Deepti: - Ei, wake up. You are sleeping like a Kumbhakarna inside the train.
Arindam: - Uff…What happened? Why are you disturbing me? I am sleeping in my own upper berth. What is your problem?
Deepti: - Arrey, baapre…you are reacting like anything! Sir told me to wake you up. It is already 10.30 AM now. The Pantry Boy is asking everyone whether anyone is left in our group, who wants to order for lunch. We have ordered our meal, only you are left to order.
Arindam: - Ok, ok, order Veg Curry- Rice for me.
Debojyoti: - Ei, Sain, wake up. Why are you still sleeping? Are you ok?
Arindam: - Yes, Sir, I am fine. Actually, I was awake till 4 AM last night.
Debojyoti: - Ok, 6 hours of sleep is enough. Now, come down from your upper berth. The more you sleep in a train journey, the more tired you will feel.
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Vartika: - We are feeling bored, Sir. Sir, let us play Antakshari. At least, it will be a great time pass for us and we will not feel bored also.
Koustav: - Yes, Sir, Vartika is right. Let us play it.
Debojyoti: - You people play, naah…Why you want me to sing songs?
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Chawla: - Ha ha ha…hey guys, do you know what is happening at that end of this S-8 coach. Vartika is singing songs with her ‘Rakhi Sawant’ style voice.
Angshuman: - he he he…ei, come on; let us become the audience of that special Antakshari round.
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Arindam: - Wow! Vortika, you are really a good singer. Hmm…I must appreciate that.
Deepti: - Vartika, I know Arindam very well. Don’t take it as a compliment. He is saying that because you have a boyish type of voice.
Vartika: - Sir, I will kill Arindam. I am telling you, Sir. Why he is calling me Vortika instead of Vartika.
Debojyoti: - aaha…Arindam is a Bengali boy. Bengali people always have a tendency to pronounce the letter ‘O’ very much.
Debraj: - Vartika, you should feel lucky enough that Arindam has not called your name as ‘Vatika’, the coconut oil company, he he he…
Vartika: - I will not sing. Every time, I start singing, Arindam will pass some comments. I will not sing anymore.
John: - Sir, let us give Arindam a severe punishment. Arindam will also have to sing in the Antakshari round and the moment he starts singing, Vartika will pass some comments.
Agarwal: - Haan haan…that will be the right punishment for him.
Debojyoti: - Ei, Sain, come and sit here. You also have to sing songs.
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Vartika: - Dhaath…Arindam has no other songs in his store. For every letter, he is singing the songs of Kishore Kumar only. Those songs are too old-fashioned.
Arindam: - Aiyee…what the hell are you saying? Do you know who Kishore Kumar is? Kishore is the ‘Key-shore’ of Indian Music. Before the advent of Kishore Kumar, Indian Music was at bay.
Deepti: - but, nowadays, no one listens to ‘Kishore Kumar’ songs. Now is the age of disco and pop music. Hip-hop type songs, you know.
Sunny: - No, Deepti, old is always gold. In those days, a playback singer used to sing with a plain music at the background. Nowadays, even if a playback singer has a bad voice, you cannot even recognize it because too many instruments are used to create the music for that song. You have to appreciate that the playback singers of those days had good voice than the singers of today. Take the example of Himesh only. He sings with his nose, but due to hip-hop background music, his songs become super hit in discotheques.
Anupam: - Sir, our train is running through Tamil Nadu now. Within few hours, we will reach Chennai.
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Kedia: - The Chennai station is not as big as Howrah station but is cleaner than Howrah station.
Debojyoti: - Accha, listen to me. Let me tell you about our plans. We will stay tonight at Venkateshwara lodge. We will take 1 hour to freshen ourselves. Now, it is 5.30 PM. At 6.30 PM, we will go to Marina beach.
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Arnab: - beside this Venkateswara lodge, there is a Bengali hotel. The funny thing is that it is written ‘Ramkrishna Hotel’ in Bengali but ‘Ramakrishna Hotel’ in English.
John: - Ha ha ha…Arnab, welcome to Tamil Nadu. Here, no one pronounces ‘Ramkrishna’ but ‘Ramakrishna’. Tamil people have a tendency to pronounce the letter ‘A’ too much.
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Debojyoti: - Can you help me out to book a Volvo bus to Ooty from Chennai tomorrow morning?
Lodge Manager: - Why wait for morning, Sir? Tonight, there is Cheran Express at 10.15 PM, which goes to Coimbatore. From Coimbatore, take any bus to reach Ooty.
Debojyoti:- But, I have not booked any tickets of Cheran express by fearing that Coromandel Express may enter Chennai Central 6 hours behind the schedule time.
Lodge Manager: - No, Sir. Coromandel Express is the No.1 superfast express train of South India. Anyway, I am not only a lodge manager but a travel agent too. How many people are you in number?
Debojyoti: - We are 21 in number.
Lodge Manager: - Don’t worry, I will arrange 21 confirmed tickets. But, you have to pay extra 50 bucks for each ticket.
Debojyoti: - Ok, done. Just arrange it. I will pay for the tickets now.
Lodge Manager:- And sir, as you are only going to spend 4 hours in our Venkateswara lodge, so, I will charge only 60% of the rent for 6 rooms that you have booked for 12 hours.
Debojyoti: - Thanks a lot. What is your good name?
Lodge Manager: - I am Ramamurthy. People call me as Murthy only. You can call me by that name only.
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MRK: - Hello! Yeah, Debojyoti, tell me, where have you reached till now?
Debojyoti: - Sir, I am in Chennai right now, with my team. We will reach Coimbatore at around 5.15 AM tomorrow morning. So, Sir, kindly can you send any bus for us to Coimbatore station?
MRK: - Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. I will tell the Sterling resort officials. They will send a bus to Coimbatore. But, I think that the bus will reach Coimbatore station at around 7.15 AM. So, you have to wait for 2 hours in that Coimbatore platform only. By the way, how many are you in number?
Debojyoti: - 21 people, Sir.
MRK: - Ok, done. The bus will reach Coimbatore at 7.15 AM. You will reach Ooty by 10.30 or 11 AM.
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Debojyoti: - Oh! All of you are ready to go to Marina Beach. That’s good. Accha, I have one announcement. There is a slight change in our tour plan. We are not going to stay here tonight. We will board the Cheran express tonight, which will start from Chennai Central at 10.15 PM. We will come back from Marina beach within 8 PM and then we will log out from this lodge. After that, we will have our dinner in the nearby restaurant and then board the Cheran Express. Come on; let us go to Marina beach now.
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