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Chapter 2: The Station and Beyond

At about 2:00pm, Srihari arrived at

the station. "Bhai, Trivandrum central -

MGR Chennai central yahaan kab

tak ayegi?" "3:00pm Bhai," said

Srihari to the stranger whose son

was now tugging at Srihari's baggy

pants. The father then chided his son.

The son then played a

fake-tear-away cry which seemed to

pacify his father. Srihari had bought

a Lays packet worth 20₹. It was

like Srihari's food narnia except for

the talking lion, who's supposed to be

jesus. The train was supposed be here

now. But of course it's late! Eventually

the train came, but it was 20

minutes late. They entered the train.

"Vada and chutney! Cutlets!" the

train vendors started shouting. Srihari,

Sundar, Abhiram and Rudradev hated

train food. So they denied it. As they

settled on to their seats, they noticed the

train was clear-clean. As it was a

sleeper, the middle seat was not folded,

so they had to fold it so they could

sit comfortably. "Chai, chai, coffee, coffee,"

the vendors made their appearance again.

The strong scent of the Bru coffee was

just too much. The four friends bought

one each. The train hadn't even started

yet and they had already spent

10₹ each. "Wow! These coffees are

too tasty!" exclaimed Abhiram. "How

can train drinks taste so good!" "God

knows," said Rudradev. "Maybe these

are not venomous," and they all had

a fun chuckle. Then the train started moving.