Reflections On A Lonely Night

Deft Hands & European Pickpockets - Part Two

For first time readers, just scroll down a few posts down and you can get the first part of the story.

For my other readers , Sorry for keeping you long :)

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So, there we were in the middle of the night facing the predicament of spending the night at the Brussels railway station. We were tired after the long journey and badly wanted to sleep. But more importantly, we wanted a warm place. This was a problems as the station had no heating. It was closed yet it was so cold outside that even with your complete winter gear, you felt the chill.
To go out in search of bars, pubs was certainly out of question as we were in no mood for it after such an exhausting journey. We decided to spend our night in the station.

Unlike the Indian railway stations, the Belgian railway stations close at night from around 1 in the night to 4 in the morning and the station is cleared for this duration. This was another added tension.

Thus we waited, sitting on the ultra cold metallic chairs. The station was practically empty, hardly 10 people. A Moroccan guy, some blacks, some Europeans( looked east European ) a Chinese/mongoloid couple and we Indians. The cold was getting to me. I thought, its better to keep awake and warm by walking around the station. So I beckoned my friend ( Rahul ) for a stroll around.

We walked around, checked out the huge railway timetables pasted on the boards, discussed some vague things and lamented on our bad luck.

As we loitered around we saw a few north Africans ( Moroccans perhaps ) sitting in one corner with shabby bags. We looked at them, they looked back. And suddenly one of them started singing Ram Jaane,Ram Jaane ( the song from the SRK movie with the same name ) and asked us if we are from India. We said yes. I was not so enthusiastic about the guy. There was something sinister. Looked like a junkie you often encounter in games. After a little exchange of words, he stood up and came over.I backed off ( Had heard stories of mugging in railway stations ) while my friend was still continuing with them. After a while I turned back to see what was happening. I saw my friend surrounded by two other guys along with the first guy.

Thats all for tonight :D

Minutes Before The UFO Landing

I know, the title is absolutely rotten. But I ruminated for some time about how I should name this picture. Through the Mist, God's Word and what not.

But then, UFO draws attention.
Just like the Times of India newspaper headlines.

Random Thoughts on Republic Day

I was watching 300, the adaptation of Frank Miller graphic novel yesterday and couldn't help reflecting on the way history has been taught to us, through books and other popular media.

The moot point - how did the small army of Spartans led by Leonidas lose against the mighty Persian army of Xerxes. It was a traitor who betrayed the secret of a goat's trail which helped Xerxes surround Leonidas's army from all sides.

Doesn't it sound similar to all that we have read about our Indian history? Be it Rani Lakshmi Bai, Siraj-Ud-Daula of Bengal, Tipu Sultan, Prithvi Raj Chauhan and countless. Why is it always that people lose because of a traitor. And I think , if there was no traitor could they have won the wars ? Why is the failure just attributed to the betrayal of some confidante? or will their bravery be lessened if we were told that they lost because the opposite army was just more powerful, more sophisticated and had better weapons ? I really don't know the answer.

But I feel happy that I could question that which is almost a given truth.