That Day at the Dehradun train station

When I was 14 years old I was living with my family in Dehradun, India. Each summer I would go to my grandparents’ house in Lucknow, which was more than 550 km away. My good friend Rajeev lived there as well. He was a neighbour’s son in my grandfather’s housing colony.

That year Rajeev’s father had some work in Dehradun for three days so he brought Rajeev with him as well. They stayed in a hotel not too far from my house. Rajeev visited me and we were able to go to the beautiful hill station, Mussoorie, one of those days. Rajeev had a good time during his trip. I was glad that he visited me.

The last day of their trip Rajeev and his father were taking a train to Lucknow from the Dehradun train station. I had also gone to the train station to say goodbye to them. The train was to leave at 5:20 pm but we were there more than one hour earlier. Rajeev’s father said he wanted to go for a 20 minute walk and would be back soon.

Rajeev and I sat on a bench at the platform. The train was there and would be ready to embark on its journey to Lucknow in an hour.

Rajeev and I started reminiscing about my prior tips to Lucknow and started laughing loudly.

Rajeev: “Abe (hey), remember two years ago when the Holi festival was taking place, you held on to your grandma when she was watering her plants and me and the other children threw water and colours on her.”

Me: “Yes, yaar (friend). I remember that. That was a lot of fun! That same night my grandma scolded me.”

Rajeev: “Remember your mean cousin Kshitij?”

Me: “Yes, what about him.”

Rajeev: “Few years ago, he was visiting your grandparents. You were also with them for a few days. One evening we went for a walk with him. All throughout the walk, Kshitij kept annoying us by boasting a lot. He walked ahead a bit. You swiftly took out your ink pen and shook it behind Kshitij’s pants without him knowing it. Several drops of the ink got on his crisp, clean white pair of pants.”

I started remembering this incident and then smiled a bit. Kshitij soon afterwards went back to his family in Bhopal. I can imagine what he felt like when he found that his pants had been made dirty by someone.

Rajeev: “Brother, you remember once you were bringing back the sweet of jalebis in a wrapped paper in a plastic bag from a local sweets shop. It was half a kilogram of jalebis. You were so happy that you had put the bag on your bicycle and you started riding it home. You were just 2 or 3 minutes away from your home when the bag got entangled with the front wheel of the bicycle. By the time you stopped your bicycle, the jalebi in the bag had turned into boondi (small pieces of sweet).”

Me: “Yeah brother, boo-oooo…….oon……….di!!”

I started laughing very hard for no reason and said boondi in a funny manner.

Rajeev: “Boooo-oo………...on……… di!!”

He said boondi in a funny way as well.

We both laughed very wholeheartedly. In about a few minutes, the announcer behind the ticket desk counter (there was only one counter kiosk) was about to make an announcement at the train station.

Announcer: “In a few minutes the Central Indian Express from Boondi will be arriving ….. Boondi!! What!! I meant Bombay (Mumbai).” The Central Indian Express train was arriving from Bombay in the next eight minutes or so.

The announcer smiled and looked at us and then continued to make the announcement.

After he was done, he said over the speaker system, as he was looking at us and smiling: “Guys, please don’t make me laugh so hard with your funny talks and jokes! Sorry, people at this station, these two young boys made me laugh so hard that it messed up my announcement!!”

We nodded back and thanked him.

Rajeev and I had a great time at the train station. His father had returned from his walk. Rajeev and he boarded the train to return to Lucknow. I wished them goodbye and thanked them for coming to Dehradun.

I shall never forget that day. It was a lot of fun at the station for Rajeev and me as we were able to share some inside jokes.