Running Away!

In continuation with: Escape!

     Wisdom had struck him like lightening. He did not feel like carrying the burden of  this restlessness anymore, that would have been cheating himself. For many days afterwards he tried to drag himself to his boring routine of life, for the sake of his lovely wife, for the sake of his corporation. But it wasn't the same anymore, the food wasn't tasty, beer wasn't intoxicating, sex wasn't desirable. Anymore. He know that it was eating him from inside. Like a bird trying so hard to break out of the cage, not caring if it would all fall apart. 

     Nikhil gave it all a second thought, calculating all other possibilities, like explaining it all to his wife or his close friend, but each time it rendered him disappointed as he felt they would never understand him. The more he tried to avoid that thought, more it kept popping in his mind. He just needed some time to figure it out all.


     And one ordinary day, it did happen. He ran like a fugitive. Threw away his mobile phone, burned down all the cash, gave his blazer to a beggar who needed it more than him. He held his wedding ring in his hand to throw it off, looked at it for a second, and then put it back. His righteousness told him to keep it as it would remind him of his loved one and the fact that he has to come back one day. He walked his way to the railway station and decided to aboard the first train out of here, irrespective of where it took him, leaving his beloved ones in despair. Gathering himself in the general compartment to save himself from the cold. It was all so new for him and he was open to this new world. Excited. Pumping up adrenaline through his blood.

To be continued...

Robbers' Cave at Dehradun

     We all grew up hearing bedtime stories about how Alibaba found a robbers' cave and enjoyed all the gold for the rest of his life. Probably even fantasized about finding one ourselves. Just never thought such a place would exist in Dehradun. Don't get your hopes high; it doesn't have any more gold left in it.

     At my first glance, the place looked like an extended gutter. Only after exploring further, I found sheer awesomeness. As they say, never judge a book by its cover.


     The place was like a passage for water to flow through those rocks. It pops two things in mind: The Grand Canyon and 127 Hours movie.  The rocks were corroded by water smooth, just like pebbles. It is ironic that a thing as hard as rock can be so smooth. It was getting narrower and deeper as we moved inside. The ankle deep water level soon became knee deeper. Though the water looked brownish, it wasn't dirty at all. I mean no plastic garbage in it. Just water with some soil in  it. Plastic garbage shows the existence of human race at a place. If you find a place without it, you can be sure that it's untouched, virgin!

     We were getting closer to water source. Discrete drops of water falling downwards were just adding up to the experience. Sunlight was getting rarer as we went deeper. Or should I just say, it was getting more awesome! At the end of the cave, it  went more than 7 feet deep. It felt good to drown in such a compact place, just like a cavity. I might be able to describe it down fully because it was an experience that can't be expressed in words. Indeed one of the best places I have explored. 

07:12 ST Fast

     When you spend more than three hours everyday in a local train (that way, 7 years of an average Mumbaikar's life), commuting from home to work and back, it becomes your second home and the fellow passengers your friends. Some read a book, some solve crossword in the newspapers, some do office work, some keep looking outside the window for hours and some decide to just kill time by looking at those cheap adverts on the walls or enjoying a heavy breeze in the doorway. Or just inspecting an item the street vendor is trying to sell. All in all, if you exclude the pathetic crowd in the trains, all of my commutes have been extremely enjoyable.

     Talking of local trains, you might have seen the Bhajanwalas in early morning trains. Those are just ordinary men, like you and me, trying to devote some time for the higher powers through religious, Marathi songs, most of them dedicated to Lord Vitthal of Pandharpur. Some people see it as an irritating thing; but for me it was purely amazing to see the entire bogie joining in on rhythms of tabla.

     The single craziest thing I have seen in the local trains is probably the water boy. A water boy brings water bottles for the commuters with absolutely no motive behind it. He circulates the bottles amongst the fellow commuters and collects back once they have consumed water. And he does it everyday, year after year. There couldn't be more selfless act than this. Although I have been travelling in local trains for more than six years now, I have never seen the water boy people more than twice. And if you ask why this - May be those people don't find time for doing some good things in their life. The part of punya as defined by the Hindu mythology.

     I was going to CST the other morning when I took the 07:12 train to ST and I felt like I have crashed in a wrong party. Every damn passenger in that bogie seem to know each other and I was the odd man out in their gossip and jokes. It almost felt like a get-together in that train. They probably sent off each other saying, 'See you tomorrow, same  train, same coach!'

     It leaves me confusing every time when I think why do local trains symbolize only Mumbai city? Why not Chennai or Delhi for that matter. They have EMUs too. Who knows? May be these cities and its people haven't accepted the local trains as much as Mumbai has.