Strangers

When I was young there were times when..

I would close my eyes, take a deep breathe and hold it.

Wishing that everything around me would come to a standstill.

I could never hold my breath long enough.

You are going to leave me.

Please don't leave me.

You are nothing but a kindness..

..selfish coward and I never want to see you again.

I see someone sitting there.

Oh really! I am so sorry for disturbing you. - lts okay.

Cheers! - Thank you.

I am sorry. Your luggage was unattended.

So I thought I should call the authorities.

Bomb!

I am sorry I disappointed you.. Mr. Rai.

You know my name.

Why? Don't you know my name?

Have we met before?

Are you scared of something? - Sorry!

I mean even if we had met before..

..then it wouldn't have been so scary.

Look.. I am not scared.

Will you have some? - No. Thanks.

Why? Don't you take anything offered by others?

Don't worry. Nothing is mixed in this.

I won't run away with your luggage.

So.. how do you know me?

Fear. Because of a fear.

I don't understand.

Its written in the books, when a person does anything..

..then he is driven by some fear.

You got scared when you saw my luggage.

Thinking that you are alone you started sweating.

Let it be. Anyway.

I had checked your name in the passenger's list.

Do you ever read the passenger's list?

No.

It's so interesting! Read it sometimes!

You find out with whom you are going to journey.

Some woman is travelling with a man and there is..

..a possibility of something happening between them.

Some Pakistani has to travel with an lndian.

How will the next 12 hours be? Etc, etc, etc!

You get an interesting insight. Try it sometime.

But alas.. you checked the passenger's list and you..

..found out that you are going to journey with a boring man.

Quite on the contrary!

Reading your name I realized that..

..this is going to be a journey of a lifetime, sir.

Well, let's hope so. Let's hope it's a journey of a lifetime.

And we will have a good journey.

And you have still not told me your name.

What's there in a name, Mr. Rai?

Shakespeare screamed and died. But nobody heard him.

By the way you too don't follow Shakespeare's values.

Otherwise why would you check the passenger list?

Thou too don't follow Shakespeare.

I will have to agree on that, Mr. Rai. You win. And I have lost.

Let's do one thing. Let's play a game.

Get to know your fellow passenger. It's very simple.

You try to guess about me. And l.. will guess about you.

Don't worry. I won't do anything serious.. that will lead..

..to us being thrown out of the train.

By the way.. I am Rahul.

Stop that music!

So Mr. Rai.. how right have I been?

I don't know. I felt as if l am some '70s movie's villain.

I have packed your clothes.

You check your papers.

I will check it. Thank you.

Shall I serve your meal? - Yes!

When will you return?

I will return by 25th. - Is that so?

Can't you return sooner?

Amit's birthday is on the 23rd.

Yes! Have you organised some function?

No. But I am performing the veneration.

You at least call. - Fine.

Tell me something, Mr. Rai.

What's the difference between fiction and reality?

Between story and reality?

No idea!

What's my reality?

Rahul.. you are entangling me in words.

That is not true, Mr. Rai.

At least tell me.. what according to you is my reality?

According to me what is.. your reality?

You are a.. cartoonist.

People around him either have long nose..

..or some politicians have Superman's body.

He mocks everybody.

And no matter how bleak the situation is, he..

Mr. Rai, seeing you I felt you are Alfred Hitchcock.

An exceptional story teller. But I am disappointed in you.

You fabricate good stories.

But your perception.. that is a bit weak.

Maybe because you believe a lot in romance.

You never close your eyes anymore

when I kiss.. your lips.

There is no tenderness anymore in your..

You are trying hard not to show it.

But baby, baby, I know.

You have lost that love and feeling.

All that love and feeling.

You have lost that love and feeling.

Now it's gone, gone, gone.

We had a love, a love, a love you don't find everyday.

If you could only love me like you did.

I narrated my problems to her.

Smiling she said something, something..

You are staring at me the way my..

..neighbours used to stare at me.

And now you are going to be judgmental.

And I am going to get the character certificate..

..of a bad character.

Have you read this story before?

No. I was thinking why did you marry Preeti?

Mr. Rai, the thing is that I fell in love. And this is the truth.

Rahul, there is no truth. Truth is what we believe in.

Mr. Rai, right now you spite me.

You see my story is so unusual.

And I should have narrated to you in the usual way.

Let's begin again.

This story is 5-6 years old. Now its.. - 2006.

Yes! So it occurred in 2000.

And the setup is this.. bookstore.

Can I help you? - No. That's okay. I am just browsing.

This one comes with the writer's autograph, by the way.

Really? - Yeah.

Rahul! Is he famous? - He is new! First book!

How does he write? - Okay.

Worth buying, I guess.

5 pounds for a first timer.

Don't you think it's a bit expensive?

No, no! He writes well. It's nice.

There is no review in the papers.

Must be one of those lndian writers, you know. Lost in London.

I think you should read it. - Why?

You will like it. - What if I don't?

Then I will take you out for dinner. - That was quick.

What if I like it?

Then you can take me out for dinner.

And I will do one thing.. instead of my autograph..

..I'll scribble down my number.

You can call me when you are through with it.

From thoughts into the paper. But this was worst.

I believe there is not much difference in writing and shitting.

Its one and the same thing.

You know.. what is troubling you.. you extricate that.

It's the same with writing.

Whatever you have in your head gets a vent.

Release of pressure.

But.. now I didn't have words.

All this power that I had, l thought I had as a writer.

It was flushed down the drain.

I was suffering from mental constipation.

Obviously. I couldn't do any other work too.

My publisher was angry.

Because I was not doing the publicity properly.

But then.. suddenly something started to happen.

Something that was to make my life.. worst than ever.

I call it the Preeti sighting.

We all are here today..

What a film!

And I want to thank everybody this morning for coming down.

For your last respect to my mom and dad.

And they will be happy to know that all their friends and family..

..have turned down today to say goodbye.

Dad used to say that he met mom during floods.

And that there has to be a reason for it.

Sorry.

Again the day I was born, it was raining.

There has to be a reason behind this too.

The reason is to slug as fishes.

Great! Just perfect!

It was their last wish..

There you are in front of the woman..

..you had been going crazy over the past week or so.

And she is driving you crazy all over again.

But I am not lying.

I have actually maintained a record..

..of the times that I have seen you.

During daytime. At night. And mostly on Kingston Avenue.

I work on Kingston Avenue.

You must have seen me going to the office.

Oh! That's a..! Sugar? - Two.

The mystery is solved.

But don't you think there is more to my visions?

Tell me something.

Do you wear funny dresses and go to office?

What do you mean?

I mean those funny skirts! Black, brown and all that!

They are not funny.

And are you mad?

You are sitting with a girl for the first time.

And you are making fun of her clothes.

First. - First.

First time. - First time.

So Saturday is confirmed.

You know, in all of England, you must be the only guy who..