The Train In The Rain……And Some Regret -- By Sanket ‘not at all funny’ Kambli

Lashing
Lashing
Lashing
No I am not getting a punishment, but I am talking about the lashing that this city has received this month.
You know who gave these lashing; the rains.
But rains or no rains, we are supposed to reach our college, OK, unless the railways are suspended.
So I leave my home, its raining quite heavily, well! Heavy enough to fill all the craters on the road with brownish water, I am busy trying to cheat the rains with my windcheater (that is what the sales guy called it!!) while making sure not to soil my flared jeans.
My vision gets hazy. Hey! I am not on drugs, it’s the water vapor. My sports shoes (they are the most comfortable!!) have turned soggy.
With all these things messing up the state of my mind, I reach the station, the place isn't much crowded clearly pointing to a just left train and one look at the indicator, I know that I am in for more trouble, it reads 00:00. I ask the newspaper stall guy, he says, the trains are just running late, Yeah! Sure! And then I see the train crawling into the station, its not crowded, but still there isn't any place to sit. I decide to stand by the door and enjoy the cool climate. As the train moves at speed exceeding 50kmph, the water drops hit my face with a sting, but with passing time, it is fine. The raindrops and the wind have given me a sleek gelled look to my hair without the need to use mousse or styling gel. Soon I am joined by this guy in this 'Jhag Mag' orange shirt, all wet he had just got in at Kanjur Marg. He seemed to be a bollywood/remix fan, because as soon as the train started moving, he broke into 'Dus Bahane Kar Ke Le Gayaa Dil’, but not before whistling to a girl in capri’s, and to my horror she shows him the finger (you know which), well even he was shocked, by the time he could react, we had left the station behind, and he had broken into another song 'Woh Lamhe’. I backed off from my place at the door, I was busy clearing my glasses, and then the train halted just a few meters from the Vikhroli station. What know! Damn the red signal, but it turned green quickly, anyways today was not to be my day, the train kept progressing at snails pace, heck! I ride my bicycle faster. The guy in orange had already started chanting an assorted array of explicit words. And it seemed to me that they must have reached the motormen’s (also called by some dumbo's as the train driver) ears, as maintained good speed afterwards. As I was enjoying my face being splashed with rain drops, I felt someone pat my shoulder, I ignored, there was another pat but harder this time, this guy was asking for my ticket, I was bored and frustrated, I asked him for his I-card, his face clearly showed that he didn't like the idea, but he showed it to me anyway. Now it was my turn, but I spent a sizeable amount of time, trying to find my pass, eventually looking at the correct location after some time, after seeing me with a valid pass, he left frowning(bakra hath se nikal gayaa), as he was hoping to get a good fine from me. The train reached vidyavihar, by then the trains had subsided, I was late for the first lecture, so I grabbed a rickshaw and reached the college. Puffing and huffing I reached the fifth floor, to see the corridor empty, damn! I am late, I ran trying to find my class, I reached the other end, but found no one, all class rooms were empty, I asked the peon, and he said, 'arre! Kisika lecture nahin hai aaj', then I remembered what I had missed when I had felt asleep in the last FC lecture.