The Bass Story - As told by Pablo

"Papa I need some money, I am thinking of buying a second hand motorcycle." Adi said, he had already taken a market survey and had an estimate of what he needed.

"Okay," his father replied, warming up to the idea, "Yes I think you would need a bike, would Rs 5000 do?" Unfortunately, though his father had warmed up to the idea, he didn't have much idea about the amount required to buy a second hand two wheeler.

"No Papa! I was thinking about around Rs 15000, I have talked to a few people here and that is around the price that they are asking. Papa I really need a motorcycle..." Adi didn't elaborate on why exactly he did need a motor-bike, but his father assumed it was mainly for going to the classes, and our campus was huge, it wasn't an unreasonable demand.

"Oh, okay, very well. I will deposit the amount you want."

Now it has already been mentioned that Adi had already done a market survey in Benares for second hand bikes, but this market survey had also proved that there was no two wheeler worth buying, he had rejected every offer, either the bike was to old or too costly, not worth spending 15-kay over. There was one time when he got very close to buying one, but Sharma (a puritan/stickler/...) found out glaring errors in the papers of the bikes, it was quite hard to believe a guy's authenticity if he fuddles up on the registration number of the motorcycle in the legal papers.

"Don't buy it, this guy seems to me a con-man." Sharme told Adi, using tact to lower his voice in front of the salesman. And he whisked away Adi from the spot, leaving the con-sales-man dazed and confused.

After around a month of deciding to buy a bike but not being able to for the lack of anything worthwhile, Adi had had enough. He said, "I will not buy a bike and that's final!"

I told him, "BUt ou have (quite literally) money in the bank!"

Adi had a plan, he always had a plan, though the plan maybe flawed or not plausible or an outright streak of genius, but he always had a plan. "I am not going to mention the buying and selling of motorcycles to my parents in the future, and gradually I believe they will forget the whole issue, and I shall spend the money slowly."

Adi might be known to have a plan but if he had money he was known not to have a tendency of even thinking about spending it slowly. He believed in the adage 'Spend today worry tomorrow' or some such cliche. So I figured that the money was going to be used for day-to-day stuff like booze and chicken, but buying a bike was no longer part of the larger picture.

One fine Friday I left to spend the weekend with my cousin brother, leaving the hostel and all my friends intact. In the night I called up Pushpendra to take the general stock fo things.

It came as no surprise that Adi and Alex had gone to Kolkata, or was it Delhi? When I had left the campus Adi was sleeping, and Alex was playing the guitar, there was no question in the near future of them taking a trip out of station.

With Adi, anything is possible . (He was perhaps the inspiration for that other 'Adi's' Impossible is Nothing.)

The full account of their adventure came clear on the following monday, when I saw a shining bass guitar in his room


Adi asked Alex, "So what are you planning to do this weekend?"

Alex answered, "This and that you know, but practically nothing."

"Good, we are going to Kolkata to buy a bass."

"Okay." Alex said, and insterted his wallet in one pocket and a toothbrush in the other.

Author's note-Although this may not have been the exact conversation that started the journey, but this is a 'possible' conversation between the two.


They had no reservations, either for, or about going to Kolkata. Alex had bought his guitar from the city and it was serving him well, and Adi thought since ALex had bought his instrument from there, it would be a good place to buy a bass.

When they entered the station, platform one was empty. However the Varanasi-Delhi Superfast train 'Shivganga' was rolling in slowly. It would depart from the station in another thirty minutes or so.

"You know.." Adi said.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Delhi is as good as Kolkata isn't it?"

"Or maybe better, perhaps."

"So we are on the same train of thought here."

"You mean we do not go to Kolkata?"

"And go to Delhi instead! How about it?"

Alex thought for a while, and decided that going east or west was the same thing, since they were going on a whim anyways.

Adi had decided to take the old defunct bass that was de-assetted by our seniors along in hope of either selling it or getting it repaired, presently he handed it to his travelling companion and said "I am going to get the general class tickets, you go secure seats."

Now which of these two is a more difficult task is open to debate, for a Delhi bound train, the general class compartment is always overflowing with human life and limb often seeping through the doors and the window grills, also Alex had Mr. Bass with him, a troublesome customer in a black casket case, and then there was the added responsibilty of securing an extra seat for the other Mr. Bass, Adi.

He somehow squeezed through the humanity and found two seats, on one he prostrated his luggage, and on the other he spread himself as far as he could, trying to fight the maddenning crowd. It helped that Alex was tall and strong, and he held the people at bay. He waited for five minutes for Adi.

Then he waited for ten.

And then a further ten minutes. Now the area that he defended had shrunk to become smaller than what would be sufficient for two people, still he struggled. A scary thought entered his mind, "Is Adi coming at all? I mean, he is whimsical, it's quite possible that he might have seen a long line at the ticket counter, and thought that it's not worth the effort, and having already forgotten about Alex might already be on an auto-rickshaw back to the college."

His fears were confirmed when the train started to move and there was no sign of Adi.

He mentally started cursing him, and thought of ways to get back, of course there was the option of getting off at the city-station, but he was not going to let Adi get away!

And as he mentally pictured inflicting torture on him, presently he saw him in person looking slightly annoyed, a very small ripple in his cool demeanour.

"Where were you?" Adi asked him. "I have been looking all over for you!"

Alex grumbled, but kept his peace.

The travelling-duo somehow made the journey to Delhi, sleeping in fits but generally keeping awake because of the lack of space. There was even the question of going to the loo, but that wasn't possible, since it would be foolish to leave prime seats.

However, the trip to Delhi was fruitful, though they could not get rid of the old bass, they bought a new one which was good (bought from the Adi-Bike-Trust Fund).

While returning they had for no particular reason a brainwave that it would be better to cover the 12 hour train journey by Bus, Adi planned that they would take a break at Kanpur, and hence reduce the effective journey time.

Sadly, they didn't know that the Bus journey from Delhi to Kanpur itself taked twelve hours.

Or that busses aren't a very comfortable mode of travel either.

Late in the night Adi awake when he felt water drops on his cheek, he found that the skies had decided to make their return journey eventful by pouring down on a biblical scale. He shifted slightly, closed the window and tried to sleep again.

He awoke around half an hour later to find that the floor of the bus had become a very shallow water tub, he turned to Alex who was also amongst the people who find it hard to sleep with their feet immersed in water. They both looked at the bass case, and realized that that too was a couple inches submerged.

"My bass!" Adi shouted.

"The case!" Alex said.

It turned out that there was a leak of some sorts in the roof of the bus, which had been effective in flooding the floor. They cursed their luck, and set forward to their second night of fitful sleep.

Arriving in Kanpur they assessed the damage, thankfully the only thing that was in a bad shape was the coffin case, the bass was pretty much okay.

It was a good stroke of luck that two of our classmates from Kanpur were returning to college, one of them being PC, the other being Pranshu.

And so that night, on the train journey back to Benares it was PC and Pranshu who stayed awake, or slept in fits, while Adi and Alex slept comfortably on borrowed seats.