Day 19 : My affairs with Railway Stations

This goes way back to my pre-primary schooling days. I wake up as usual that morning and my folks (my dad getting my socks on my feet and tying up my shoes!! Man!! what a memory PK HAS!! :P) tell me we're going out of station in the evening, by train. Aur yahiin se choote meri gaadi!! I was in school when all of a sudden my mom shows up with my lunch. I remember she was spoon feeding me and answering some random question I kept asking about the trip. It was a family visit to Tirupati.

And then my train of thoughts left the station, only never to return!! I was all excited about going by train!! I didn't know it then, but I know it know. Its all the chaos, the drama, the excitement, the complete ACTION package that excites me about Railway Stations. I have traveled a lot on trains to go various places for my swimming. Should say, I've been to almost all places except J&K!! And that too, I will go soon, no matter what!! Back to the action at stations... I just like watching all this action and am not a part of it. I don't like running around on Railway Station premises, its a peaceful experience for me. I haven't a major incident of this order that I can think of. Nor would I be running in the future. Yes, when the need arises, like maybe my girl's forgotten to take my goodbye kiss while going out of town, I'll run up to her and throw her the kiss, but otherwise, naah, I'd never run. But here's the GODDESS reason... I love having HOT COFFEE at Railway Stations. Preferably one from Fresh 'N' Ground, if not, one from a Coffee Day bar. I just LOVE the cappuccino from Fresh 'N' Ground, sugarless... I could ask for this coffee as my last wish on my death bed and I wouldn't give a damn where I'd reach in my afterlife, for I, already have found my Stairway to Heaven, my cup of steaming hot, cappuccino!!!

Coffee being the primary reason, I also like the wait for the person who's coming. No no, don't jump to conclusions. Its not because I already miss them a lot. Its because I'd have picked up some random scene on road while driving to the station or some incident last night that gave birth to a new theory of my own and then, I'm dying to find someone to tell about it!! I really don't care if the person who is being talked to listens to or not, understands or not, I'd just go on and on and on anyway!! :D I guess I'm the only guy who appreciates delays in schedules at Railway Stations (not while I'm on train, while I'm waiting at the station) because I just walk along the platform with my hands in my pockets, stare at the old monumental structures, listen to fellow passengers call the people who're to come by that train and crib about how the delay is annoying them... I love watching people creating a panic situation out of NOTHING, while I, on the other side am standing with a large exclamatory mark on my head, like "huh, really!!"

Somehow going by air to any place doesn't involve this kind of fun. I only remember being excited for the first two or three times. And then I started reading books. Its all calm, with just the huge traffic jams on the way to the airport and hence the whole idea of leaving a couple of hours earlier to the airport and then wait... those guys do not even make grammatical errors in announcements at airports!! Its boring. The only time your heart may be pounding is when you know its a bad weather out there and you touch down safely. That's it!! :|

P.S. I'll put up something soon, something I've written a night before I was to go to a station to pick someone up. Its not something I wrote on my own, I copied it, but I wrote it on paper.