#37 Tryst with the track

Tryst with the track

    This post is all about my incredible journey by train from my homeland to hostel (and vis-a-versa), which has become the secondary homeland of mine over last 2 years. I’m regarding this journey an incredible one because of the extent of fun and frolic involved in it depicting the cultures of Engineering life. This entire journey consists of two phases: first phase – from hostel (secondary homeland) to home (primary homeland) and second phase- primary homeland to secondary. Generally, the second phase of the journey from primary homeland is quite boring for several reasons which are mentioned below. First, it gives the indication that the fun time at home has been over and we’re heading to the den, I mean to our secondary homeland. Second, the thought of unloading heavy luggage comprising books, copies, food for rest of the days at hostel seems very scary because there is no platform at the station. Third, it is difficult to find friends in reservation compartment. Even when you spot them, the chances of enjoying together is very rare. Without going much into the details of the second phase of the journey, I choose to prevent you from boredom by directly switching to the first phase of the journey. I’m trying to include all the interesting scenes of the journey.. I hope that you enjoy reading this one.

    Coming to the theme of the post, the first phase of journey is always more enjoyable than the second phase again for several reasons enumerated below. First,(generally) it gives the indication of the completion of the stressful period i.e. semester. Second, we’re heading towards our primary homeland where for next few days we’ll be relaxing and enjoying ONLY. The definition of enjoyment comprises of no studies, watching TV throughout the day and of course how can I forget the most entertaining electronic gadget of the era- computers, to be more specific, laptops. Third, we all go in group – groups of 10-12 girls and very very very very very very (probability of 0.1 or less than that) rarely few boys included in our group. [Note: There are many such groups- solely of girls, solely of boys and mix of boys and girls ( I don’t think any other category exists apart from the three that I’ve mentioned above)]  Everything is adventurous about the journey starting from boarding the train from the source station to getting down at the destination. The incident of boarding the passenger train as early as 6.30 a.m. is another funny thing to write about. This makes us wake up as early as 5a.m as it takes half an hour to get ready and another half an hour to reach the station. The sight of reserved vehicle tempo overflowing with girls from hostel to station is no different from a hilarious scene of any comedy movie. As soon as we reach at the station, few among us rush to the counter for getting the tickets for all of us. Generally, checking the reservation in passenger train is hardly done. Even if you don’t get the tickets, you would never get caught. We’ve never dared to travel without getting a ticket even when we are pretty sure that you won’t get to see the TTI during the journey. Is saving little money more worthy than inviting insult for yourself in public? As soon as train halts at the station with a squeaking sound, we try to get into it as soon as possible because the difference of the time of its arrival and departure is ONLY 45 seconds. Believe me, I’m not bragging. At that point of time you’ve to not only push yourself inside it but also accomplish the HERCULEAN task of putting your luggage inside(which include both inanimate and animate things-friends[don’t mind])simultaneously reserving the seats.

     Once we all get into the train, our best past time commences.  We all girls play games like Antakshari, Dumb Charades, and other activities (I mean activities in group) like gossiping, eating like never eaten for ages, teasing blah blah and blah. In a very less time, we become successful enough to win over the minds of many audiences who happen to notice our activities or listen to our songs. When I divert my mind from these activities, I find many fellow passengers of different age groups getting indirectly involved in our activities. It is evident from their increasing presence near our seats. Sometime, it becomes quite easy to defeat the opponent team in Dumb Charades when you can afford to get little help from an elderly people (senior citizen, as passenger) for the title of any movie of Black and white era of Indian Cinema. Sometime, we come across some passengers interested to know about our identities and the institution in which we are studying. We always have a very long list of achievements of our institution to boast about even when we know that it is difficult for them to comprehend. But still we do, don’t know why. When we get exhausted with all those group activities, we switch to other options like listening to music in mobile or playing mobile games or sleeping (better word: Dozing, a very rare activity). Amidst all those activities and fun, the 3 hours pass quite rapidly or in other words faster than the usual ticking of the wall clock. Einstein’s theory of relativity explains it very successfully as when we start to enjoy the things, we lose the track of time. The time of parting with friends (a temporary one) marks the end of the journey as the train reaches its destination. Isn't it too philosophical to connect this simple journey to the journey of life where we individuals are like trains, running over our own track in search of the destination- the ultimate goal of life?

   

   This journey gives us an opportunity to spend few minutes with each other in a most relaxed state. It not only strengthens our bond of friendship but also makes us admire each part of the journey and also about each other. We always long for the next one, thinking it to be another episode loaded with a lot of experiences and fun to be cherished for rest of the life.

2.12.2013

By Swati Sarangi