H for Happiness

"Happiness is in the journey, why the hell did I keep running after the destinations"

I will move back to a story today.

Before I tell you the story a little fact about myself, I am a 25-year-old boy, who does a regular IT job. This is a tale of the time when I was traveling to Delhi on a train to meet my friends there so that we could all start our first snow trek together.

It was a 25 hours journey alone, and my friends recommended that I take a flight since I was traveling alone. But since I love traveling alone on a train (only a fraction of it is right), and the tickets from Hyderabad to Delhi were double the price it was from Bangalore to Delhi despite a smaller distance (The deciding factor). All my other friends from Bangalore were to join me in Delhi. I took a train ticket just to show my protest against this unfair pricing.

But as much as I complain, I love train journeys, and have always preferred travelling by train 🚆. It feels like a real journey. It takes its own sweet time to reach and when there is no hurry to be at a place, why not enjoy the landscapes. Plus you get to talk to people and hear their stories, everyone much different from you. 

When I was settled in my seat, I saw a young girl coming and settling the seat just in front of me. She took the seat in front of mine.

She seemed to be in her very early twenties. Fresh, energetic, and delicate face. She looked a little ill at ease as she sat on the seat opposite mine, speaking to someone on her mobile phone that she had boarded the train and was seated. She looked at me, then spoke again saying "Just one passenger presently, others are still left to board."

Who was she, a reporter 🤔 or something, passing detailed information to her seniors?

The girl in front of me kept looking out of the window 🪟. It was late in the evening, and the December sun was in a hurry to set itself and return back home. Probably his mother made a delicious pre-Christmas 🎄 dinner, and he couldn't resist getting indulged. The view outside was so pleasant, with the shades of red and orange on the Persian blue sky. It looked like somebody splashed a handful of red and orange colored sand on a blue canvas, and then created so many different mesmerizing patterns in seconds with the flick of his hands just like a professionally acclaimed sand artist. I wanted the time to freeze there. 

A call from a tea vendor broke my hypnotic state, and I ordered a cup of tea wishing to get back to it again. I offered to get the tea for the girl sitting in front of me, but she refused. She was busy reading a book. I wanted to talk to her and discover the mystery she was, her silence made me so curious. But her face was of one of those people, who is utterly disinterested in even replying to you. "Why are these young pretty looking girls so arrogant?", I thought and took my earphones from my bag and started listening to music on my phone. Soon it was dinner time, and she got her dinner with herself packed. I ordered mine. Once the dinner was served I started eating. And out of nowhere comes a move that threw me off guard, it was more surprising because I had been silently praying that something of that sort happens.

She offered me theplas, that too of two different varieties. How could I not melt after that gesture?

Let me tell you a secret, the way to a guy's heart always passes through his stomach, don't believe any crap that people tell you about reaching his heart. And for a Gujarati guy, there can never be a better way than being offered theplas on a train, but an unknown young pretty girl.

A good dinner😋, soulful music 🎶🎵 and a couple of thepla's from a pretty girl, life can never get better than this, I thought. After dinner, I got up to walk through the compartment. The train was fairly packed, and most of the crowd was with their rug sack and sticks, I wonder if I am going to meet some of them again soon.

When I came back, the girl was again engrossed in her book. Trying to initiate another conversation, I asked, "Do you live in Delhi", she nodded softly without looking at me. Okay, I said, now what to say next I wondered. She doesn't seem to be interested in talking 😐 so be it. I shall play a game on my phone 📱 for the time. The younger generation can be really unfriendly and cold in their behavior 🙄. God knows what attitude they carry around. 

Around 10 o clock the lights were dimmed, indicating it was the time when all the passengers can wear their nightcaps and call it a day. I happily 😊 spread a blanket on my berth to lie down and relax. The girl was still presumably reading. I was a bookworm once in my life, but I didn't want to start another conversation just to have a cold uninterested response from her. When I felt sleepy, keeping the earphones in the side pocket of my berth. I dozed off.

When I woke up, the train was not moving, I looked at the time on my phone, it was 1:30 AM. I got up from my seat. The girl in the opposite seat had disappeared. Her bedding was also untouched. I checked for her suitcase, and it was there, I checked for mine, and thankfully it was there too. I peeped out of the window, it was some station. I came out of my cabin and my compartment, stepping on the platform, I read the board Agra junction, the iconic city of love. I asked a steward standing there, why had the train halted. I was told due to dense fog being reported near Mathura, the train would be delayed. Many trains were already stranded at Gwalior Junction. 

I looked around, the air felt chilly. I noticed my co-passenger huddled on a bench all wrapped up in a shawl, woolen cap, and gloves. I walked up to her and said, if you are feeling cold why not get inside the cabin. She refused, saying she suffered from mild claustrophobia. That is why she preferred not to travel by train, considering the amount of time they take, air travel is much faster. Just because her flight to Delhi got canceled 😞 due to the fog, she had to book a last-minute train ticket. 

Oh, what a favor was done to Indian Railways. IRCTC are you listening, I thought 🙄.

I laughed saying you people are young, you should enjoy traveling by all means. She raised her eyebrows, being thirty-two is young in what context, she inquired. I was confused ."What are you trying to suggest? See, I shall be twenty-six next week and I am comfortable with the chill and the adventurous travel, you are way younger, still so chickenhearted ."

She felt angry😠 and totally showed it.

"Excuse me Mr, I have just wrapped up my thirty-first birthday in November. For your information age has nothing to do with feeling fear or feeling cold. In the case of the former, it's your mental set up and with the latter, it's just your metabolic rate and of course how much you look after your body," 😉 saying this she laughed 😁😁 "the gumption of calling me chicken-hearted, how dare you ", she added.

I knew the barb of "how much you look after your body "was directed straight at my careless self, but her being thirty-one was totally unbelievable. She didn't even look twenty-five. And with her head in the woolen cap, she could be easily mistaken for a twenty-year-old. I had to ask, "How have you maintained yourself so well. I pray 🙏 tell me ".She said she was a religious preacher of nature. She spent months amongst the wild, and imbibe everything possible from it. I travel a lot, like crazy. I chase the moon, see new places and live my life with childlike excitement. I now believe I am aging in reverse due to all blessings from nature.

WOW, I wish I was too, I thought 😔. Looking at my disfigured body, I regretted the laid-back attitude I had been nurturing for years. That's when I decided I am going to be a crazy traveler as well. And that's how I started 30 days streak to the gym.

I sat beside her on the bench and we started talking. She told me she had been visiting a friend and attending a wedding too in Hyderabad. Now she was returning back home to Delhi. I told her I was from Hyderabad. I asked if she would like some tea. She nodded. There was a tea- stall very close to our bench. The tea- Vendor was also selling fresh pakoras. I asked for one plate and two cups of tea. She took the tea but refused the deep-fried delicacies. Having tried them, I pestered her to eat, them since they were hot, fresh, and really tasty. She said this was something unbelievable for her, stranded at a Station at 2:30 in the night having snacks and tea with ...(she didn't complete, but it was obvious, with a stranger).

At the tea Vendor's stall an old song 🎵 was playing on his FM radio. I started humming the song as we walked the length of the platform, 

Ye raat Bheegi Bheegi , 

ye mast fizayein

Utha dheere dheere ye

Chand Pyaara pyaara

She listened attentively and added "You sing very well. Are you a professional?" I was happy at the delightful compliment ☺. I said, I just sang with friends and myself whenever I was alone. She told she had always been a big fan of the black n white music era. What a pity the younger generation is being served just thrash in the name of music.

We kept strolling on the station along the length of the train 🚆 talking about different music genres, composers, singers, lyricists, etc. She told her favorite song was Ajeeb dastan hai ye and she hummed it a little. I requested her to try singing it. She refused, and I said just a line. She relented. Hearing her sing I could perceive, she must have been into singing at some point in her life.

She told me, her Mom used to teach her classical music when she was very young, but that was long ago. She left music once she got married. I requested her to sing the rest🎵 after all her favourite song deserved to be sung properly. She felt odd, but in the flow of the moment, she started singing softly...

Ajeeb dastaan hai ye 

Kahaan shuru kahaan khatam 

Ye manzile hain Kaun si 

Na woh samajh sake na hum .

She couldn't recall the stanzas, in which I intervened and it turned out beautiful.

Wow!! She said when we ended it together. 

The realization struck us, that we were in a public place and this kind of behavior from a young girl and guy was least expected 😕 especially when you are in U.P. (Uttar Pradesh).

The chill was forgotten and so was the delayed journey. We were completely engrossed in our discourse when the whistle sounded. As if we both were enjoying our platform conversation and the whistle was just a killjoy. 

We got inside our compartment. She said she wasn't sleepy at all, considering the caffeine in the tea. I had never given it a thought that tea deprived you of sleep. In any case, I could forever talk about music. It has been my only passion and when the co-signer is equally good who wants to sleep. 😁👍

We kept discussing the music of the 80s and 90s era, and the varied genres. Humming a few lines here, singing a few lines there, some started by me, finished by her, or vice-versa. The train was moving at a slow pace but who cared. We were having the time of our lives. 

Finally, she said, she felt sleepy and excusing herself got up to spread her blanket. I was looking out of the window, wishing the train could get late by a few more hours.

She slept soon after saying good night. I too dozed off sitting beside the window. 

In the morning 🌄 when I woke up, she was already sitting all fresh with her bedding neatly folded in the corner. Looking at me, she said a cheerful 😊 Good Morning. I replied and excused myself to the restroom. 

When I returned tea was being served. She had ordered on my behalf. We had our tea together and continued our chit-chat about random things. The train would be reaching at 11:45 as was told by the steward who came to serve breakfast.  

We continued our discussion about actors, movies, and songs. Very relatable and closer to daily life kind. I started singing it in my excitement whenever we landed on the songs I loved. She joined in filling the female lines with equal fervor. We were like a house on fire, just then the ticket collector appeared. We stopped abruptly, really embarrassed searching for our mobile phones to show the e-ticket. He went away smiling 😃 without even seeing.  

We both kept looking out of our respective windows. Her phone rang, and she answered saying the train was running late and was expected to reach by 11:45. 

It was already 10:30. 

After she hung up, I initiated the conversation once again, saying that she sang really well and her voice reminded me of the female singers of the 80s and 90s. She said she loved to sing songs of that era, but she did it only and strictly in private except of course, yesternight and today, she giggled😁😁.

We kept talking till the station was announced. The train had increased its speed and was violently entering the platform or so it seemed. When it finally stopped she saw someone at the station and waived. Getting up and taking her suitcase, she said bye. "It was wonderful meeting you" and left the cabin. I couldn't respond, she left in a hurry. Just Wonderful meeting you, that's it !! Hey, listen...I called out.

Oh no, I had forgotten to ask her name and didn't even tell her mine. I got down to see if she was still there, but no sign.

I came back took my luggage and left the train. 

It's already been more than 1 year. I don't know if she took another train journey and met somebody whom she sang with, again. 

But, my favorite song since the train adventure has changed to 

Ek ajnabee haseena se ,youn mulakat ho o gayi 

Phir kya hua ye na pucho kuch aisee baat ho gayi .

😇😇😇😇😇

I hope where ever she is, she is singing happily 😊

Just as I am doing Gym, and traveling 🧘‍♂️ diligently. 😏

well, 

Somewhere in a posh colony in Delhi 

"No, I want to go by train only ".

Why Nishi? Since you came from Hyderabad you have started loving rail journeys which previously you abhorred. How come this changed? Don't sing a song in answer, please!

Nishi is humming in the kitchen 

Ye Raat Bheegi Bheegi,

Ye Mast Fizayein....

Utha Dheere Dheere 

Ye Chand Pyaara Pyaara....