Mother Nature and Lady Luck smile: Hit by fever on the day before, I had still not recovered. Thankfully, for the first time, I had booked my tickets on a non-ac bus. To add to my luck, it rained throughout and the air conditioning wasn't really missed.
Mr.Grumpy Dumpty: The guy who sat next to me looked was such a grumpy soul, staring fiercely at me as my bag accidentally brushed his shoulders, ever too faintly. I stared back, and dismissed him with a don't-care-a-hell-for-you smirk, which I have after years of use, practiced to perfection. He, to me, was proof that the world wasn't as good a place as I had started to feel, especially with the air condition thing that I told you about.
2 Damsels:Two girls, one of them real pretty, sat diagonally across me – both looked the college going type. We spent our time glancing - Me at them, they at their mobiles and occasionally at Grumpy, who I must admit was a rather handsome guy.Don't start mistaking me now, I am as straight as a pole!
Rain,again: Annoyingly, the bus started to leak, and a string of drops started to trickle down on to my trousers. I would slide my leg away, but involuntarily the leg would back go to its comfortable position, get wet and annoy me. Slowly I started to get sort of acclimatized to the reassuring trickling rhythm of the drops and their consistent impact on my thighs, so much so that, I started missing it awfully, when the rain and the leak stopped after a while.
Grumpy turns friendly: The two of us were already felt miles apart, though our shoulders were brushing each other's for quite some time now. Then his phone rang - one of his buddies had missed a train and the guy had calledhim up. He turned and asked me, I felt a sudden surge of companionship, called up my friend who is almost a railway Wiki and gave him a prompt suggestion. We soon got talking; got on rather well, and I found out that, he was a frustrated software engineeras well. Like how I had been, until I switched my job.
Expletive Barrage: Notwithstanding the jitters, stiff seats and the leak, we had worked ourselves into somekind of a sleep, when a mobile phone started to ring at full blast, waking theentire bus up. I heard three expletives in two different languages, in addition to one by me, in pure, chaste Malayalam. The irony of the whole thing was that,the owner of the phone was the last person who woke up.
Grumpy strikes again: After a rather uncomfortable sleep, I woke up, hoping we would have crossed the Kerala border. Rubbing my eyes, I found a huge, orange placard with big, green Tamil letters on it. Still, there was a faint hope inmy mind – it should be somewhere close to Kerala. Grumpy slowly murmured, "Madurai" and went back,contented, to sleep. Dejected and disheartened, I crashed back on to my seat. He had given me yet another reality check.
Passenger Mutiny; Our own words for breakfast: The bus got stuck at the check post, for reasons known only to them. We waited for half an hour, rumbling tummies and all, till finally I lost control, took my bag and started to get off the bus. Grumpy followed me and we vented our frustration on the poor driver, the undivided attention of the damsels being the motivation. Two angry young men. I felt heroic.
But, as soon as we got off the bus, the checking was over and the driver proceeded to start the bus. We rushed back, jumped back in clumsily, and with a sheepish look on our faces, went back to our seats, pretending not to hear the driver's rants. Talk about eating your own words!
Homecoming: Mom was at her fussy best, caressing mycheeks and holding me close, complaining about my hair and skin. I bent down awkwardly to let her kiss me on the forehead and then proceeded to the kitchen,where as if pre programmed, steaming Dosa's were getting cooked for me, with my favorite coconut chutney. I brushed, pulled my chair next to the stove and gobbled up a few.
Gosh, you talk of friends, you talk of relatives, you talk of Mother nature and Mother India, but is there anything, anything ever, toreplace the care of your Mother?
Lull before the storm: The first few hours are always serene,when it takes a little time to blend back into the presences of each other. Then the usual fraying of tempers and stuff would soon start, so I sat back and savored the calm, while it lasted.
Writer's Block and a remedy: And if you wonder why I wrote this whole thing, its just following the old adage:- If you can't think of anything to write about, just write about anything that you think! :)
To you dears: If you have reached thus far, wish you all Happy Onam!
