I forgot to say Thank You!

Photo By h-k-d

The night was new. I walked out of the air conditioned hotel lobby. A blast of hot air caught my face.The air was annoyingly warm. I ran a hand through my hair as I waited admist the shimmering lights of Chennai's traffic for an auto. Chennai - the city where you get ripped by the autowallah's, fried by the sun and interrogated by foriegners. But I was happy. The interrogation was a success and I had been granted a Visa to the USA.

I paid the auto wallah 80 rupees for a 50 Rs. ride and finally arrived at the train station. I found him at the station waiting for me. We had a lot of laughs and shared the latest gossip of old batch mates from college.The clock tower at the station seemed not amused at our happiness. It didn't even bother to stop time for us. We parted again, sure that the next meeting was a long time to come.At the stroke of 10 the train started moving. Just half an hour late of schedule.

I located my berth in the three tier AC compartment. God was Cruel. No girls, again !!

I shared space with two guys and an elderly couple. One of the guys was a software engineer, I guessed as I saw the laptop bag. The other guy started a conversation with me. He was a soldier going to Bangalore for NSG commando training. We had a small talk going till he got a call from home. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation. It was about how thin he had gotten for his pants, how tall his sister had got and about the dinner they were having. I dusted up old memories off cobwebs and laid them before me. Nowadays I run out of topics to talk to mom, the only topic is how much my pant size had increased owing to the software belly.

I noticed the old lady in front of me smiling as well. What would she have been thinking? The calls from her son who is a soul lost software engineer in Bangalore now? I don't know. I didn't ask. I just know we were both glad to have eavesdropped on the conversation.

I don't know what could have made me pay attention to the two uninteresting old people before me. It was some kind of a strong passion they had that made me look up with curiosity. A few minutes of watching them and I felt I had seen magic. That was the most grateful moment I had that day, this year or may be in years to come. It made me change my perspective. I watched the old man as he gently prepared the bed for his wife, folding the blanket at the edges so that she wouldn't feel the cold. He took out her medicines and gave her water. He took out her sandals from beneath the berth. He did everything for her and she didn't even need to utter a word during the course of that very long 10 minutes. I was amazed. I wanted to feel what it would feel like to be the old man. How it would feel to grow old together. To experience the happiness and affection he is enjoying. It made me want to live that long; one thought I had dismissed long ago. I used to think I wouldn't want to see myself old. That 10 minutes had changed everything.

The night had grown old. A blast of cold air struck me from the vent above as I lay down to sleep. Some moments which made me smile. Some, I won't forget for a long time.

link : read about kittu's experience on train. some people have all the luck.

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Status :been doing a lot of travel lately- weddings, treks, outings..
Went on an awesome trek to saurkundi pass. the photos page is updated with pics.

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