A small Journey

I moved the cursor to the right bottom. My mouse pointer moved its way to the battery status bar and it showed 38 mins left. I took my mobile phone clicked the power button, battery status showed 38% left. What a coincidence? Laptop life left with 38 mints, my mobile left with 38% charge. I need to recharge, not only my phone and laptop, I wanted to charge myself too, and it looked like it is not possible. I lacked charger socket in this huge sleeper class train, I imagined myself back to 1980, my train ticket cost me Rs.789 that included GST, which will give you only a bed in sleeper class and a fan above your head. Central government never really cared about us, enough of politics. 

At the corner of the window, a quarrel, so noisy, no one heard it happened inside my head. I literally tore of all the politicians inside my head because, I spent Rs.789 for a ticket with no power socket in my seat. I thanked God for the mind voices of human being that always stayed mute. 

Biryani Biryani.... local food parcels sold beside my compartment, Biryani... if one word could trigger my stomach and call my brain, that, the favorite food of almost 99% of a south Indian. If I the president of south India I would declare Biryani as the national food. I bought a Biryani parcel for Rs.80, my travel expense gone out of my budget. My father said this before I came out of the house 'don’t be a kanjoos son, you don't build a palace by saving Rs.100, eat what you like.' Little did he know that Rs.100 can serve food for at least 3 homeless people, mind calculation of a future philanthropist.’

I was alone at the train, not for long, waited for the compartment to get flooded with people. A man in his pajama with a gutka lipstick walked to my seat, sat in front of me looked at my seat number and me, and shot his question. 'What is your seat number? What is your compartment number? Can’t you see your ticket? You should check your ticket twice before you sit on someone else's seat'. I admired his speech, how fast he could talk? So fluent, with no fear, with no regrets, he delivered the speech at ease. I stayed silent, I adjusted my seat position, hunched forward to get my face close to him like a villian 'Uncle, you are in S5, seat number 11, can I see your ticket please?' He quickly clicked the power button of his phone, showed his gutka filled mouth to his phone, the phone recognized him, and it allowed him access to view the ticket. His eyebrows frowned, he stood, he said 'damn it' I expected a sorry, I still wondered to who that 'damn it' was delivered. As far as I concerned, he doesn't belong to my compartment. I was relieved. 

A big family registered the scene, the attar perfume truly brought back my senses back in train. The boxes were heavy, my small bag looked very tiny like a hand bag as I compared with their large suitcases. It looked like the family had completed packed all their belongings inside the suitcase, that included fridge, washing machine, dish washer may be. They were the nosiest family I ever met, they talked, they talked, they talked, sadly I didn't understood a single word, they talked an alien language, it must be Telugu, or Hindi, or Urdu, definitely not kannada or Malayalam. I have developed a plan on how to get myself out of this situation, I searched my pocket, I took my life savior, the 3 mm tailed legend, one plus phone is plugged in with an earpiece, my phone notified, I opened my Wync music application, sorted my favorite list, I played Levitating by Dua Lipa. I sat like a statue and watched the people run here and there with suit cases. People rushed to catch their train. 

A finger poked my thigh, I turned to witness an Uncle with a large white beard proudly smiled with his decayed tooth, and I unplugged the ear piece from my ear and smiled back at him. He opened his palm, there was magical beans, No, it was walnut, peanut, dried grapes, full of protein calories a perfect healthy evening snack, he looked like god, I pretended like I hesitated at first, he didn't gave up, I thanked his efforts with a smile and accepted the snacks. The train started to move, I looked at my compartment, filled with bags, big suitcases I felt I needed some air, and I quickly turned back to my window. I tasted the dry fruit, my empty stomach was treated with delicious healthy food. I sighed a satisfied relief. 

A lean guy stood at the corner like a serial killer, his thoughts were so wild, I could sense him, someone like me, his eyes turned to me, I nodded, he opened his silent fingers, and pointed his seat on the top deck, I signaled him to climb and ignore the busiest family, they continued talking, for real what a big family like them had to talk, and what kind of topic they could talk like for hours, sighed. I turned my head once again to watch the disappearing city, the train started to move at a mid-speed, the city disappeared slowly, my eyes longed for the beauty.

The finger poked my thighs once again, I turned to see an aunt this time, I searched for the uncle who gave me treats, and he missed the scene. Aunty showed me a box full of sweets, how sweet of them, I wished such wonderful co-travelers across all my journey, I accepted a laddu, my favorite of sweets, they continued to talk and I wondered what they have talked until such time, each time they completed a talk there was a laugh, a comment, and a delicious food was passed. I imagined one suitcase is completely filled with snacks. I continued to stare at the passing trees, lakes, empty bridges, empty lakes. 

After about an hour, my stomach started to make some noise, I needed something to pass the time, I either got hungry or felt sleepy, I needed something, my phone charge is at the edge, it was 21%. I turned off the music, unplugged my savior, and wished if someone could lend me a book. God heard me, Books sir... books sir... I waited for the legend, the legend appeared, kept a rack full of books and disappeared, lot of books were there, my eyes searched all books like a little kid searching for pretty dresses, I chose a book, paid the legend. Now I didn't bothered about my travel expense, every time I spent something for my book I never bothered about how much I spent.

I opened the book, I disappeared from the train, for almost 2 hours I read the book like a virus that seriously worked like a corona. I raised my head, the lady beside me appreciated me and said something to her daughter, I took it as a compliment, I kept the book, walked out washed my hand and witnessed the charger socket, I didn't wanted it, I had a better time pass than a mobile phone, the next best time pass I always spend hours doing nothing but staring, is nature.

I walked back to my seat, ignored the alien language spoken happy family, and enjoyed my favorite dinner - Biryani.

After 2 hours, I closed the book and looked around, the busy happy family is finally shut down, all on their respective seat, and it was so silent. Feeling relaxed, I closed my book and closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing my eyes saw was the sun rise, not just any sun rise, a perfect sun rise from a beautiful lake. It looked like the sun actually came out of the water, the lake looked orange on sun's refraction. I adjusted my hair and started to watch nature, the coconut trees, the chill air that entered our compartment, goose bumps on my skin, dark green lakes and people that washed their clothes on one side and people and kids jumped in the water, on other side people on their garden busily snatched the coconut, collected rubber extracts from rubber trees, people worked so busy at this early morning, these moments are special and I enjoyed the moment, people worked hard with the nature, the shirtless men and their natural six packs made me watch the men of my native place, women and girls with their books and their hand bags with fresh jasmine flowers on their dark long hair, their curly hair is a magnet that attracted stare from all men, their hair was still wet, their Kajal in that fish like eyes and the cute smile as they chatted and walked on the road, I proudly enjoyed the nature, and the people from my beautiful place, one and only Marthandam nature at its best.

Time to get out, and jump in a beautiful lake, see you all next time.