A Journey Exploring People

Let me take you to a journey tonight. We’d take a bus okay, because car rides won’t let us interact with strangers, and without that, travelling is worthless.

So, there is this bus, a Volvo, keeping in mind the condition of your back doing the never-ending boring desk job, and blue because I like that color.

Okay, there is a young couple seated right opposite you, and it’s difficult for you to decide which one of them is happier. Her red choora tells you that they are newly-weds, and you take your own sweet time to decide what’s more red, her choora or the blush on her cheeks when he holds her hand and kisses it, oblivious to the world around.

Now, right in the seats before you, there is this another couple, with a cute little daughter. She is barely a year old, and while you think that it’s not good for them to travel with this young a kid, you are happy playing peek-a-boo with her; she has got the loveliest smile you have ever seen, and her deepest green eyes mesmerise you, almost making you want one of your own.

One seat behind you, there is this grumpy old man, who probably booked the seat next to himself because he doesn’t want company. He has a newspaper with him, and seems to be hell-bent to find one mistake in the printing. The white Reynolds with the blue cap tells you that he likes quality over branding, and you smile as his glasses remind you of your father’s.

There is another old, aged couple, and while you are not sure, you like to think that they are on their second honeymoon, and before you know it, you are misty eyed, missing your grandparents and thinking why you didn’t have the time to send them on a second honeymoon before they left you forever.

There are some families too, with couples who are together just for the sake of their children, kids either playing games on their cells or looking out at the mountains, teenagers smiling foolishly at their mobile screens before shifting uncomfortably, after being gazed at by their parents.

As the bus stops at a food joint or to be exacts, a dhaba, you get to know most of the people there.You learn that the young couple is on their honeymoon, Samarth and Faiza are their names, and they had to put up a tough fight with the society because they belong to different religions.

You learn that the child is named Naina, and is a miracle to her parents who got her after 6 years of marriage.

You learn that the grumpy man, Mr. Rakesh Bhatt, has just lost his property in a legal dispute with his own brother, and is going to the mountains to think about how he would have to start a life from scratch in his 50’s.

You learn that the old couple, Mr. Rajesh Sharma and Mrs. Vinita Sharma, is on their first and not second honeymoon, and they got married last month after years of solitude that resulted from young deaths of both their respective partners. Their daughters introduced them and their sons gave her away.

You learn something about everyone, and as you hop back in the bus, you feel that life itself is a journey, and while everyone thinks that they have to reach a destination, the real way is to enjoy the journey itself.

You decide to sit next to the Mr. Rakesh instead of going to your seat, because everyone deserves a smile :)