Namesake express

I love my name. For people who have still not gathered, it means, "a span of 100 years, a century"; and it IS a common name among the Bengali. Well, some highly amusing incidents that happened with me co-related to my name.
Every time, Every damn time I introduce myself, I get it. "Hello, my name is Shatabdi." Grin, "Express?". No, you are the first person who noticed!
Some-one actually thought that I was born in running Shatabdi Express. Gross.
People were under an illusion that my parents work(ed) for the Indian Railways. Ha ha! should try telling them that.
There were this group of people who were convinced that I used to be an athlete, ran fastest, so they changed my name to suit the same. This is the most hilarious one!
Some mates thought I had a sister [at times twin], and my parents chose to name both of us as 'Shatabdi' and 'Rajdhani'. This was the sickest one.

Well, by and large, I have lived with my name, and I like it being so unusual.

Coming back to the point,
My experiences in the mighty train I happen to share the first name with :-)
I have taken the train twice, and each time be proud of being associated with the train.

The first time, It was on my way to Goa. And I was excited as hell! Along with my parents and elder brother! Bhaiya dearest kept wondering aloud, whether we get special concessions if we shared the same name and I kept throwing disgusted looks. But I loved the journey. Yes the train was great, clean and organized. My respect for Indian railways just kept rising notches higher. Also, because the scenery was absolutely amazing. And yea, it was short :-)

The second one was the more recent one. On my way to Ahmadabad. This time with my parents. The train was a lot different, we had personalized televisions, which showed crappy stuff. Worse, we didn't even have the choice of shutting the damn things off! But the service was sexy. Every half hour, they made sure they gave us something to stuff our mouths with. but people were such bhukkads they wanted more complimentary things. Well, journey was alright, comfortable and all, but boring. Short again.

Shatabdi express somehow gives me the picture of India by large. Facilities are changing, progress is evident. But then mentality of people remains the same. Yet, not a sorry state.

It just gives me a high when I co-relate myself with something so fantastic, so forward when compared with its counterparts, something that symbolizes class, speed, time-savior, progress.....
I oh so love my name.......