Hi, I have something to say!
For the role of a confidante - parents, friends or cousins
fit the best. How about a stranger? Just, pour your heart out in front of an
unknown person and walk away. It’s almost like a one night stand. Feel lighter
without any string attached.
Some of us may shun the idea of talking to strangers and prefer
to pick up an Ipod, a Kindel, or a Tab as a companion. But most of us enjoy chatting
with strangers especially while we are on the wheels.
If you travel from Kanyakumari to Jammu or Mumbai to
Guwahati, likely time to spend is 60 to 70 hours in a same coupe and with a same
set of strangers. But, interestingly after a few hours of journey, the
strangeness disappears, unknown faces look familiar and there is an ease in your
compartment. That’s the moment to start a conversation with the passenger
sitting in front or next to you with a few unnecessary questions. Where the
person is going? What time the train will reach? Which is the next station? So
on and so forth.
After exchanging some savory and a couple of cups of tea,
the real conversation begins. It hardly takes any time to classify the speaker.
Some are intruders, braggers or chatterers. If you wish to play the role of a silent
listener then you are popular amongst all. Apart from the first group, you can enjoy
the company of the other two. They are like open books and you get a chance to
read all the chapters of their lives.
Call it a train or a mobile library, but surely you get the
book that fancies you the most. Sometimes the book has a jacket of a soldier, an
actor or a professor.
You pick the soldier’s book. You start reading it with an
expectation of adventure, patriotism and bravery. But initial pages disappoint
you. You fail to find a difference between a soldier and a clerk. As you
progress, you get the twist. He is a soldier, who loathes his job. He wants to
leave the work before he retires. He plans to declare himself dead so that his
family gets all the benefits. An opportunist who gladly reveals his sinister
plans to others.
The next, is a story of an actor. An actor who has never acted
in a play or a theatre. But he has been playing a double role for the past
forty years; the role of a son and a husband. In the pursuit of perfection, he has
lost his happiness, health and wealth. But he has never been successful. The
tussle and the tumble of the double role have forced him to abandon the stage. He
has chosen the Himalayas as his next destination but not sure of his new role.
The professor. The bragger. A middle aged lady’s book begins
with a note of complain against the Indian Railways about the uncomfortable
chairs, the ineffective air conditioners and the menu card of a pantry car. The
ticket checker chuckles and says “Garib Rath” means the carriage for the poor.
She continues.
Being a professor, her chapters are relatively longer than
others; a perfect one for the entire night’s reading. Interestingly, her
achievement section seems to be more fictional than factual. She claims that the
world’s top universities are in a rat race to hire her. But she has chosen a
private start-up university, located at an obscure town of the South India to
impart her knowledge. She earns a fortune from the royalty of her work. Her
investment includes a few apartments in New York, London, Paris, and Patna. And
of course her Yacht and a private beach somewhere in Hawai. A few post card
size selfies in a Yacht are placed as an evidence for her audience. Before
leaving the train, she vouches not to travel by Indian railways again. Or maybe
she doesn’t want to meet her confidante again.
When it is too heavy to lug the burden of thoughts, we look
for someone to share. It is instinctive. It is primal. Let’s listen to others
and make them feel better.
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