I've always been travelling- long and short! Occasionally I am subject to these impulsive urges to get up and start moving. It must be because of - 1. The way I am hard coded-My grandfather was a Chengannur Achayan till he packed his bag and started on a truck looking for someplace new and landed in Nilambur. My father followed his brother to Port Blair. I have been in Maharashtra for well over three years now 2.Or because I am used to long journeys since childhood, travelling days on stretch from Port Blair to Kerala every year. So much so that it is a part of me. 3. A restless soul, which seeks new experiences or to shake off the vapid every day ones. I do not know. All I know is that once in a while I am whimsical-I need to go somewhere, anywhere!
Now I am used to those quick flights here and there- someone's ill, a marriage, a job interview, a reunion. But like everything else, some experiences stick to the mind and some don’t. I'll tell you of some of the former.
In April 2008, I was asked by my organization to shift from Pune to Mumbai on a day's notice. I detested and resisted the plan to move me to an overly crowded city. After trying unsuccessfully to overturn that decision, and failing to substitute myself with my roomie Mukesh, I realized the futility of the whole exercise when I ended up getting both of us allotted to the same project in Mumbai. I was told, "See there are two ways we can go about this. First- You join us here immediately and I will take care of your accommodation and all the extra allowances. Second- You say 'No' and I'll ensure that you are released from your current project and moved to the 'bench' and allotted to some other project in Mumbai. Anyways I'll ensure that you come to Mumbai in a month's time!" Now this is what one calls 'being spoilt for choices'! I did give in but I managed to bargain for a 12 day vacation. I hadn't been out of Pune for close to a year and going home wasn't a possibility. So I thought I should go get the caution deposit money that I had paid to my hostel in Trivandrum. A measly 3000 bucks and no reason to travel that far! However most people I know do, and some even fly to Trivandrum! I thought it would at least sponsor some amount of the undertaking. So that very day I took the bus and headed towards South stopping at places where I had friends, family. No plans! Just Go! I’ve always loved travelling by the bus because I get to soak in more and because for an indolent like me it means minimum motion! :) So I hit the road: Pune-Bangalore-Trivandrum-Ernakulam- Nilambur- Bangalore- Pune- and on the twelfth day- Mumbai!
A month gone in Mumbai. On a Saturday I had been invited to lunch by a colleague in Mira Road which is an hour from where I stay. So I start by around 11 donning a ragged jean, and old grey tee n sandals. That evening by 5 my roomie calls me and asks "Hey! You'll be back for dinner right?” Well! I should have been back for dinner! But when I left home, I had a call to make- to apologize!
Apologize? I had a marriage to attend the next day. But after putting things into perspective- no leave, short of cash, a little hullabaloo that I had created at the work place asking for a transfer back to Pune I had decided that I would not be taking a two day break from work. For what? To attend my cousin's wedding! That was it! So by 12 I called up my sis to tell her that I'll not be able to make it. There's a custom with the RC church which calls for the bride and the bridegroom to stay in the Church for a week before marriage and no contact with whomsoever. So I hadn't spoken to her all this time. So by 12 I called her, and the outcome of the conversation was surprising. She said “You have to come. I don't want to hear anything else." A usually stoic ‘me’ was suddenly wobbly with emotion! But nothing doing and I get to my friend's place by 12:30 and tell him that I badly wanted to go, but I couldn't. And I think, "No, I just cannot. I know it's bad. Get a grip on yourself!"... Then I think, “Let me just check the flight schedules". That got me! The next one was at 2:30 and it was fairly cheap. Discussion with pals as to whether I'll be able to make it to the airport on time and if it was a sane enough idea... Venky said" I'll drop you to the airport on my bike!" Tickets booked!. Now the host Mukesh asks his mother," Amma! Is the food ready? Bibu has to leave for Cochin!!!” She was very startled, but not more than my roomies! So back to the phone call-So Greg asks "Hey! You'll be back for dinner right?”
And I reply “Da! I am in Angamaly, Cochin!” Now this fellow hails from the same town but I had to repeat it a few times before he could completely grasp the word - 'Angamaly!' Literally thunderstruck he was!
And even now I am occasionally reminded of that trip with the taunt-"The man who went to Borivili for lunch...!"
Those were two quickly undertaken trips. I earn so no big deal romancing about flying at short notice. I even know a person who did because the TV cable at his home was not working! So maybe I should tell you of a longer journey. So back in college-the end of third semester and Christmas vacation! I wanted to go home but a considered opinion again-The tickets for the ship from Chennai to Port Blair were unavailable and the flight tickets too expensive to afford, so it was a snuffed wish! No point talking about it, or even thinking about it. So second day into our holidays, I call home. I just talk, no deliberate hints dropped but somehow the message got through! So mother asks me to call back in half an hr. I did and she tells me of a ship which was under repair and the sailing schedule for which wasn't public then and if I could make to Chennai by after noon the next day, I could get myself a ticket. It was past noon already and I was in Sreekariyam, a few kms away from the hostel. So I hurried back to the hostel and I went around asking for money. Most pupils had already left for their homes and the remaining didn't have enough money left for a proper dinner! Shiju said he had the money in his SBT account but it was 2 pm already and being a Saturday and the bank transactions should have closed at 11! I went to the bank with him and after futile attempts at pleading my case with the cashiers involved, I accosted the manager, "Sir! There is money in his account and I need it. I am from Andaman and there is a ship to Port Blair day after tomorrow. And if I am to get on it, you have to help my friend withdraw the money. Please! Help me with it! Pleaseeee! " . After few questions like -"His account? Your money? Who’s travelling?” he said “Okay! I'll give you the money but the transaction date would be that of Monday!” Me: "That would be just wonderful, Sir!” And I ran back to the hostel, packed all the soiled clothes, got to the city, hopped on to the bus to Chennai, got the tickets the next day, sailed for three and a half days and got home on the Christmas morning! A seven day journey for a five day stay at home. Woah! :)
So what now? Why am I writing about this? I am trying to explore what makes me do that and what is it that I want now?
I think I want to see new places! To fulfil the long planned and long pending trip to Kashmir. And maybe go abroad. Not just 'see' the sights but live, learn, explore, see! I do not want to end up with "Oh! I have been there, but not really!” And give wings to the mind which seeks fresh experiences that would melt the shallow certainties derived from every day ones. Maybe I’d be able to learn from the frogs residing in other wells.
Or maybe it's asking for too much-too specious, and too obnoxious for a professional! And then I am a hypocrite-I had turned down the chance to go abroad for whatever reasons (got my H1 application cancelled)! So maybe I should go where the job takes me and shut up!
Or maybe I should just dream on- about living an unbridled life where all one does is traverse the lands and learn. Loosen the leash on the identity and grant what it seeks! I do not know if it is a passing thought and emotion or is it the cry of a stifled explorer? Is it too notional? Is it worth pursuing? But then what is! I guess if I record these thoughts here, and I if manage to go on one such trip, it would have served the purpose.
A month gone in Mumbai. On a Saturday I had been invited to lunch by a colleague in Mira Road which is an hour from where I stay. So I start by around 11 donning a ragged jean, and old grey tee n sandals. That evening by 5 my roomie calls me and asks "Hey! You'll be back for dinner right?” Well! I should have been back for dinner! But when I left home, I had a call to make- to apologize!
Apologize? I had a marriage to attend the next day. But after putting things into perspective- no leave, short of cash, a little hullabaloo that I had created at the work place asking for a transfer back to Pune I had decided that I would not be taking a two day break from work. For what? To attend my cousin's wedding! That was it! So by 12 I called up my sis to tell her that I'll not be able to make it. There's a custom with the RC church which calls for the bride and the bridegroom to stay in the Church for a week before marriage and no contact with whomsoever. So I hadn't spoken to her all this time. So by 12 I called her, and the outcome of the conversation was surprising. She said “You have to come. I don't want to hear anything else." A usually stoic ‘me’ was suddenly wobbly with emotion! But nothing doing and I get to my friend's place by 12:30 and tell him that I badly wanted to go, but I couldn't. And I think, "No, I just cannot. I know it's bad. Get a grip on yourself!"... Then I think, “Let me just check the flight schedules". That got me! The next one was at 2:30 and it was fairly cheap. Discussion with pals as to whether I'll be able to make it to the airport on time and if it was a sane enough idea... Venky said" I'll drop you to the airport on my bike!" Tickets booked!. Now the host Mukesh asks his mother," Amma! Is the food ready? Bibu has to leave for Cochin!!!” She was very startled, but not more than my roomies! So back to the phone call-So Greg asks "Hey! You'll be back for dinner right?”
And I reply “Da! I am in Angamaly, Cochin!” Now this fellow hails from the same town but I had to repeat it a few times before he could completely grasp the word - 'Angamaly!' Literally thunderstruck he was!
And even now I am occasionally reminded of that trip with the taunt-"The man who went to Borivili for lunch...!"
Those were two quickly undertaken trips. I earn so no big deal romancing about flying at short notice. I even know a person who did because the TV cable at his home was not working! So maybe I should tell you of a longer journey. So back in college-the end of third semester and Christmas vacation! I wanted to go home but a considered opinion again-The tickets for the ship from Chennai to Port Blair were unavailable and the flight tickets too expensive to afford, so it was a snuffed wish! No point talking about it, or even thinking about it. So second day into our holidays, I call home. I just talk, no deliberate hints dropped but somehow the message got through! So mother asks me to call back in half an hr. I did and she tells me of a ship which was under repair and the sailing schedule for which wasn't public then and if I could make to Chennai by after noon the next day, I could get myself a ticket. It was past noon already and I was in Sreekariyam, a few kms away from the hostel. So I hurried back to the hostel and I went around asking for money. Most pupils had already left for their homes and the remaining didn't have enough money left for a proper dinner! Shiju said he had the money in his SBT account but it was 2 pm already and being a Saturday and the bank transactions should have closed at 11! I went to the bank with him and after futile attempts at pleading my case with the cashiers involved, I accosted the manager, "Sir! There is money in his account and I need it. I am from Andaman and there is a ship to Port Blair day after tomorrow. And if I am to get on it, you have to help my friend withdraw the money. Please! Help me with it! Pleaseeee! " . After few questions like -"His account? Your money? Who’s travelling?” he said “Okay! I'll give you the money but the transaction date would be that of Monday!” Me: "That would be just wonderful, Sir!” And I ran back to the hostel, packed all the soiled clothes, got to the city, hopped on to the bus to Chennai, got the tickets the next day, sailed for three and a half days and got home on the Christmas morning! A seven day journey for a five day stay at home. Woah! :)
So what now? Why am I writing about this? I am trying to explore what makes me do that and what is it that I want now?
I think I want to see new places! To fulfil the long planned and long pending trip to Kashmir. And maybe go abroad. Not just 'see' the sights but live, learn, explore, see! I do not want to end up with "Oh! I have been there, but not really!” And give wings to the mind which seeks fresh experiences that would melt the shallow certainties derived from every day ones. Maybe I’d be able to learn from the frogs residing in other wells.
Or maybe it's asking for too much-too specious, and too obnoxious for a professional! And then I am a hypocrite-I had turned down the chance to go abroad for whatever reasons (got my H1 application cancelled)! So maybe I should go where the job takes me and shut up!
Or maybe I should just dream on- about living an unbridled life where all one does is traverse the lands and learn. Loosen the leash on the identity and grant what it seeks! I do not know if it is a passing thought and emotion or is it the cry of a stifled explorer? Is it too notional? Is it worth pursuing? But then what is! I guess if I record these thoughts here, and I if manage to go on one such trip, it would have served the purpose.
Each journey I undertake, each person I meet, each sight I see, each story I hear, and a touch of somebody else's life holds the promise of teaching me something new, and changing me forever! Here’s hoping!
P.S. I am deliberately omitting the longer and more hazardous endeavours :)
