Travel Plan!

Travel has always been my poison! I have always loved travel and loved exploring places and destinations! Am profoundly lucky to have found a life partner who also loves to travel!
It’s interesting what marriage does to two people! Even if there is a hobby to be shared, two people bring two very different perspectives to the same activity!
I have always been travelling for work and for pleasure and mostly never planned much! Either left it to my whim or to the management of the company from whom I was travelling.
On the other hand my spouse has been travelling widely and planning with even greater zeal and meticulousness! So marriage meant we blend our styles!
Our courtship period was hinged around wonderful treks in the Sahyadris and my! Did we plan!? ! Guess what! Yes! Excel sheets and their versions came to play! I am a big hater of excel sheets but yes they seem to love me n follow me like Mary’s little lamb! Duh!
And then before the big question was popped, we planned this huge trip to the Himalayas and lots and lots of planning and budgeting and excel work went into it! But yes it was fun! I wasn’t really complaining this time round cause I got to spend time with my beau and no one noticed that love blossomed while we dispassionately stared at excel sheets! It was super fun! The whole trip was a wonderful one! Very memorable!
And the super big question was answered again on a trek! So the Sahyadris have literally witnessed our love story!
Eventually marriage meant we begin planning again! This time the journey was no ordinary one! It was a journey for life! Such a long winding one and such a splendid one indeed! And yes we planned our life journey too with excel sheets! (Trust me I still don’t like them! :P)
Then the super journey of journeys was the Honeymoon! And how much did we plan! We scanned the globe, made a study of history and geography of the world, finalized a handful of destinations and literally came up with histograms and graphs of the average rainfall and snowfall of these places! Phew! More than any honeymoon it seemed an unending geography lesson!
But when we actually arrived at the emerald island, it was worth every single excel sheet mulling session! We knew the roads, by lanes and highways, sang the glory of Google maps and our guide was almost suspecting us, when we said we were here for the first time in our lives!
And now again we plan, this time for this much loved continent, the birthplace of my soul! 
And how long have we been planning? Nearly a year! But now when we reach the fag end of this planning session and actually await our boarding passes, I recall all our feisty sessions with Google and smile to myself! I learnt to actually plan a trip, book in advance and yes think down to the least possibility! It’s all worth it at the end of it all!
Another impactful angle to travelling is a camera! What began as a hobby has now morphed into a passionate activity for the both of us! Our brand new DSLR is our darling baby! Each new angle, each new lens acquired is so much fun! So many pictures and so many memories of wonderful trips, mesmerizing trips and yes these photos are a proof enough that meticulous planning pays off wonderfully and lets you sit back and relax. Truly lets you unwind on a trip!
Ah this looks like I just followed my hubby’s travel pattern of planning is it? Well not really! The unplanned part comes when we begin our journey, I suddenly find something interesting and we take off! The car takes on a new road and we follow our hearts! We have found so many new places, discovered such amazing places thanks to this unplanned diversion in our super planned trips!
We discovered this plateau full of wild flowers, green grass carpets and swirling mists all in Maharashtra thanks to my impulsive spurts! But yes now as we blend in our styles what I have come to discover is I love travel even more! And now it doesn’t begin when I sit in a car or train or plane but it begins months in advance, with just an idea or a fluttering map page, which is enticing us into its magical realm!

One happy day!

The alarm clock is drowsy! I snoozed it a zillion times before finally grudgingly waking up for the day!
Am a confessed night person! Getting up early is not my thing! Ever! But then work and a career path the hard way up means waking up in the sensible hours and travelling to work every single day!!!
I predictably am late most times, thanks to this snoozing the alarm clock routines! L
Another such day when rest all things are just as any other day when am late, rushing and running out to first meet that divine creature – Rickshaw with a rickshaw driver who is willing to take you to the place you want to go! Today for once am lucky! There is indeed one such being who is ready to take met o the railway station! Blessed, I sit back counting my blessings and humming my favorite tune as the music player dutifully plays it for me…
Enter the platform, encounter beggars, give alms, move on and then wade through the swarms of crowd and reach one dream of a platform! Every platform which has slightly less crowd is actually a dream platform if that also happens to bring in a train to a place you wish to go! J
My whim got better of me and I decided to enter a second class compartment today! The people around were similar faced creatures, all late comers and banking on those last few trains which I think are designated to carry late comers to work! With practice and some gumption I have learned not to panic when I am late…but I think not all are on that same page! J
In came the train, the women jump in literally pushing, nudging and barging in the compartment. I find it scary still but yes still very adventurous! I too get in! Precariously perched on one foot and then landing on two feet I find some space to fit myself in, my joy is crushed within nanoseconds! When this foul moody lady just picks on me, to push and yell at! She wants to enter the seating area, which is already crowded! No amount of protest convinces her that she should stay in her existing place! Finally hurling abuses at me she enters that area! I on the other hand, instead of getting upset decide to smile, my mind fully circumambulating around the song on my music player and good times had the prior evening, so I smile at her! This riles her to no end! It distorts her face in every possible angle!
I continue the journey being pushed and jostled around! Every station means more people pushing, jostling and abusing, all women! Am surprised at their specialized vocabulary! Just that they use abuses as some heavy blunt weapon they can mindlessly swing in any direction! I still smile!
The riled lady and a few more around are really worked up! How can she smile! How dare she smile! Their faces seem to reflect this very clearly! I smile that knowing smile, smile that these women all are tensed about that hanging sword of late mark, of the salary cut that might happen if they have one more late mark on their muster! Frustrated at the delay, the work which was unavoidable, maybe a school going kid, an ailing family member, or husband who laid claim a little longer on their night…whatever but they are late! And angry! At themselves, at circumstances at their sheer helplessness! At the fact that these reasons are such limp creatures that they won’t even be a reason to give to the boss…and then the resultant stress… with such a complex bag of emotions, heavier than their purses, every single day these ladies enter the overcrowded train compartments and move on to work!
And definitely it must be irritating to see someone smile at them in return to abuses… they have lost that sensitive side, that beauty of the smile from a stranger…they are all happy with their dose of stress, an opium all are addicted to! Contrasting their regular bawls and abuses, I just observe all this and smile. Smile that they don’t see much beyond what their grid is, smile full of empathy, smile with the understanding that if I don’t act fast, I too stand the danger of entering this same abyss called routines, smile that am happy to currently observe and note it all! Someone suddenly roughly pulls my braid, I wince but stand my ground, calmly take my long braid on to the other side, and smile at the owner of those hands who pulled my hair! Now women around me are mad with rage, I can feel the heat in the overcrowded compartment!
I move towards the exit as my station approaches, still smiling…immersed in music and pleasant thoughts…I realize what all these women are carrying in their souls, how burdened this city life has made them and somewhere deep seek answers for this question…
Life is indeed not easy, am not wanting to get more preachy but then what matters is retaining and fiercely guarding the right to emote those emotions which are your own, and not mere responses to what others act like…am happy that am still guarding my own right and standing my own ground and yes, still smiling…

Billing in seconds

The hoardings cry out loud! Billing in seconds! Walk while you talk! What not! To entice every single mortal in its wavy techno grip! The mobile phone is indeed a blessing! The call waiting is also indeed! But what do you do when you have an important person on call and another important person calls? Whose call do you attend? Normal dilemmas all we mortals face! Right?
Now check out this one…a normal crowded second class train compartment, sparsely filled with an assortment of ladies of all ages, sizes and shapes, some reading, some eating, some doing a makeup touch up, some gossiping and bitching, some listening to music and some on the mobile phone…a very normal scene in every suburban local train in Mumbai … Its evening and the breeze is unnaturally heavy, I wonder what scent it is laden with… how many are noticing the change in weather and changing sky colors… I too continue listening to music, smiling to myself for being quirky that particular evening… having a first class pass I have disembarked from my privy compartment only to push myself into the second class compartment just for fun! Some jostling around… The compartment is relatively less crowded, am happy to have found enough place to rest my spine upright!
Then I notice her. Standing at the door, on the footboard, just above her is the pasted sign which warns of punishment and penalty for travelling on footboard…I still ignore… just like she is, ignoring the whole world and talking away endlessly to someone on the mobile phone… as my station approaches closer, I smile thinking of meeting my beau, and concentrate on the next romantic song playing on the music player…lost in my own world…another girl comes and stands behind this lady engrossed in telephone conversation…till suddenly the girl at the footboard suddenly disappears!!!!
The girl behind is numb, and frozen at the door! Women shriek!!! And someone pulls the chain, the train grumblingly halts a few yards ahead…what happened! Now the murmur regular womanish banter is replaced by alarms, shrieks and hysterical crying! What happened!!!
What I saw with my own eyes just is beyond belief! The girl so engrossed in the call, decided to replace her hold, let go of her hand at the main door bar wanting to hold the handles in the train…but the train jolted forth, the movement, one reckless moment and she was thrown out! Out of a moving train, phone in hand and all! Fell out! Maybe terribly injured, hurt, maimed or maybe even crushed and dead under the wheels of the train!!! Life suddenly stopped! In tracks!
On call, with an important person, but death on call waiting… Death can be an impatient suitor! Snatches you off! A second and you are gone! Gone and dead!
A normal work day, tired and heading home, chatting to someone special or bitching about her work, she must have done so many times but today was different. The claims were high, on her life that is!
All I say is, life is precious! Do not walk while you talk in the train! No! it kills! I have witnessed it!!!
Enticing it might seem to be billed in seconds but what price does one end up paying!
I froze at this thought!

Encounters with age II

A regular working day means waiting endlessly for that divine being- rickshaw driver and his rickshaw! Both ready to take us to another hell called railway station!!!
Then comes the swimming through those swarming crowds…once I imagined that these people were tiny glittering fish…some under water oceanic miracle and I was a ruthless shark or at least some stingray that could DO something to make this swarming crowd disappear!!! But no! Harboring such fantasies doesn’t really help!! You have to make your way through the crowd, reach your destined platform before bracing for the next level in this real life game...That of entering the already overfull local train compartment!!!
It’s the first class ladies compartment mind you that I am talking about, nothing less...but then all this turns out to be is, scented cattle class…the comfort you get is the perfumes doused on equally rubbery boring and lumpy female bodies...which are packed too close to your own…So finally you enter! Only to either get pushed right IN to the middle of this seemingly collective mass or are left hanging out for dear life! Either ways it’s not at all pleasant!
So daily routines are such! Back n forth you do it! What I have done to deserve this!! Am not born for it!! All such protests are drowned in the drum of facts and statistics that millions are doing it for years…nothing great about it!!!
Such is the life in the economic capital of the country…but yeah, smaller snippets n incidents warm the bruised, bumped soul….making some journeys really worthwhile and filling you with joy!
I recently had one such wonderful journey…
As described above my real life game day began regularly...The rickshaw hunt, railway crowds and then finally IN to the mass!!
I was lucky to be pushed to one end of the compartment so that at least my spinal cord didn’t have to turn jelly for this trip!
After collecting my bearings, taking cognizance of my joints n purse…I noticed something very different…someone very different on board today!
A teeny weenie girl all of 3-3 1/2 years…trying to hold the overhead handles…all excited and happy about being “tall” happily perched on her mom’s arms!
I weakly smiled…muttering to myself addressing the girl…hey lil’ one...don’t u grow up soon...take your time…Live in open spaces… breathe fresh air…once grown up…these jam packed compartments shall await you…Till then why hurry…take it easy gal…
The girl began crying suddenly… Most ladies seemed to be indifferent… which surprised me! How can you not be attracted to an innocent kid!
But the most noteworthy part came up next…her mom… who looked like an average Mumbaikar female… tiny mangalsutra strung across her neck, thin to a level which scares me...pale...almost white...draped in formals, specs and a brave hair band to hold back those cropped hair from flying…
That girl-like lady was her Mom! I was like is the Santoor ad for real!!! She slowly hoisted the crying girl a bit higher, then started talking to her in baby words…pointing out to the train handles, other women in the compartment and again asking the girl to count the handles…try reaching them…not a single word in raised pitch, no irritation, no frustration on the lady’s part…being in a crowded train at peak hours with a small kid in tow, which is bawling away to glory isn’t the most nicest situations to be in!
But this lady seemed to know it all right! She slowly let the girl dry her tears, talked to her softly sweetly till that innocent smile radiated a familiar warmth on the girl’s face…This was I think a lesson for all the women around as well to control their tempers at least in crowded trains…but yes of course…such subtle lessons are for the sensitive soul..
I was intrigued, what makes this lady travel this way… where is she heading and why is she taking the child along? Is it that US culture of ‘take your child to work’ permeating through the corporate fabric of India?
Or the child is put in a crèche so far away? And if the nature of travel is casual why is the lady dressed in formals!
As a divine chance to quench my curiosity…the crowd jostled further for space and pushed me closer to this interesting mother-daughter duo…
Happy to be close with the kid, I playfully winked and smiled at her…got my chance and enquired what was the lady up to?
She replied almost naturally…well my daughter was curious to know where does mommy go every morning and come back only after she has slept! So I promised her one day to take her along to show her mommy’s side of life…so here I am with my toddler on this crowded train…will change trains and take her to office, sit around till she is bored and come back again…she smiled…Again going back to her daughter who was asking her mom, ‘do you count these (railway overhead handles) everyday?’
Her mom replied something…I was hardly attentive…my destination station was fast approaching…and my thoughts already flowing…what a wonderful parent she was…what a different approach to parenting, to teaching an individual to live! That lady was consciously nurturing empathy in her young daughter, showing her that she was living a life beyond her home…beyond her daughter…yet she did all this for her lovely daughter…
And I think the daughter also taught her mom and me at least a lesson in travelling that day…never lose out the novelty of the routine… the mundane can also be fun…so next time even I am going to count the overhead handles and giggle when they swing wildly in the fast local…

Encounters with age…

A busy suburban railway station….people rushing past, to and fro…no one seems to have time, for themselves, for others.

No one notices how they are all trying to be on time while time is chiseling away their lives…cutting all of them in shape for a perfect death…

A young woman standing on the foot over bridge of this crowded suburban station, i-pod playing a classical tune, a sharp contrast to the mayhem around her…she is in no hurry, just standing on the bridge and watching the world go by..surprisingly unfettered by the pace of populace around her…immersed deeply in her music, almost in a world of her own.

A creased and wrinkled hand stretched out from a equally wrinkled fading sari, broke her reverie…

The young woman just stared back from her glares…thankful about them shading her actual emotions…

Hurriedly wanting to brush away the reminder of age…she thrust in all the pennies she had into that outstretched hand. The older woman smiled a sad smile and returned the coins…her act almost jolted the younger woman…”I don’t like to beg, you look like a film star…but don’t you see that I am ashamed of begging I just came to ask you if this train could take me to Aurangabad…I don’t have enough for the fare so I have to beg…”

“When I was young, they said, why do you need education, just give birth to a son and your life is done! Believe me I did just that…My son died last year, his wife…my daughter in law, threw me out of the house. A woman befriended me and got me here, last night I heard her say, the old woman can earn a lot, she evokes a lot of sympathy…It broke my heart…I was ashamed of myself, saddened that life has brought me on this threshold from where there is no return…I tell you old age is a damned thing…you just rot, waiting to die..no one, no one cares for you…stand up on your own feet, never fall for the demands the society makes on you…”

“Did you eat something?”

“just tea since the morning”

“Wait, just wait here for a while, will you?”

“Were you disgusted that a woman like me stood next to you for a while and spoke to you about my life? Are you running away? I don’t need money..I needed someone to listen to me…”

“Yes I understand…just wait a while please, I shall return”

“…….”

The young woman returned with eatables and a bottle of water…handed it to the older woman, smiled warmly and left…

It was time for her train to arrive….she mixed effortlessly in the crowd, while those old ,moist, worn out eyes followed her for a while…

Hell-"O"

Not new to the blogosphere...its just one more territory conquered...the princess of poetry bares her steely urban quiver full of rhetoric and spice,sharpened by surival instincts...