Thursday, May 22, 2008

LIFE WITH A MASK!!

I really dono y, this darkness impresses me to pen down my thoughts.. I just wanted to drop down something, but dono wat to write or share with u folks.. Atlast i decided to share one of my recent experiences in life.. Well, my parents n my sis lived in Bang n its me, who is pondering my life at Chennai.. This hapened abt one and half months before.. I went to Bang, for aweekend to visit my family n thr we got a call tat my Grandpa at chennai was damn serious n so, we had to rush to see him.. No trains tickets, no flight tickets n not even a bus ticket we were able to book.. Afterall, this is the great characteristic essence of India... So, we decided to board atrain from bang early morning in an unreserved compartment.. I have never gone in such compartments n had to go forcefully for grandpa's sake.. My only worry was my sis son who is just one yr old.. So many questions raised in my heart... Will he like the place?? To crowded, how ll he sleep in this mess?? Too many pantry cars moving here n thr, will he get air?? By noon, wont he feel too sultry in this hot climate? Etc.. Etc... He used to cry n behave as a fuzzy child even in AC comp n so, i was scared how r we gonna manage this kid in this compartment...
Around, 5 clock morning, somehow by porters cost we got abt 3 seats.. so, myself, mom n sis settled with Pranav(sis kid). I didnt like the people around me cas, none of them wre of gud standard and all were just gaping us like something n tat made me feel uncomfortable.. I generally used to travel atleast a month from chennai to bang n vice versa.. My choice is always Ac, (for chennai's climate) or atleast normal reserved coupe, but Def a big NO to these smaller messy comp.. Travelling in Ac Comp, u can find, so called decent people, never ever care to give even a small smile to the co passenger.. Thy dig up their face into the some crap books or mag or daily paper n then sleep around for hrs with their IPOD's plugged into their ears.. Wen pranav cries their at times, everyone at tat comp gives a look, "y the Hell u people got into this comp n giving such a noise nuisance to us, Plz get down".. None of them cares, even if u miss ur baggage or ticket.. thy give u look as if, all r deaf n dum.. U can clearly see their eagerness to talk n curiosity to know from others abt them n which station thy gonna get down, afterall its human nature.. etc, but their only hindrence is Level n Mask.. People think, talking to strangers wud put them low infron of others.. so, thy control themselves n mask off their faces with a strict paint.. But still i liked tat way n got used to travel only with such people around me..Time slowly passed off n was watching people getting caught from TT for not taking ticket even for this unreserved.. Felt so sick n turned off my face to look out thru window.. Suddenly, i noted a family sitting in front of us.. Thy looked poor.. thy had 2 kids.. Both of them very very cheerful n lively.. Their smile brightened me from my sick feel.. Then, just adjacent to them were a old couple, going on the way to meet their son, there were few others arund us.. This family just took up a food box n thy had barely few idlies tat cud fill their four person's stomach.. Suddenly, the female gave 2 idlies in a clean plate with some chutney to my sis n said, the baby seems to feel hungry.., i can sense tat from his eyes.. y dont u give this food to him??? she was very pleseant n warm while giving us this.. n i cud smell her motherly affection she showed towards pranav.. i felt as if i got a slap on my face.. how sweet, this family was.. Thy had a big heart to share their less food, even to some starngers whom thy saw not even an hr b4.. Here lived God!! Then, i slowly started observing the people around.. Withinn an hour, everyone started talking to their neighbours, pouring out their hearts to them n even listened to others stories.. These 2 kids of my d poor family were on the lap of those old couples n thy were listening to some historic stories tat the old women was telling them... To my surprise, we reached chennai so very soon and our lil kid pranav not even showed any signs of uncomfortableness, infact he enjoyed seeing people doing different antics to him to make him laugh.. Dono how time flew off.. I used to feel like hell during my regular travel in a solitary ambience.. It made me feel tat these people, though thy r poor or uneducated, thy live their life for themselves.. Thy don act for others sake.. No artificiality in them... Very Natural.. No big thoughts abt their Dignity or respect.. nothing.. Thy only knew love n considers everyone as their own folks ... I had a gr8 experience during tat journey... It taught me a lesson tat day," life is beautiful wen u live naturally.. It turns complex wen u add atrificiality to it.. So, simple!";) Now, signing off folks,.. TC...

5 comments:

Anitha Bala said...

Very true Janani..

For ppl lik 'em it goes lik; "There is no wealth but life”, 4r us " There is enough wealth but less (can't say NO) life".

i've had similar kinda xperience i must say! i seriousely get pisd off travelin in t AC compt ('tho i haven't travelled much in ordinary compt) its lik ur deserted someplace tat nobody bothers even if ur in trouble!! al tis results frm t maskin of own face beneath a makeup!! lol..

Hence, as Albert Camus says
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life”.

Nice post!! Keep writing:)

Sundar said...

A well written post. Too much urbanisation isolates us from the fellow human.

Chindu's biography said...

Thank you Ani and Sundar..

Nithya Pari said...

Nice write up! You are totally right about people in A/C Buses! They look at others like zombies and not one soul would talk to another.
The poor people live a more meaningful life compared to the rich people. Even our house maid's family is like the one in your train. In spite of being poor, she is kind!

Unknown said...

one word for this post..."AWESOME"...you are one of the very few persons i have seen, living their life!! not just spending it off...lively writing!!!