Looking at the title you may obviously think that it is just another description of just another train journey to a beautiful state called Kerala. Well indeed its a journey to my motherland Kerala but the blog I am writing is not a travelogue. Its about my encounter with a man I met during the two day long yatra. My interaction with him thought me a thing or two about the subtle intricacies of life that one needs to follow.
It was after my SSC exams in mid march 2009. Since that was an important year and due to some personal reasons I had not visited my native place since the past four years. Not long, you may think. But for a person like me its too long a time since we have none of our relatives living in Mumbai. Besides Kerala was a place I yearned to live in thanks to its scenic beauty and pollution free environment. Something which is unheard of, in a bustling,24×7, metropolitan city like Mumbai. Sometimes I have gone to the extent of cursing myself for the prospect of having to live in Mumbai inspite of being born in Kerala. Due to all these reasons I wanted to rocket to Kerala as soon as my exams were over. Luckily my dad's friend was planning to travel to Kerala due to business reasons. I booked my ticket with him and in no time in a matter of few days I was of to my hometown all excited.
Day one of the journey passes away entirely travelling through Maharshtra. Its only the next day morning that you enter the Kerala border through Mangalore. One of the very first stations is Calicut-the place where the iconic personality Vasco da Gama landed as he first came to India. A man of short height but stout stature boarded the compartment and sat right in front of me. I got a little excited as I could now talk to a local of Kerala. He looked a little out of place as he was adjusting baggage under the seats. I asked whether he needed help but he did not mind my words. At this point I got a faint notion that my co-traveller was a grumpy man who cannot be easily befriended. And my intuition only got worse as the journey progressed. My uncle who was with me tried making all sorts of friendly gestures with him but everything turned futile. Apart from occasional glances, he just won't talk.
I became restless and tried hard to figure out his personality, but to no avail. I wondered why would anyone wan't to sit idle throughout a long journey. To my mind he had already become an imbecile, egoistic man who disliked public communication. The rest of the journey continued in the same vein with I making gestures by which he understood we were tired of his attitude.
The train hustled and bustled into Trivandrum and we got up to collect our luggage and exit the train. As we were about to leave I gave a final glance to the man, upon which he woke up and came closer to us. My uncle too turned and looked towards him. He said," I know that I have been too recessive. But you must understand that I am not in that frame of mind. I just lost my son in a bus mishap. He was the only one to me." As soon as he said that,he left leaving the two of us doing nothing but staring at each other. We didn't know what to do, what to say but pick our baggage and get out of the train. Suddenly the whole world turned upside down. We were the ones who were imbeciles, egoistics and all those damn slang words in the world. My uncle was quick to run behind him and tender an apology. We watched him as he walked, shoulders drooped into the busy bush of passengers.
"Prejudice is the worst thing that can destroy a relationship son. It leads to miscommunication between people. Had we thought about the matter from his perspective, we could have avoided such a situation.", commented my uncle. That day I learned that we need to think both ways before we come to a particular decision.Our gestures might have hurt him. But there is no use talking about it now. We should have realised that before. In life there might arise many a situations like this and we may end up being at crossroads. At such a juncture, thinking about people from there view helps to make a right decision rather than make a decision based on your view and regret it life-long.
It was after my SSC exams in mid march 2009. Since that was an important year and due to some personal reasons I had not visited my native place since the past four years. Not long, you may think. But for a person like me its too long a time since we have none of our relatives living in Mumbai. Besides Kerala was a place I yearned to live in thanks to its scenic beauty and pollution free environment. Something which is unheard of, in a bustling,24×7, metropolitan city like Mumbai. Sometimes I have gone to the extent of cursing myself for the prospect of having to live in Mumbai inspite of being born in Kerala. Due to all these reasons I wanted to rocket to Kerala as soon as my exams were over. Luckily my dad's friend was planning to travel to Kerala due to business reasons. I booked my ticket with him and in no time in a matter of few days I was of to my hometown all excited.
Day one of the journey passes away entirely travelling through Maharshtra. Its only the next day morning that you enter the Kerala border through Mangalore. One of the very first stations is Calicut-the place where the iconic personality Vasco da Gama landed as he first came to India. A man of short height but stout stature boarded the compartment and sat right in front of me. I got a little excited as I could now talk to a local of Kerala. He looked a little out of place as he was adjusting baggage under the seats. I asked whether he needed help but he did not mind my words. At this point I got a faint notion that my co-traveller was a grumpy man who cannot be easily befriended. And my intuition only got worse as the journey progressed. My uncle who was with me tried making all sorts of friendly gestures with him but everything turned futile. Apart from occasional glances, he just won't talk.
I became restless and tried hard to figure out his personality, but to no avail. I wondered why would anyone wan't to sit idle throughout a long journey. To my mind he had already become an imbecile, egoistic man who disliked public communication. The rest of the journey continued in the same vein with I making gestures by which he understood we were tired of his attitude.
The train hustled and bustled into Trivandrum and we got up to collect our luggage and exit the train. As we were about to leave I gave a final glance to the man, upon which he woke up and came closer to us. My uncle too turned and looked towards him. He said," I know that I have been too recessive. But you must understand that I am not in that frame of mind. I just lost my son in a bus mishap. He was the only one to me." As soon as he said that,he left leaving the two of us doing nothing but staring at each other. We didn't know what to do, what to say but pick our baggage and get out of the train. Suddenly the whole world turned upside down. We were the ones who were imbeciles, egoistics and all those damn slang words in the world. My uncle was quick to run behind him and tender an apology. We watched him as he walked, shoulders drooped into the busy bush of passengers.
"Prejudice is the worst thing that can destroy a relationship son. It leads to miscommunication between people. Had we thought about the matter from his perspective, we could have avoided such a situation.", commented my uncle. That day I learned that we need to think both ways before we come to a particular decision.Our gestures might have hurt him. But there is no use talking about it now. We should have realised that before. In life there might arise many a situations like this and we may end up being at crossroads. At such a juncture, thinking about people from there view helps to make a right decision rather than make a decision based on your view and regret it life-long.
So friends, I hope you might have learnt something out of this ordinary blog I wrote and you may use it in your life.
