Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters...

A journey to grandma’s home.

There was a time when the journey was through train from Pune to Kerala. All strangers in one train get in and the journey starts from Pune touching the borders of Karnataka to Andhra Pradesh to Coimbatore to the lush green Kerala with coconut trees all over… ! Takes me to those days when as soon you get in the train its full of strangers whom you don’t know and yet look to grab the window seats and evening the upper berth to sleep. Those moments to look for stations where the train will stop and you notice people and the fun you see around the people on the station who have very little from materialistic way yet the funny leg pulling and smile made it look all okay and fine.

As the train proceeds from one station to the other so does the people inside the train gets comfortable with each other and become friends. It was fun to watch the culture of the city with its food speciality, people, language, dressing of the locals and mother nature…! I always loved the change in which you can see in by traveling in that train Jayanti Janta Express. The bedsheets of Sholapur and the tea, coffee, vadas different in different cities..had its own flavor and feel. Three days and two nights journey makes everyone so friendly and close that no one feels anyone is stranger in the train.

Afternoon time some taking nap, some exchanging books, magazines or newspaper to read, some playing cards. Those days smoking was fine anywhere and people used to exchange cigarettes and when any seller comes in everyone gangs up to bargain and purchase. Its like a fair with fun.

As the mountains and dry land shows up people starts saying the name of that state and city – I always wondered how cool to identify the city with its nature.

And then a time comes early morning when the train enters into the state of Coconut – Kerala…the smell of coffee is so different here… and the food..smell itself tickles the mind to imagine the taste of that food… and then you will see how the sellers get in the train to sell their products …each station has its style and language – this variety that too in one train you will enjoy and cherish for lifetime. As the passengers get down at their destination it was kind of group hug and send offs to them from the rest of the passengers… that was life in Train then!

Yesterday we went in our own car by road except that my brother was missing. The window seat was there but no berth to sleep. The train playing music while running on the tracks was missing. The nature was same as I was traveling from one city to the other within Kerala however each city of this state has its uniqueness. Food might be same but preparation might be different, people wear the same traditional outfit but speak the same language with a difference.

Train makes its way and car always get stuck in traffic. The stop for food and refreshment is not similar. You find a hotel that you feel looks good and clean and you halt for your breakfast and/or lunch. The ride is not longer as in the train for three days yet the shorter 3 hours turns out to be more than 4 hours due to traffic, constructions and road blocks. Watching outside the window looking at nature and traffic… and hence you would doze off without knowing and the sudden brake will wake you and when you see its home.

It was a journey that I went through same like childhood with some touch-ups but when I met my aunt, uncle and their kids and kid’s- kids …felt that time has traveled much far from where we were. The kids who were small and babies are now having their own babies and it just took me to wonder ….wow time, you have traveled much farther than the journey itself… meeting my aunts who took care of me as a baby have still the same thoughts and affection which hasn’t changed with time. Each time I met them no matter after so many years back but I only felt that I am living that moment which I used to during my summer school vacation time.

Then school was in mind and now office, then we were carefree and parents worried now along with parents we also worry! I enjoyed my every moment with cousins and aunts and uncle and was trying to connect with the place same as to the old times. One good thing about this place is that those days people owned the property no matter how small the hut was today their kids have made it into a big house and hence I was only asking if the same family lives even today and felt good to hear a yes answer to that one!

Return journey was always painful, end of a fun moment and back to reality and that was the same even yesterday. Yesterday it was a bit different though as everyone was mentioning the age and was not sure if there will be a next time…put me in deep thought … somewhere everyone is understanding their time and preparing to say Goodbye!!!

Relations not only bring memories but the strengthens the emotional tie-ups…hope our kids will carry forward this trend to next level…for that we need to travel back and forth more with kids to establish that emotional foundation.

“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made of” ~ Bruce Lee

~ Dawn