9-1-1

“Hello Dindoshi police station..”

“Hello, I am ranjith calling from powai”

“Ok. What can I do for you?”

“Sir, some of my friends went to Karnala fort, near Panvel and now they are not able to find a way to get out of there, they are totally lost in the jungle. Can you help “

“Hello. We are somewhat away from the location that you told. This is Dindoshi police station, you are in Powai and they are lost in Panvel, and the either Powai or Panvel is not under our area, so I can’t help. You try to call 100 and register the complaint there”

“Sir, I have already tried on 100 but no one is picking up the phone, as I am not having any nearby police station number and this is the only number I have. So if you can’t help them please get me any nearby police station number so that I can call them and ask for help.”

“I don’t have any phone number of other police stations”

“Sir, please try to understand the situation, sir any contact number for nearby……”

Before I finish it was disconnected in the other end. I was making the call to police station in a Sunday eve to ask help for rescue my friends who were totally lost mid in the jungle while their weekend trekking trip. But who was supposed to help me was not even ready to hear complete from me.

I resumed searching contact number of any other police station nearby, meanwhile I got a helpline number of Mumbai police. I dialed the same…

‘Welcome to Mumbai police helpline, you are not selected the language yet. Please enter 1 for Marathi, 2 for Hindi and 3 for English ‘

When I pressed 3, it resumed…

‘Press 1 for information on road map, 2 to inform us about traffic jam, press 3 to inform us about an accident……’

Oh... itz Mumbai traffic police, I won’t get a help from them, they will already be buzy with solving the traffic jams in and around the city on this buzy Sunday eve…

I disconnected the phone and returned to the internet explorer on my laptop screen. Finally got a contact number for panvel station I dialed it...

“Hello, Taloja police station”

“Hello Sir, myself ranjith, calling from Powai. Some of my friends who went for a trekking near Karnala fort has lost their way and right now in mid of the jungle. Can you help them to get out of there “

“Ok, how come you know that they are lost their way?”

“Sir, they called me and asked to pass information to any nearby police station as they haven’t any contact numbers of nearby stations. Their Mobile phones are working and I can provide you the numbers so that you people can contact them directly and locate them. Or can I give your number to them? “

“Actually I am not able to locate the place what you said, we are already away from the Panvel section. Still we will try our best to help them, you give this number to them and meanwhile we will also try to contact them. And I will provide you some contact numbers of police stations nearby panvel. You gave those numbers also to them”

“Sir these are my friends contact numbers. Please do something to help them”

“Sure. We will do the needful and tell your friends that don’t panic and we are coming”

“Ok sir, thank you very much”

“Welcome”

I was totally impressesed by the way he spoke and handled the situation. He was also in the same situation as the Dindoshi police was. He was also away from the location and can’t even understand where the Karnala fort and all is. Still has an attitude to help. This was very much needed if you are a public servant who is supposed to help the public.

Later I called my friends and gave the contact numbers of nearby police stations. Surprisingly, he said that, the person from Taloja Police station already contacted them and they are on the way….. !

PS: within 3 hours, the police was able to find the trekking group and returned them to Panvel…

the silver screen

Every Friday, I am having an interesting job to finish in my To-Do list. Checking out for the new Malayalam movie releases in the town especially in the multiplexes, So that I can plan for it in the weekend. Because of either less number of Hindi and English movie releases or more Malayalam movies coming out, every weekend I have a new movie to watch.

I was thinking of the scenario 20 yrs back. When I was on 1^st or 2^nd standard. My parents took me to the theatre for a movie. It was “vaishali” the bharathan flick which was running on packed houses at that time. But I was not able to finish the movie, because in the first scene itself I started crying out loudly on seeing a snake in the screen. My mom took me out of the cinema hall and later to home. After that while going for movies I was asked to give a promise that I won’t cry or abandon the movie in the middle. So when a horror scene comes I will just close my eyes and place my fingers on ears to plug out myself from the scene.

It took another 8 Years to change the scenario. Up to that my watching movies were limited to the ones coming on Doordarsan on Sunday evenings. While I was in 8^th standard, I and one of my friends planned to go for a movie. After long time I was back to cinema hall. I can count it as the “first movie” that I saw from a cinema hall. A memorable one.

Later the history repeated, in my +2 days, I joined for entrance coaching in a remote location, where my classes are on morning sessions only. So every Sunday we headed to the nearby cinema halls to watch movies. As it was away from home no one can trace me. The freedom of invisibility…

The scene was quite different in college days. I never missed a released Malayalam Movie. either we watch them in the releasing week from the A class theater or if its not sustaining that much time there, catch from the nearby C class theater in the next week. We were not dared to walk for even 8-10 Km to reach hostel after 2^nd show. In the time of movie award nominations in news papers we usually count the number of movies in last year that we “missed“. The number never gone above 10 out of 50 or 60 movies released in a year.

I still remember the first movie from a multiplex. It was “Zinda” from, PVR, New Delhi, and followed by “Rang De Basanti” from the same while our B.Tech project days. Even though while in UD we depend on the pre-dvd rip, net and DC++ downloads of new movies, I never missed the cinema hall experience. Frequently we go out for the Malayalam and Hindi movies in the nearby single screen. After 20 years, even today also I really got excited on going for a movie and at the same level, worry that whether I will get a ticket in the rush…

PS : So Movie for this week, “Palerimanikyam, oru pathira kolapaathakathinte katha”, starring Mammootti, Directed by Ranjith on 5^th Dec, 20.00 IST, Big Cinemas in R city mall. Ghatkoper….. Would you like to join me …??

Inspiration

"Very often i must wait weeks and weeks for what you call 'inspiration' " by richard nordguist

I do believe in these words. But i waited not even weeks, but for months and haven’t found any yet to write an article in this blog…but still waiting for something to change the scene….

mumbai local.....

Train journeys are truly interesting ones. Being a non residential keralite, I made a number of such journeys on my way to Mumbai and back home. Journey in local trains is of another class. Fully packed vessels running 24 X 7, Real heartbeat of Mumbai. Being in a location where all the three major suburban routes meet, I prefer to travel via train. It’s also because of its easiness, less time consumption and wide route coverage.

In one such hurry travel; I and Sreekanth boarded the train from Matunga station which is just 10 mins away by walk from our hostel. We were heading to Mumbai central in order to attend a program. As there is no direct train, we need to have a switching from central railway to western railway in Dadar station. Actually we were running out of time. So as we reached Dadar station we ran towards the western suburban network platforms for the next connection train. But before a train in our platform, one for the same direction arrived in the next. Without a second thought both of us ran towards it by crossing the tracks and managed to get in some fraction of seconds. As it was on the same direction that we need to go, we haven’t checked the sign boards and all. After some time the train started moving, but in the opposite direction.. ! sree asked the fellow passenger about it and came to know that it was a Dadar ending local and now on its way back to the starting point, Virar. We jumped out of the train and got a safe landing in the platform. “Whatz next? “, I asked sree. “Next local” he replied. We moved to next platform, this time we used FOB to reach there.

While we were to next platform, the ticket checker asked us for our tickets. As we gave our tickets, he told us to stop. “This ticket is not valid in this platform” he said. We were amazed. I asked “why? We just took this ticket from Matunga and it’s clearly written via DADAR in it”. He was not at all ready to accept what we say and told us that only DADAR – VIRAR or VIRAR- DADAR ticket is valid in this platform and nothing else. Pay fine of Rs. 500 towards entry with invalid tickets, he added. We really got shocked. First, we were having tickets with us still he is stressing on the point Invalid ticket. Second, we were not having more than Rs 100 with us. We pretended not to give fine and told that being new to the city we don’t know about the system and more to that we are students and can’t bear this amount. He was not ready to leave us and took us to his office to meet his boss sitting there. We repeated the same story. After long conversation and clarification of our position, he gave us a “student’s concession” i.e. Reduced rate of RS 250. I told him that we are not having cash and can’t pay the fine at any cost. Sree gave his purse to the officer and asked him to take whatever he needs from it keeping in mind that only Rs 80 is left in it and we need to reach Mumbai central and back to hostel. Seems ticket checker was not convinced with sree’s dialogue. He started checking our pockets and finally found nothing. He was nothing left to claim, so turned us and said “Being students and new to the city this time I am leaving you people”. Don’t ever roam around Mumbai with an empty purse like this, he added…!

seasons change... do we ?

In recent times I started the habit of reading blogs by some well known bloggers. Most of the pages I found were a reflexion of the weeping hearts in the memories of their homeland. Yes, it was true for me too in all respects. In the struggle for existence race, I am also weeping inside about my home land. For some persons in my generation, itz the greatest sorrow that facing. Because most of us are in the new path opened up by the IT giants who were working outside kerala in 24 X 7 shifts. For most of us the environment is limited up to the next cubicle. Yes, the world is reducing to a small global village, surprisingly our thoughts and mind also reducing to the small cubicle that we are in, friendship is limited to the scraps in the orkut profile or the sms thatz being forwarded or maximum to the G Talk buddies.

Now it seems like a fairy tale to me, the childhood memories. The rains that we drenched, the muddy village roads that we used as our playgrounds, the big banyan tree that we used to gather in the evenings, the morning rush to collect flowers for the “pookkalam” during onam days, the “pooram” - the temple festival - that we loved to attend, the golden memories that might never come again…

The weekends that I used to spend with my grandfather and grandmother were awesome. The scenic beauty of the village house and surroundings attracted me a lot. They were the less explored villages by the modern amenities and extravaganzas till date. The river flowing nearby was crystal clear even in the monsoons, directly carrying the beauty of the forest that it hails from. The temple nearby the river and its surroundings remains as the unforgettable memories. The coldest mornings in the winter, the sunny days we like to have tender coconut in the midday, the monsoon rainy evenings I enjoyed. It was true that whenever I was living in my homeland I was not at all aware of the value of the surroundings I am having and how lucky I am. Now living in this concrete forest, running along with the city in the never ending race towards time, the purely artificial relationships that I am experiencing here, the abrupt monsoon that I see here, the crowded streets that I see every evening, make me think of the homeland.
Now changes are visible everywhere, and it is drastic. The festivals are changed to the celebration of television channels. The “Block Buster Films” are consuming most part of our festival days. Media has taken complete control of your routine life. I remember those days, were the morning radio programs worked as clock in the morning rush. They were coinciding with the daily routine. But now the program timings make you to finish work before it commences. The seasonal changes and traditions are now marketed by the multinationals. Recently in the month of “karkkidakam” where people refreshes themselves with the traditional medicinal plant and extracts. I happened to hear my friend asking his mother about the instant medicinal kit that available in the market under the label karkkidakam special. Yes, everything comes under the label instant and ready to mix. Life is changing….

Even though I am laughing outside, the life in the city I enjoy, the original “me” inside is weeping. But for my generation these are enjoyable as some childhood memories. For the coming generations they are more likely to be a fairy tale, which they never experienced… may be the one they never regret about….