A Journey

After wishing continuously for some time on my own, I seem to have been granted my wish. I’m seated alone in a crowded compartment. I feel like chewing my words, I begin to think that I’m more of a pack animal. Hold on, not just yet, I have some time to sit, look around and let some random and some not so random thoughts roam my head. That way, travelling is something truly unique. It can be enjoyed either when you’re by yourself or when you’re with a gang creating a ruckus all along the way.

I’m just sitting by myself watching the outside world whizz past the window. Its not something new to me, but something that I never find to be dull. It always seems so fresh every time you experience it. If not anything else, it makes you oblivious to the claustrophobic atmosphere inside.

Speaking about the people around me; Here I am, on a train to Kerala, on the border of KA, AP and TN when a Marwari woman boards the already crowded compartment with her child and a gent is jabbering away on his phone in what seems to be Bengali. I just found the above thought quirky. (If this makes you think that I’m some pseud NRI, who gapes at the sight of a cow on the road, then all I have to say to you are two words which when obeyed to the letter might cause you to increase your progeny).

A bad tech joke just ran through my head : More people are being pushed onto the seat, the seat does have only finite capacity, but there is no more space to accommodate overflow. Hence I just hope that the seat doesn’t crash.

I, for one, don’t think I would want to travel in such a fashion ever again. If I may say so, the bulk of the passengers seem to be from the financially restrained echelons of society. (read – the poorer sections of society). I pause to spare a thought to those who are compelled to commute thus on a daily basis. Coming back to the open mouthed, gaping firang that I mentioned earlier, I wonder what fascinates him about this very stratum of our society. It might be that he finds the content middle class to be too similar to himself for him to be free from his day to day mundaneness.

All my co-passengers are now in a stupor. I guess the journey can hold your attention only for so long. I guess its reaching your destination that gives you the drive to undertake the journey. Its rare that the journey itself can be recalled in the clarity that is usually reserved for those moments experienced when you get to those places that you want to reach.