train rolls in to the platform

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: now I really don't understand when people get up and start getting worried and fidgety as the train is rolling in

Giles: 'cos like there's no point to ti

Melissa: same compartment or wht?

Melissa: ok..

Giles: let it stop and then find your coach and then board

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: no I'm not boarding the train. am there to see off this guy vonly

Melissa: ook..ook

Giles: so anyways I realise she's alone and then I say

Giles: "excuse me - you're going by this train"

Giles: and she doesn't even listen to me!!

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: so much lost in the book

Giles: so I'm like "wow! "

Melissa: :-/

Melissa: why..

Giles: why? what a girl.. really loves SCD.. totally engrossed in book and not even listening to the train's whistle.. that's why..

Giles: then I go a bit closer and say "excuse me" a bit louder

Giles: she looks up, and I say - your train?

Giles: she says "yeah"

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: so I say "hi, I'm Giles"

Melissa: then?

Melissa: :)

Giles: she says "I'm Carol"

Giles: so we shake hands

Melissa: aha!

Giles: and then I compliment her being a fan of SCD

Giles: and she starts laughing

Melissa: ahemm..

Melissa: thn?

Giles: so it turns out she's going to Gwalior and she's not got a ticket and she's going to work out a seat with the TTE

Giles: so like this is a night journey

Melissa: ok..

Giles: so the TTE is in the opp. direction and she's walking towards the general bogie and I walk with her and we end up discussing what she's doing (call centre job) and what I'm doing (farming) etcetra

Melissa: ok..

Giles: Well so I say - hey I've got to see off this person, I'll meet him now - and wow! you're a fighter to be going all the way to Gwalior in general at night

Giles: so shake hands.. and here's my mobile number and we'll see each other again, maybe

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: so I write my number on a piece of paper and I rush off to the AC coach where this uncle has to bee seen off

Melissa: ok..

Giles: then I tell him I've left my home keys at the juice counter and I run off

Melissa: thn nything happned?

Melissa: wow.. smart.

Melissa: :)

Giles: find the 2nd class TTE halfway down the platform

Giles: ask him for a seat "for a girl - she's in general now.. please give a seat till Gwalior"

Giles: so he gives a number in S5 – 23!

Giles: I rush back

Giles: now the general bogie has no light!!

Melissa: ooo.. gud u did tht

Giles: so I'm like walking down the platform besides the general bogie

Melissa: hmm.

Giles: and there's no way I can see her

Giles: so I end up shouting her name into the window of the bogie and then walking on and shouting into the next window

Melissa: ok...

Giles: :D

Giles: quite filmy

Melissa: :D

Giles: finally (at the fourth or fifth window) she says "yeah"

Giles: so I'm like "would you want a seat in sleeper?"

Giles: she's like "why not"

Giles: so I say "follow me"

Melissa: wow!

Giles: explain the seat number and tt details to her

Melissa: :)

Giles: she walks on towards sleeper, I go to AC and tell my uncle that the keys are with me only

Giles: that I'd got confused a bit

Giles: then he's like ok you go

Giles: so I rush off to S5

Giles: where this girl is sitting

Melissa: u really are smart :P

Giles: ask her - did you talk to the TTE

Giles: she's like - nope

Giles: so I ask her to 'follow me'

Giles: again

Giles: and take her to TTE

Giles: TTE-- meet girl

Giles: Girl -- meet TTE

Giles: ok - done

Melissa: hmm..

Giles: bye

Giles: see you around

Melissa: thts gr8..

Giles: oh and I got her email ID sometime in between all of this

Giles: so that's the weird thing of the week for me

Melissa: train had stopped fer suich a long tiem..

Melissa: ?

Giles: it came in at 2030 - starting station

Giles: starts at 2100 from Nzm

Giles: you're doubting me kya

Melissa: u really knw how to manage things...naturally i gues.s. u being a manager

Giles: this is not about management silly this is about being stupid at the railway station with a stranger

Giles: :P

Giles: and both ways, I must say - for her and for me too

Giles: though I'll accept the compliment - yep I'm quite good at managing - nothing to do with my PGDM though

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Update: I sent the girl a mail asking her if she'd reached safely. No reply yet. No call/sms either. So maybe she decided that there was a limit to interaction with wierd strangers. Or something like that.

Snake

Yesterday a snake came to my room. About two feet in length, and black like pencil-lead -- a soft sort of black, with a dull shine. I shooed it away, but he left some thoughts in my head which I must note down.

How it all happened:

Around 10 pm last night, I was chatting with a friend, when I heard my landlady call me in a worried kind of a tone. I typed "one sec brb" and then fairly sped out of the room. I looked up to the first floor where she stood waving her hands towards the drawing room, "Snake! God knows where it came from!", and I followed her gaze to see a black tail curving away into the drawing room.

So I rushed back to the computer, typed out
"there's a snake in my room"
"poor thing"
"will send it out and be back"

And then I rushed back out, went to the kitchen and picked up the broom. My landlady was standing (quite calmly, come to think of it) watch from the first floor (ah! she was calm 'cos she was on the first floor); she made me shut the other doors so that I could be sure of sending the snake out in the right direction.

The snake was resting about two feet inside the drawing room, and I thought for a second about walking into the dark room so close to him. Then the moment was over and I walked briskly past him and went to the other side of the room and switched on the light. Then I opened the other door, from which guests usually entered but from which I hoped to make this guest leave.

The snake was still resting where I'd last seen him, and I walked behind him and touched him with the broom. He moved off slowly (polished Kota stone gives no purchase to a snake's slithering movement) and reached the corner. Then, another prod made him turn left and move towards the door. A few seconds later, he was moving out of the door and towards the intermediate channel gate. Job almost done, I thought.

My landlord and his cousin came down the steps by this time. The snake had gone in hiding behind an old, disused washing machine that lay near the channel gate. Continuing the 'prodding' logic, I swished the broom below the washing machine. Which act seemed to tickle the washing machine, for it made a loud noise. I repeated the swish, and then realised that it was the snake that was hissing at the broom. Quite disconcertingly loud, but I couldn't let myself think about the hisses I'd heard in movies and various other hissy topics, so I swished the broom again. This must've happened two or three times more - swish! Hiss! swish-swish! Hiss!

By this time, my landlord and his cousin had got a peek at the snake, and they got agitated as they believed it was a King cobra, the most venomous of snakes. I was cool, 'cos the snake was about five feet away from me, the snake was much more afraid than I was, and I figured I was smart enough to know when to move. Plus I remembered vaguely that King Cobras are not found in this part of India, and though there are venomous snakes around, not every snake you see is. (note: need to research on this)

To come back, we were in a deadlock right now, a stalemate, if you so wish. My landlord came to the rescue. He reached out and tipped the washing machine over, till it hit the wall about two feet away and stood leaning at about 40 degrees to the vertical. The snake, poor thing, had no where to hide anymore. So at my next Swish! he hissed, and then put his hood down and moved away. I wonder if he was berating us for our choice of flooring. All kind of polished floors! How's a snake to get away from these pesty humans, you tell me! And those itchy brooms, how they make you sneeze!

So, moments later he'd moved out to the garden, and then further till the main gate. By the time I got the channel gate open, he'd vanished. After a few words from my landlord appreciating my calmness, the fact that it was the first time a snake had graced this house by a visit and a laugh from me saying that perhaps it was the Nag Devta come for a blessing, being my family's Deity, we said goodnight and moved on.

Aftermath:

I came back to the chat window to find the following text

"poor thing?"

"I’m going to eat some chocolates".

"Snickers…"

"sinful chocolates.. mmm"

I say chaps, girls have their priorities just right! At least this girl -- rather than worrying frantically and waving her hands uselessly, she was enjoying chocolates. Go girl!

After I narrated the goings-on in brief, we discussed chocolates, people who hated chocolates and some other stuff. Then we bid goodnight, and here's where I finally started thinking about what had just happened.

Afterthoughts:

Fact1: Animals are usually more afraid than human beings when forced into mutual company.

Fact2: Animals turn and fight/bite/jump only when they're forced into a corner, and see no other escape.

I knew these, and so I stayed calm at the moment. Then again, I have the knack of getting calm as my adrenaline pumps higher. On the edge, yes; Senses screaming out data, yes; brain working out thousand alternatives, yes; panic, no; calm and confident, yes. However, once the snake was gone, and the adrenaline was gone, I wondered. What if the snake came back? What had made it come into the house in the first place? What if it had turned left into the room I was chatting in? It was dark and I would never have noticed him, till perchance he came to where I sat, and then a reflex shout-and-jump would've made it nervous; would it have bit me? Was he poisonous? Ifs and Buts..

(I think this is the point where the actor would've lit a cigarette and taken a deep drag at it, all contemplative and philosophical. However, the GoI doesn't allow any more smoking scenes in Cinema, and I don't smoke anyways.)

I read D.H. Lawrence's "Snake" again. No, I don't want to write a blank verse poem about my experience. Perhaps you're thinking of it though, and wondering how I felt about the snake itself. So I should point out that I felt pity at the snake ("poor thing") for wandering into an alien environment. I didn't want to hurt it, and I didn't want to get hurt myself. All said and done, we parted plesantly enough.

And I hope the snake gives me credit for the broom. Other humans might've done worse.

(P.S. Yes this is the color I use for my chat messages)

Update 25th July: The snake was most probably a Common Krait. They're poisonous, too.