stories attached...

she settled more comfortably in her seat. the scene outside her window was changing rapidly. the trees went past her window just as quickly as brown patches of barren ground took over her sight, only to be replaced by a yet new scene. as the train gathered speed, so did her nerves. she loved train rides. it helped her confine her perspective to the sides of the window, only concentrating on a scene, one at a time, staying only for long enough for her to see. some of them stayed in her memory for her to ponder later while others went by leaving no imprint behind but a moment that passed without effort.
the train took a turn and she could see sights of outskirts of a village materializing. secluded huts, young and old men leaving for work, with a tired yet determined look on their face, a steel lunch box in hand and who knows what thoughts in their minds. the haphazardly strewn huts and shops were becoming more and more scattered.
monotony of brown and green was taking over her vision, only broken by an occasional bright yellow or pink of a bill board painted with bad drawings. she had always found such bill boards amusing. they were the true caricatures of life. the bill boards flaunted everything from a good engine oil for a tractor to a happy family of three in an advertisement for a local "baba's" magical healing powers. they confined lives and all its worries within their frames all with just a few names, bad drawing and catchy color combinations. names varied, their claims varied. bill boards remained the same 50"X60" bright colored blobs.
amongst the speeding names, she only caught a few when one of them caught her eye. 'Dr. Rajiv's dental clinic' it said. the name had been painted in a deep green over a yellow sheet of metal, with two sets of happy teeth drawn besides it. the name had been painted with casual disregard. the 'R' wasnt as twisted as it was supposed to be.


" hi, i am Rajiv" he said, with a warm smile, extending his hand. "hi, i am asha", she replied, smiling, taking his hand.

" i dont think he is as weird as you people think he is. i mean, sure he is a little quirky and says weird things sometimes but that doesnt make him any worse than rest of the guys. if anything, Rajiv has the ability to stand up for what he thinks is right" said Asha, fiercely to her friends. "yeah? like his own language that he writes his name in? its barely legible by standards of english" chimed one of her friends, as rest of them giggled even more. "he just puts a curved R. its almost artistic" Asha protested. they almost ignored her but stopped discussing him all the same. they had come back to the hot topic of class- what is the deal with the new guy in class, something everyone wondered but no one bothered to find out.

" why do you bother with what those people say? they dont know you. besides, who are they to you anyways? so it hardly matters what they think. forget it, Rajiv. cheer up. you still owe me that golgappa treat, remember? lets go for that. ice cream's on me" she said, standing up, extending her hand. he took it, smiling,  just like she had, the first time they had met.

"i know. and i agree. i love you too. i didnt realize when or even why, but i liked your quirks. you are weird and weirdly, i like you for being so. did i say like? sorry. like doesnt begin to define what i feel. i love you. Rajiv. "

"why are you saying all this? whats wrong? you know i was kidding. how can you think i meant it?! its like you either dont know me at all or are refusing to see anything", she said, pleadingly. tears swam in her eyes and her hands shook. but she held it together. he stood there, with her back to her, refusing to see anything literally. " do you really have to go?" she asked, calmly. her voice indicated neither dread nor sorrow, just a plain question. "no. but i will go all the same" he said. "good bye, Rajiv" she said.


she blinked. the train was slowing down, it was a small stop, one of the thousands minor stations in India that are made out of nowhere really. Dr. Rajiv's smiling set of teeth had been left behind a long time ago. she shook her head ruefully. even after all this time...
some names would always have a story attached with them, forever, she thought. some names would always bring back images- good or bad, she realized. some names were meant to stay and not not just sift in and out of frames of memory. some names left a permanent imprint, she confessed... 

get.set.go.

okay, its been around 15 days since i came back and i am fairly late in posting. but still, better late than never!!!
anyhow, well, we had htis little educational tour thingy this semester (only god knows what was so educational about it!!!) and i was anxious!! yes. okay, i have done my bit of travelling and its not like i was leaving my house for the first time or something yet something bothered me. whenever i thought of 15 days i would have to be away from house, i could never think of fun or good time with friends. it was always with some anxiety (as a result of which my mum had a real clean house, refer to last post for better understanding) but as you can see, a fortnight later, i am still in hangover of that trip. needless to say, i had an awesome time!!!!!!!!!!!!

well, our journey started on a cold jan morning and me crying. yes, i cried before leaving the house (okay, laugh all u want to. so did my sis!!!!) but still, i did. i barley let go of my dad (go on, laugh a bit more). well, we rolled into a sleepy start and before we knew, all of us were having a blast together.
a six hour journey to delhi went in a blink of eye!!! some waiting and we were on our way to hyderabad!! visiting various spots in hyderabad  like the film city, golconda fort, char Minar, NTR garden, birla temple, and many more places that i do not remember right now. a two day stay there went by in a firenze with almost no sleep, lots of travelling, shouting and laughing!!!

next stop was bangalore. after an overnight journey where none of us really had any rest, we reached bangalore which was pleasantly cold after hyderbad's hot weather. although that was just a misunderstanding. two hours into the city and we were beaten in bangaluru's heat!! although, rain came as a pleasant surprise in evening and we all were soaked. running across on roads, in rain, was a first time for me and i daresay, i enjoyed it!!! :P

bangaluru led to mysore which was just as pleasant although i have to admit, i dont remember much of it (except that one of my fav pics was in mysore!! ;) ) a blur of a day in mysore and we moved to ooty. which was freakingly cold. atleast it felt that way after three hot cities. a nice cup of ooty's special tea, lots of shopping, some racket on roads later, we felt very much at ease with this 'queen of hills' town of south!! a night in ooty, with campfire, lots of dancing and singing, we faced an entire day of travelling. back to bangaluru from ooty to take train to goa. 9 hours or something by bus, an entire night's journey in train, and another three or four hours drive and we reached panaji!! goa turned out to be better than i had ever imagined!!!! sunny, sandy and water!!!! i loved it!!!! goa's cruise, beaches, people, drinks, everything about it was awesome!!!!! i dont think we could have had a better place to welcome 2010 than goa. crazy parties, dancing and hell lot of fun!!!!!!!

and then, we moved onto our last spot-- amchi mumbai!!!
to tell the truth, i was very sceptical about the city due its sheer size. but i have to say, i was more than pleasantly surprised to be there. i fell in love with that place. we spent entire two days on roads (we had a hotel, ofcourse. i meant traveling) looking at mumbai in all its glory... juhu beach, marine drive, elephanta caves, essel world, fashion street, the Gateway, the Taj, bandra. kolaba, khar etc etc etc. names i had just heard before, i saw them now and i have to say, mumbai was warmer than i had thought (and i dont mean weather)..



and before we knew, it was time to come back. we took our last train to bring us back home. but it wasnt the end. i would say our journey backhome was one of the best parts of the entire trip. main attraction, friends,of course. on our way back, we did some talking. no actually a lot of talking. for 20 hours straight- nothing but talking. discussing every possible thing in the world, knowing each other for the first time!!

you see, thats wat my biggest fear was. what was i gonna do with people i had spent past three years with but barely knew. but iam glad i went ahead with this thing cuz now i know them real good. i have friends now, real good friends, people i didnt even know existd before are now important to me. and i usually take time making friends!!! so thats saying some thing!
i dunno which part of these 15days was educational but i did learn a lot. i learnt how toplay cards, and manygames at that, i learnt how to carry heavy luggage on stations, i learnt how to adjust with someone who doesnt feel same way as me about the air conditioning of the room, how to manage money without losing it, how to have lots of fun with new people and .....
 how to move on and........


 make new friends!!!!