Serenity

Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Serenity

The train was hot, it wasn't one of those modern trains with spacious seating and air conditioning. No, this train was overflowing beyond capacity. Every conceivable space was occupied by a hot, sweaty, breathing body. There were people piled on the roof, hanging from the windows, the train attendants literally had to push someone into the train while the doors closed because it was so packed tight. It was so crowded it felt like you were going to suffocate, the air was stagnant, it was horrible! Unfortunately, I had run out of funds to be able to afford anything more luxurious on my year long jaunt around the world and was relegated to taking whatever I could get in terms of transportation. I knew it was going to be bad but nothing could have truly prepared me for how bad. The heat was stifling! 

Much to my dismay, the journey was not a short one. It was an approximately 14 hour 42 minute trip from Bengaluru India back to Mumbai where I would catch my flight home. To say it felt like it was lasting forever is an understatement. Time crawled by at an infinitesimally slow pace. A snail would have crawled faster than it felt this journey would take. The only silver lining was the fact that I had arrived early enough to actually snag a seat. I definitely wouldn't say it was comfortable. There was so little space I had to hold my bag in my lap and my face was practically smashed against the window as I may as well have been a seat myself. Then, the unimaginable happened, someone in the car was sick. The overwhelming stench of feces and vomit filled my nostrils and everyone else's. It was like a hot box of sewage. The stench was unimaginable! It took everything I had not to start vomiting myself. I looked at my watch, it had only been four hours. "Fuck!" I thought, "there is no fucking way I can do this for another 10 hours, you've got to be kidding me. There's got to be another way." It took another two hours before we came to our next stop and I knew I had to get off, I couldn't take it anymore. I had no idea where I was, no idea how I was going to get to Mumbai, but in that moment, I really felt it was the best choice. 

I stepped off the train and felt instantaneous relief. Fresh air flooded my nostrils and I took a long deep breath for the first time in hours. It was so refreshing! I was one of perhaps three people who got off at that stop. As the train pulled away I surveyed my surroundings. The station was basically a booth, no bigger than a food truck. There was only one employee. I went over to ask them what my options were in terms of transportation. They didn't speak a lick of English and my Hindi, to say the least, was POOR. Over a period of about 30 minutes we were able to reach some level of communication. They told me my best bet was to take a bus from this small town to Mumbai. The bus would come that evening but the station was a few miles away. So I picked up my bag and started to walk. The town was tiny, so small I'm not really sure you could even consider it a town. The scenery, as in most of India was pleasant but nothing to write home about. Mostly composed of agricultural fields, dirt roads, and a sparse tree here and there. The bus station was a fair bit outside of town, why this is the case, I clearly have no idea. But the train attendant had been kind enough to draw me a map. 

There was another small booth appearing in the distance and I felt hopeful that my destination was near. I walked up to the bus stop, which looked almost exactly like the train station, and set my bags down. I had hours yet to kill before the next bus came. As I stood there I noticed a light breeze wash over me, it was so fresh and soothing on this hot, dry afternoon. It had a clean smell, almost ocean like, yet I knew we were nowhere near an ocean. It was coming from the direction of a moderately sized hill, the only hill to be seen as far as the eye could see. I picked up my pack and decided to explore. As I crested the hill my ears were suddenly inundated with the sound of bird song. Thousands upon thousands of birds were twittering, tattering, and singing back and forth. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the scenery that lay before me. There was a lake, a massive lake, so large I couldn't see the other side. It appeared to be a shallow lake with shallow banks surrounded by luscious trees and undergrowth. The shrubbery was all a bloom with beautiful pink, red, white, purple, and yellow flowers. The trees were full of all different types of fruit: mango, pomegranate, figs, mosambi. The lake was thriving! Birds were diving into the water to collect fish. Macaque's were swinging from tree limb to tree limb and stuffing their cute little faces with the sweet flesh of fruit. It was an oasis unlike any I had ever seen. There were no other people around, not one. I hadn't seen so few people since I'd left the states. The tranquility of it was indescribable! After taking it all in, I walked to the waters edge, put down my bag and plopped myself down to lay against my pack. It was the most relaxation I had felt in months. I lay there and closed my eyes and listened to the sounds, took in the smells, relished in the solitude. I lay there for hours, half sleeping, half meditating, not a care or worry in the world. I took out my camera and took some snapshots. I watched the birds and macaques with fascination. I soaked up the sun and cooled myself in the shade. I bathed in the fresh water. I journaled. I did a little yoga. It may have been one of the most serene and relaxing days of my life. I even contemplated leaving my old life behind and building myself a hut out of sticks and mud on the waters edge so that I could live there forever; stuffing my face with fruit and fish and never having a care in the world. But alas, there were things and people waiting for me back home and I knew I had to go. As the sun began to set I packed up my bag, took one last long look at my hidden oasis and slowly trudged back to the bus station. I caught the last glimmers of a magnificent sun set at the crest of the hill as the bird song quieted and the forest went to sleep. As I got on yet another crowded vehicle, I had not a care in the world. I just closed my eyes and pretended that I was still sitting there on the lake's edge. Even to this day, whenever I need a moment to decompress, I imagine I'm back at my lake, it's my happy place.