Dewy Sunset

We were up early. Earlier than we needed to. And were undecided as to how we would make it to the railway station. We made the safest choice. Had decided to take the train this time, despite an almost 30 hour journey. The driver of the auto rickshaw who took us all the way through, seemed kind enough. For some reason this stuck with me. He seemed genial and importantly, the fare meter did not seem rigged. One must feel thankful for these little things. I will also remember our bottle of drinking water falling off on the street. I would imagine it bursting under a set of heavy wheels. The train seemed inviting, clean and comfortable. Cooler, importantly.

When one has books to read, it does not matter how long the journey is. A bit of P G Wodehouse, a bit of Agatha Christie (after a very long time), that's how I had decided it. The lighter things. But the change, and the anticipation of it had blown the lid off my imagination. Thoughts and ideas came rumbling in. I felt like a paralyzed man who was suddenly walking again. I felt like myself again. The tinge of gloom present even on my last few blips seemed to lift.

There was a Bengali lady in a nearby coupe, who was rather vociferous in a variety of Indian languages and English. We received all our updates about the journey without asking for them. Traditionally, Bengalis, especially the women are known to be a bit on the louder side. But there was a Gujarati family who beat them hands down. These were a bunch of elderly people, probably, brothers, their wives and parents. They brought uncanny energy into their talk, of which I understood not even a word. Throughout the 30 hours, they managed to let their shrill voices penetrate every corner of the compartment. When you are reading, you can make the shrillest of voices fade into insignificance. Especially when you're feeling sane, this is not tough to do. But for some reason S wasn't impressed. She even attributed a headache to all the incessant rambling. Yes, it was truly staggering. A cohesive group with a penchant for continuous talk.

Dewy Windows, the undulating greens and words. The journey wasn't too long. Definitely not. We arrived before the scheduled time.