A wonderful journey.

Yesterday afternoon I'd boarded the Amritsar Express alongwith my friend, Swaroop Nandi, for Ludhiana. The journey was meant to be time bound. But the Indian Railways had other plans - the train started about an hour and a half late. I'd resigned to the fact that I could take the delivery of my new car a day late as the showroom would have put down its shutters for the day, by the time we reached there.

The gloom was lifted by a considerable extent thanks to the following:-
(a) Swaroop's inquisitiveness over an assorted set of issues.
(b) Two teenage girls(sisters) solving the puzzle of the Rubik's cube under six minutes.
(c) An energetic group of school children at their active best with their singing, anthakshari and excited chatter.
(d) A friendly young businessman, Rajat, from Phagwara who was my immediate neighbour.

I'd, in the meanwhile, been updating my whereabouts to the dealer, who made arrangements to have us picked up from the railway station and transport us to the showroom which was opened for our sake at that late hour(around 2130 h), so that I could complete all paperwork to set off for Delhi early in the morning. And a patient Gurmukh Singhji, a retired serviceman who was the Manager and the young salesman, Sulabh made that possible by their dedication to the work in hand.

After spending the night at a nearby hotel, we're up and about by 0530h and an hour later, we'd set off for Delhi, clipping in the new car. The showroom's sentry, Balighar Singh(another retired fauji) was more than helpful and very, very respectful.

The journey was indeed a pleasure with me driving the 'mean machine' to my heart's content and achieving speeds of my choice and comfort. And I do not know whether the metaphor's appropriate here, but "I really felt like a bird in the sky".

PS.
1. Lekha and me are the proud owners of a Chevrolet Cruze.
2. Today's the day of the 'dhanterras' and it's auspicious to buy metal, in any form and we seem to have purchased a metallic giant on the occasion. Well!

PPS.
Lekha is currently at Kochi attending the wedding and reception of li'l Sharanya.