Rail Diaries #4 : Grinning from ear to ear: Blog # 42

Rail Diaries #4 : Grinning from ear to ear

22^nd July 2012, 7:00 PM, Onboard our own Aleppey Express J : Travelling in RAC ticket!

A coffee vendor came by. An elderly person sitting beside me waved at him. When he gave a 10 rupee note, the vendor told he doesn’t have change and left. I gave a judgemental smile (shaking my head in disapproval and all) to the elderly person. In a while, the vendor came by, gave back the 5 rupees change and he looked at me and smiled. He might have seen my disapproving smile et al. I flinched! May be my friend Sudarshan is right – I judge a tad bit too fast J.

I haven’t stopped smiling since I boarded – For no reason at all. I am not just happy, Ecstatic is more like it J. I am too distracted with happiness that I kept back the ‘Aleph’ I was beginning to read.

Was it the afternoon meeting with Raghu and Vivek Or is it the last minute hug from Amma before leaving home? May be it was the small chat I had with dad about his Gulf days before I boarded. My sister’s sweet gesture of buying a biriyani and surprising her friend, Anju at the station also made me happy.

But come to think of it, there is a more valid reason – One of pride and humility.

There is this scene in the Malayalam film, ‘Ustad hotel’. The grandfather is hospitalised and the grandson (who is the protagonist) who loves him dearly says “I just hope he doesn’t ask me to stay back.”.The grandson was about to go on a much longed for job assignment abroad. I found myself in his shoes recently – well almost.

My Grandfather has a younger brother who is unmarried. He is now 92 and he stays in an old age home. He refuses to come and stay with any of his relatives. I am close to him owing to my dad being his favourite. Earlier, there were times when dad used to suggest bringing him home. I was not in favour of this idea – don’t judge me –I am fairly good person ;) . There are certain handicaps for us as a family which makes it difficult for us to think of such a solution.

But this time around, when dad brought up this suggestion again, I found myself absolutely quite. I couldn’t object. Have I become more mature or did I put myself in his shoes? Inspite of all our handicaps, I wanted to give it a try.

Being the quick fixer that he is, dad went ahead and called up all his cousins and found a solution which was in utmost consideration of his uncle’s preference and convenience. He also suggested all his cousins visit their uncle without fail and I know he will be the one who will be there first.

When life throws such challenges at us, we need to think and act from within. My father did exactly that and I feel extremely proud of him and love him for what he did.

I realized watching ‘Satyameva Jayate’ , teary eyed and with a lump in my throat doesn’t solve the problems. Neither does the post show - intellectually and emotionally stimulated conversations pitying the current state of affairs of our society help.

I pray and hope all of us feel and act with all heart and soul whenever we are faced with a situation like this.

Arun Babu.