Monday, February 9, 2015

A return that was boring and irksome.

I'd wished Rajesh the very best on his wedding day. We'd gone through the mandatory ceremonies, before the wedding, at their house prior to leaving for the venue. Met many people who're quite surprised that I'd made the trip back, yet again, after a gap of just a couple of days. From the looks that I'd received from many, the reactions could be categorised into three and they're:-

       - Isn't he crazy to make the long trip twice and that too in quick succession?
       - He belongs to a dying tribe who attaches great importance to the family and relationships.
       - He's acceptable to everyone and his absence would have set tongues wagging like for example,
          he maintains good relationship with only the people that matter (if I'd skipped this and had only
          been there for Priyanka's!).

Whatever said and done, though I enjoyed every minute of my participation at both the weddings, there were difficulties that I did undergo like today's return journey. I'd set off back, soon after the wedding, without waiting to have the traditional feast soon after. A combination of car and bus journeys brought me tantalisingly close to the Kerala Express, at the Chengannur railway station, whose rolling out siren greeted me as I reached the ticket counter! Even the person at the counter felt bad which was no consolation though!!

The train that I finally boarded was more than half an hour late and boy, didn't it stop at almost all the stations enroute despite the fact that it was an express train going to Bangalore from Kanyakumari? The coup de grace was when it was overtaken by a super fast train just prior to my getting off at Thrissur! And to make matters worse, the train was crowded all through with quite a few of the passengers coming out with their negative qualities especially, regarding accommodating fellow travellers. I shall expand on this, in that, there's a general reluctance to accommodate the others by offering space to sit down and when people resort to such negativity, it's funny to see them avoiding eye contact - reiterates the fact that they're fully aware that what they're doing is wrong!

Speaking about uncouth behaviour, a college going youth incurred my wrath in the final stages of the journey. We're sitting opposite each other on the single seats and when I'd returned from the washroom, I saw him sitting with his socks clad feet on my seat which he didn't bother to remove even after sighting me. That was the time that an angry me let go at him for not exhibiting civic sense to which his audacious answer was that 'everyone does it and anyways, you don't own the seat!'

I, then, took it upon myself to educate the youngster that during the 'pendency of my reservation', I enjoyed its temporary ownership and therefore, it's incumbent on the others to respect my consequential right over it. Nobody could trespass in anyway possible unless they'd my express permission. He got meek after that and remained quiet subsequently! The others were supportive of my 'words of wisdom'.


Tailpiece.

One more social event on my calendar has been ticked off with the satisfaction that the commitment could be met despite the constraints!

           

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