a vicarious tryst with classic love

"tere dil mein mere saanson ko panaah mil jaye

tere ishq mein meri jaan fanaa ho jaye"

Recently i saw Fanaa. What excited me the most, was the scene where Rehan comes to see-off Zooni at the New Delhi Railway station, which according to me is also the crucial part of the film. i was very moved by this scene and i assume the director was equally moved to discover it as the sole reason why the film should continue after the intermission. Rehan saw-off the train and everyone else except Zooni and as they say rest is history although they didn’t live happily ever after.

This theme was very hard to digest for the Indian movie-buffs few years ago to see their beloved hero or heroine or both dying. (The exceptions were of course the ones where they died for each other purely out of love, like Laila Majnu which were always appreciated). i still remember how a bomb explodes Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in Dil Se and the movie bombing at the box-office. i leave this topic for some other day as i don’t want to disturb my romantic mood.

Today we are confronting a new problem, having grave consequences be it in, marriages, jobs, group discussions, interviews and what not. If you are an eligible bachelor from a B-school, you would have guessed correctly. Poor ratio of girls to boys. It has invented a kind of competition never imagined before. Remember cramming one test after the other to enter the hallowed premises, only to find a different kind of competition which is stiffer to say the least, looking straight into your eyes. And believe me; here all the tangibles are not in your control. What intrigues me the most is the comfortable position in which the girls are :-)

But Pune is different in so many ways as it defies many ugly natural equations and this is one of them. Having said that it still maintains the rare beautiful equation of beauty x brains = Positive Constant. No surprise that all the boys are the happiest, including yours truly. More girls per boys and less effort per boys per girls or whatever biased way you want to interpret, you would be right. You can feel the romance in the air.

Scene: Railway Station, Pune

Train: Deccan Queen, Pune to Mumbai

Platform no: 1 although not as beautiful as platforms of New Bombay but still vastly different from platform nos. 2, 3, 4 etc of Pune. All in all a perfect Yash Chopra movie setting

Still there are 10 minutes to go before the train leaves. He hands her the backpack that he has was carrying. She slings it over her right shoulder. She also has a large shopping bag in the other hand cutting her left arm and her purse. Weighed down by all this, she looks like some sort of pack animal with bags bulging out on both sides. When he reaches to hug her goodbye for the last time, he cannot get her arms around her. Nor she can raise her arms to hug him. Still they hug, awkwardly like crabs scuttling together with shells coming in their way.

This will not do. She goes inside to offload herself. Still seven minutes left. His impatience only grows stronger. She comes back to the door. He helps her down. She comes forward to embrace him again. This time his arms encircle her waists easily, her arms slides around his neck. They Kiss.

Two minutes later still they are kissing, oblivious to the passer by. Later, she is drawing back putting her hair in place. Still there are four minutes for the train to start rolling. He still couldn't relax as he sees the signal turning yellow from red. She goes back to stand on the door, pressed on one side to let the other passengers in. She waits patiently while he touches his fingers to her cheeks, then nods a hasty goodbye and she vanishes. He checks his watch, still two minutes left. He thinks why she has gone so early. She could have stood at the door for the next minute. And what is she doing inside anyways?

For a moment he thought that he would go inside the coach and surprise her, but that would seem too needy and besides that entering the train feels like an intrusion. May be he can walk along the train, peering into the window till he spots her. But that would be absurd. He draws back, backs up against the nearest pillar. He will just wait until the train leaves. He whistles softly to himself, trying not to wonder why she doesn't come out again.

She tries to locate him from the window, but he wasn’t to be seen in the crowd. He could see her and also tries to help her by waving hands, vigorously. But from her expression it seems still she was lost. The train blows the siren and he starts taking his feet back. She comes to the door desperately to have a last glance, only to see his back moving on the way up the platform stairs. She tries to yell to attract his attention but thought otherwise not to make a scene at the last moment. After few steps he turns back to reassure if she is still there. May be she has come to the door. The train starts rolling out. She was no longer visible only he could see some hands saying bye to their beloved ones. He also waives his hand thinking if she can still see him. The train had already gained momentum.

People are so silly. People are so beautiful.