Pathanwadi, Mumbai - 400097 !

in Mumbai... they say, u should never stop ! unfortunately, before joining TCS all dat i used to think was.. "stay stopped, dont start !". so in an effort to accustom myself to a city, dats a polar opposite of Kolkata, i hav started puttin on a garb of pretence - as if i am the busiest in d world. with this pseudo sense of being busy comes the pseudo sense of being Mr. Attitude.... see, how well i analysed my newer self.. :D
but people who pretend too much need the minor-est of shocks to get back to who they really are.. 'coz these minor shocks r d ones dat catch dem off-guard nd unprepared.
so who gave me, "Mr. i-know-everythig", this minor yet massive shock...

a western railway ticket supervisor at the ticket counter.

dat night while returning from office i finally decided to purchase ticket from malad to belapur... i used d word "finally" 'coz for d previous 4 days i had hoped against all hope dat i wud b withdrawn from belapur :D ....
so i smartly walked to d ticket counter nd asked the man, "give me a monthly nd an ID card". better b said dat in case of monthly tickets u only need to give ur name nd a photograph, they dont ask much questions after dat. however dis man was different. in a distinct north-indian-english accent (in india every regiion has its customised version of british english), "whaat ij ur name ?"... i replied back, "somnath s-a-r-k-a-r". he asked "whhere do u live ?".. i replied back in a fake marathi accent (imagine a bengali trying to speak in a fake marathi accent with a north indian - 3 regions different regions of india utilised to make one national language work :D), "mala-ad". i had heard this accent during railway announcements inside d train. he asked back, "whhere in malad ?"... by this tym i was getting pissed... so i replied back in more fluent english, "pathanwadi" (though pathanwadi is not an english word :D). the man smiled and asked again... "what is the pin code for pathanwadi ?"..... oh o o o ..... i replied, "4 0 0 ........". the man laughed sarcastically, "dont ebhen know whhere u live.. he he . its 400097.. hehe". already naked, as i was without my garb of pretence, i just took the ticket, "thank u".. nd walked towards the auto stand... :D
i returned home nd after dinner i analysed dis whole incident nd i laughed for about 10 mins (my sis nd mom were asleep obviously)... hugely criticised myself nd went 2 sleep reciting, "pathanwadi is 400097 !"