Saturday, October 31, 2009

The window seat


Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,

All by himself and gathering brambles;
- Robert Louis Stevenson


Whenever I am on the move, it be bus, train or a plane I almost always go for a window seat. What is so special? Nothing much,but then; in a bus, I like the wind blowing on my face, in the case of train I would like to put my face touching the rails,feeling the gush of air, without any worry about the rust and dirt on the window. Also at times, to lean back and look out at the passing trees. If it is night, I would be watching the moon all the time. I love a train ride on a lovely moon lit night...I miss those days !!! Now in a plane, wow!!!! now that is an entirely different story. I just simple love the queen of the skies, the raw power of the roaring engines and the beauty of the wings which take you into thin air.Always an inspiring moment.
So as usual, on this one fine morning I am going to the college and I am of course in my favorite spot.
The bus is fully occupied. Most of them are students going to the college. I see this couple on one of the seats,looking at each other. .I smile inside, 'ah.. there goes a lovely romantic couple'. As I try not to look at the them and think of something more useful, like where is today's free pizza,the bus moves into a bus stop. I take my eye off the road and take a look at the door, oh oh.. my lovely couple, they are deeply engaged in a dead lock kiss, a french one. :) . I felt a small tug of pain deep inside. I had started thinking about some of my own sweet moments. Then I see this beautiful young lady in her late thirties, boarding the bus. There is no seat in the bus and she decides to stand near the lovely couples. I am not sure what to do now. In this country, is it fine to stand up and offer her a seat. Then again, this is the land of 'women equality' and 'women empowerment' . Of all the things in the world, today, I am not looking forward to hear "oh my!! , thank youuuu.... that is soooo sweet of you, but I had rather stand here" statement.

My mind transcends to sometime back. I was a cute little boy back then, I am back in the good old KSRTC buses. It is a bumpy ride, it is a long way to go. Almost all the seats are taken, and I ; I am in my favorite spot, a window seat. I can see most of the seats. Most of them are middle class people, dwelling in their own thoughts and worries. In the seat just in front of me, I see this sweet couple. He is a gentleman and she is quite a lady. They too seem to be liking this ride. I can sense their occasional glances at me from time to time, but I never really cared. I had a lot of things to see out through the window. I am sure, they love to talk to each other for any length of time. I have not a clue about what they are talking, but whatever it is, it must be something nice. They have been laughing, giving a smile at each other occasionally, looking outside through the window and his hand is kept always surrounding her shoulders. A gesture of his care and warmth I guess. Anyway, as usual I left them for the moment, only to be waken up by the sound of brakes as the bus pulled over at a bus stop. A lady in her mid thirties boarded the bus and started scanning for seats. The girl who is just returning from the office started taking out a book, careful not to make an eye contact. Ok, I said to myself it is time to leave my sweet spot. As I was about to stand up I saw the gentle man in front of me standing up, gave a kiss on his woman's forehead and offering the seat to the lady.Never in my life again, have I ever seen such love and such a gentle man. I had gone home that day, having reinstated my faith in humanity.

As I came back from my thoughts,I stood up and was about to offer 'the lady in this bus' my seat. But the bus stopped again and the lady disembarked the bus. A smile spread across my face as I sat back down in my seat. I was thinking how on that day; the gentleman took his son onto his lap, and sat on that window seat.


Inspiration
‘Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.’ So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. - Hemmingway ( Movable feast)

4 comments:

Vivek said...

Ithano short story???

Anyways, well written...

Vivek.

veena said...

That was an awesome read! :)

Manu said...

mc kolaam. i think most of them do accept if u offer ur seat, but i usually dont :)

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