I planned to meet a friend in
Panjim, the beautiful capital of Goa. I am a little sleepy on the bus to Panjim.
So I doze off for a while. Oh these short afternoon naps. When you get them
just right, it is like somebody has just gotten into your head and cleaned it
of all the ooze. Like a ear wax cleaning, but for the head. Or maybe it is like
a head massage, the best head massage you have ever received. Somebody once
told me that when you sleep, a process that involves converting the short term
memory into long term memory, occurs in your brain. For some reason, on this
bus ride from Marmagaon to Panjim, I
felt like I had fastened this process. Or I was super aware it was happening. I
am woken up, by a bus jerk. Panjim aa gaya hai, utar jao (in slightly more
broken Hindi). Panjim, I am finally here.
This feels right. I planned to stay
with a childhood friend here in Panjim, Goa. He was a native of the city and
moved here after the 10th grade. We were reasonably close growing up. I was
looking forward to the time we spent together. Unfortunately this acquaintance,
did not happen very soon. I had called him the night before and also left a
missed call and message before leaving my last destination. I was sure he knew
I was coming. But he did not pick up his phone. Did he abandon me? I called him
once and then again.
Nobody replied. This kept happening. 21 missed calls
later, I thought I was screwed. I will have to sleep at the bus station
tonight. That would be a first. But I have my laptop bag with me. Oh God! Why
did I bring it along. Maybe, I can use it as a pillow and nobody will find out.
It isn't too hard to steal a pillow. I wish I did not bring any valuables along
with me on this trip. I wish I just had one pair of clothes and one tiny bag
pack on this trip. Wouldn't that make things so much easier. These were the
things I needed: A towel, a change of under garments, cargo pants, a casual
shirt, diary, wallet, phone, earphones, camera, some pens, a bunch of handkerchiefs
(sinus problems), formal t-shirt,bag of toiletries, sport shoes. Yeah, that is
all you need to be alive on the road. Only I had two of each of the above and a
lot of other unnecessary stuff.
Then the phone rings. Yippiee. It
is him. I pick up the call. Where were you, dude? He answers, "I am on my
way man, can you stand near the ticket counter at the station." I buy some
ice cream, while I wait for him. I see a few students sitting across me, doing
a sketch of the passengers at the station. O further inquiry, I find out that
they are art students and are here to observe and collect content for their
art. That was the coolest thing I heard all week. Maybe the coolest, after
Vivin's story. But it was really cool, nonetheless. I think about how much you
can learn about the world, by merely observing things around you. I looked at
the situation I was in. A crowded bus station. People behaved differently. Some
people were making purchases at a canteen nearby.
Mothers collecting bags of
chips and biscuits for their little kids. A bunch of businessmen, in plain
clothes, seemed to be in a hurry. A family sitting next to me, seemed to be
traveling cross country and was surrounded by a bunch of luggage bags. The bus
conductors were shouting out their bus journey descriptions. They were trying
to convince, the people at the station that their bus ride was a ride to
heaven. The most comfortable ride in the world. The cheapest. It was an offer
of a lifetime. They sounded so convincing. I almost bought a bus ticket just
for the sake of it. Eventually my friend arrives. He has a car. Thank God. No
more buses and trains for a while. We stop at an atm. I had run out of money. I
was in South Goa. The commercial beach capital of India. I knew I would need
some money. We then spend the next hour driving to his home near the Baga
Beach. He stayed near a beach! This trip was going to be insane. Insane in a
good sort of way, I hoped.
That night, we decide to go for a
walk on the beach. I've had enough of beaches for a year now. But this should
be fun. Unfortunately, I wear my faithful sports shoes and not normally recommended beach sandals. I
had to take slow, long steps, to prevent bucket loads of sand from getting into
my shoes . This is the only pair, I had for this entire six month journey. Cleaning them would
be pain. Getting new ones, would be an even bigger headache. When you are on the road, you have to be
extra careful of the one or two things, you use often. For me it was my
glasses, my sport shoes and my cargo pants. If anything happened to any of
these travel necessities, I would be heartbroken. It is funny. When you use a
particular object for a long period of time. That object becomes an important
part of your life. You identify yourself with it. When anything happens to it,
you feel bad. It is like you have lost a good friend. So this was how I felt,
when the frames of my glasses broke, when my cargo pants were dis colored, and
my shoes were damaged because of excessive use at the end of my journey. It was
like my life had come to an end. Like I was Voldermot, from the Harry Potter
series and three of my hocruxes had been taken away from me. I had become
weaker.
But we reached a beautiful
restaurant, by the beach. It seemed quite inviting with live and slow music, a
dim candlelight ambience, beautifully dressed people on tables having engaged
conversations. The walk was sure worth the effort. I felt like it would be a
good night. We settle down and order some drinks and food. My friend was
passionate about Physics and Automobile Engineering. He introduced me to some
of the projects he was working on at university. He spoke about a Race Car
Design Project , he and a couple of his friends at college had taken up. I
could feel the love, enthusiasm and passion that he had for the field. Any
discipline or field of study can be beautiful. What is important is that you
come to the subject with love. You ask important questions. You ask meaningful
questions. You try and understand, why Maths is a beautiful subject and not
always focus on how much you will score on the subject. Just listening to him,
was such a beautiful experience that night. He was so excited about what he
discussed. He loved automobile engineering. It made me think about students at
several engineering colleges around India. I prayed they came to the subject with the same love and
dedication, that my friend came with. But if their objective was to just get a
degree, they would be missing out on such a great opportunity. The opportunity
to study a subject you deeply loved for four years as an undergraduate student.
We got news, that a bollywood celebrity
was also in the restaurant with us that night. But no one individual was
important that night. Because every individual at every table, felt important.
I look to my left and I see a couple, looking deep into each others eyes. More
like looking deep into each others souls. The music was slow and romantic and I
felt it made the evening even more special for them. It was like every word, in
the romantic song being played, in the background, resonated with them.
'Kyunki Tum Hi Ho,
Ab Tum Hi Ho,
Zindagi Ab Tum Hi Ho….'
She smiled. There was a certain
twinkle in her eye. The man pays the bill and I see them walking out of the
restaurant, holding hands, dancing to the music, madly in love. Soon they disappear
in the distance. They become dots, on the vast distant landscape of white sand
of the beach, illuminated by the lanterns from the restaurants that line the beach.
We finish dinner, and I have to
take my big slow steps, to get back to normal non sandyland. When I reach home,
there are three- four spoonfuls of sand, in my shoe. Not Bad. Good Job
Abhishek. Really Good Job.
Sat-chit-ananda
@AbhishekShetty_
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