#485 On the bus ride home

 On the bus ride home

Source: Google Images
This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop 

On the bus ride home, I met an old woman. Even though she was a stranger to me, that brief meeting invoked a lot of familiar emotions within me.  

If I try to recall that incident more vividly, it was exactly a month ago, to be precise. Since the arrival of autumn, the days in Finland have shrunk to a few hours and the darkness engulfs the rest of the day quite early, as early as 4 pm. After shopping at a nearby mall, I boarded the bus to my home. After a few stops, I found an elderly lady boarding the bus. When she came closer to where I sat, I could observe her face more intensely, for a moment I felt that I met my grandmother whom I lost 2 years ago to COVID; same smile, complexion, and blue bulging-out nerves over her pale, speckled hands. Myriads of memories with her flashed in front of my eyes and my mind started an age-old conversation with her about the tales that were untold or left to be told after our last meeting.  I wanted to draw her attention towards me, but alas language was the barrier. Yes, I reminded myself that I was living in a foreign land.

I wouldn’t have let her go, simply like that, it was what my mind compelled me but then it countered with logic explaining the reality that I neither have time nor knowledge of the language to explain my emotions. Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind. I quickly took out my mobile and sought the help of the Google translator. I initiated the conversation by writing the sentences in English and letting the software translate them into Finnish. To understand her reply, the voice translator option came to my rescue. After an exchange of some 4-5 Finnish-English sentences, she prepared to leave as her destination arrived. I wondered if she would ever look back to bid me bye, but she didn’t! She just moved forward with the luggage she had by providing a subtle hint to me to move forward in my life too with whatever responsibilities I have right now in my life.

For her, I was just another stranger/foreigner she met randomly, or she might probably never recall me but for me, she was like a bridge between my past and present. I felt as if the bus was the time machine that dragged me to wonderful and fond memories of my past. I wished she had looked back once to wave me the last goodbye!

All Rights Reserved

Swati Sarangi

26.11.2023

P.S.: I dedicate this article to my late paternal grandmother with whom I had a wonderful connection. She left for heavenly abode in 2021 due to COVID and none of our family members [as almost all of them tested COVID+ve] could bid her goodbye. I can never repay the debt that I owe to her. I pray that wherever her soul is, may she be at divine peace and merge into the ultimate spiritual consciousness! Om Shanti!

Edit: This post is a TOP BLOG at BlogChatter.