Life ESSENCE by SANDEEP ATLANI

Life Essence 

Whenever I am lost in the valleys of nostalgia (especially these days ), many petty, yet moving memories haunt me. This is one such blog .................. Words by Sandeep Atlani

  MORE THAN A LOCAL TRAIN JOURNEY    

I still remember  my working for a public sector oil company In Mumbai. Those were my initial days in the world of reality. One sunny morning, while walking towards the train compartment I heard a distinct laughter echoing on the platform. There was something so compelling about it that I had to look at its source! There I saw an energetic aunty laughing, joking and emanating positivity.

For the next couple of days, I took the same train to work. On one of these days, our eyes met and we exchanged smiles. Coincidentally, we started bumping into each other in the evening train from Bandra while returning home as well. 

Gradually, we started talking and within no time we were chatting away on our way back home - the daily return journey became extremely exciting. So much so that I would run with all my might to board that train while returning home in the evening. And landing my feet on it gave me a renewed sense of achievement each day. Our conversations were varied - ranging from home to work, our families, office, picnics, vacations, Diwali, Christmas - just about everything!

Then one day, during a regular conversation, aunty mentioned that she had six months  to retire. I was shocked. She appeared too young to retire. Then, I told myself, "Six months ! Long way to go!" As days passed, I developed a certain fondness for her. We met or at least saw each other almost every day. The next 20-25 minutes were purely our 'we' time, reserved for updating each other about the latest happenings. Every time we met, we caught up from where we left.

Time passed and finally we were in the penultimate week  of her retirement ." A sense of vacuum started filling me. Although, we met frequently, I did not quite like the feeling of being one day closer to the day she would retire. But time doesn't wait. It was last week now - it was indeed an eventful week - her birthday party in the train and retirement party that her family hosted. Her birthday celebrations in the train, truly one of a kind (I never saw so much fun in a birthday party), kept me unwittingly smiling through the day. The retirement party lived up to aunty's spirit. And finally, the day of farewell arrived with charged up emotions and and an inexpressible hollowness.

Aunty barely stayed  half a kilometre away from my home, not being able to meet her was never a concern. But, I knew that my train  journeys would never be the same again - I would miss her smile, her magnetic laughter, our conversations...I would simply miss her.

Today, it's been many years from the day aunty retired and I too left the place.The hollowness has faded, but memories of times spent with her will last throughout my life. Little did I know many years ago that my daily commute could give me such treasured memories!

I text her, I talk to her. But more than all this, I deeply miss her!