An untold story

Railways are one of the most comfortable sources of transport for long journeys but today what I saw made me feel it's not the same always. A short story will help understand my above statement. My dad had to travel from Delhi to Chennai and then to Kerala on two different trains. The first train got delayed by fourteen hours so he couldn't catch the second train. In situations like these people tend to choose unreserved tickets and travel via the general compartment. The stop was the second stop and already the train was filled with people in the midst of that I saw a mother holding the hand of a son who was around five years old and a daughter whom she carried in her arms desperately trying to board the train. What troubled me most was when the son was having tears in his eyes and he tried to silently wipe the tears away. The sight wasn't a pleasant one but for a common man, I think it's nothing unusual. 

The push and pull, the scoldings, and the desperate will to at least board the train to go home can be seen just when we sit at a railway station and watch the passengers as each one of them has a story to share. We often look at the beautiful side of the journey but tend to neglect the troubled part of it. I do believe most of us have at least once had this experience which makes us feel frustrated and helpless but still we look forward to something better at the end. I too have experienced trains reaching late and travelling in unreserved compartments hoping to arrive soon. 

We have lots of good memories while travelling by train and those experiences successfully suppress these stories but still, it come rushing back once in a while. There are beautiful stories of travels and those also need to be told. No story should remain untold...

An unspeakable emotion

 

 Time flies before we can even figure out the timeframe.  Six months have passed already and in a few months, life as a student becomes history.  It's an exciting as well as a sad moment. Five years just flew away and now I can recall all the memories that I had in those years as a college student.  My first year was the most memorable memory of my five years. It was a frightening beginning in a new place with a completely different language and culture. It just took a few months to get used to the place and in those months the people around me made me feel belonged and it was a new feeling that I realised that became precious for me. 

Over the years I met a lot of people some new, some old but I don't know whether we will still keep in contact once we all leave this place but still, the moment is very important. Now when I scroll through those old photos it brings back the rush of memories I shared with everyone still new and fresh. I completed my undergraduate and landed in the same college for post-graduation. One very memorable thing was my being part of Martin Hall...

Initially, I was sad to be back because all those faces that were home were not there anymore but still, I met new people who made it more comfortable and made those two years worth my return. If not in MCC I don't know where I would be so it remains an unknown path that I chose not to travel. I am very grateful for those few people in my life who often check up on me, invite me to places, drag me out of my comfort zone ( my bed), show me lots of places and lots more. I hope those people remain in my life even though we get separated physically but every time we talk we have the same vigour without any awkwardness. 

There is lots more to the story as there are four more months of busy schedule but we still find time to be together and make plans to visit the remaining places in Chennai which I hope becomes possible ........

Reality of virtual world

The digital world has become closer to reality where we cannot even spend a few hours away from our gadgets. A few days back we had a cyclone hit in Tamilnadu and because of heavy rain and wind the power supply was cut off along with the internet connection. The lack of network connection for another few more days made all of us desperate to do something exciting apart from staring at the wall. The technology almost leads us to live a comfortable life of isolation. Individuals stay in their rooms with their smartphones for days and without these gadgets for just one day making all the people gather together and have a much livelier time by being together conversing and having fun. Everything that we do somehow is connected to being dependent on technology. Humans have almost forgotten a time when people lived without technology. People have lost the human touch and would prefer the 'likes' on Instagram rather than the one sincere compliment from an actual person. The way of life that we consider now also has become more monotonous with everyone glued to their phones and their laptops. Their working conditions have also changed and people sit in front of their laptops for hours to get the work done rather than having any physical activities which further leads to health problems.

Have we ever sat and wondered about the few questions that are troubling us? How many homes have a proper dinner together as a family? How many homes have a close relationship with each other knowing their likes and dislikes? How many families sit together in the evening and talk about the day? All these thoughts seem to have become so superficial and an utopian ideology.

The concept of life 10 years ago is different from now. In just a few years our lifestyle has completely changed and we have somewhat become slaves to technology. The novel " Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury talks about the sad reality of the present. People nowadays prefer to watch rather than read which has damaged their thinking ability. Reading and watching have a great difference between them. Reading a novel and watching a movie both gives different experience as the movie is an imagination of an unknown person brought to reality and it is watched by millions of people and all have the same thoughts but reading a book is different as it gives an individual perspective and their own experience with their imaginative creativity providing a lot of ideas creating a world of their own. The power to think increases as far as reading is alive and if not  then the brain starts to rust which will turn mechanical shortly.

The idea of life and reality has changed a lot. In this fast-moving world, we individuals do not have time for ourselves which makes us often forget about our unique identity. The stories told by our grandparents would be so adventurous and exciting which we could not find in the present world. Everything has changed and will continue to change and if we do not spend some time on personal thoughts then in a few years all the uniqueness that we have within ourselves will be wiped away changing them into robotic humans along with the actual machines. 

The digital world has contributed a lot to making human life better and we can only hope to use the technology for our own and not the other way around. We hope to be able to distinguish between the visual world and the real world which has been separated by a very thin line.

The nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a wonderful book based on war. It is the story of two strong sisters who fight in their own way. The novel begins with a regular introduction to the lives of sisters Vianne and Isabelle. Isabelle, the youngest, is a rebellious girl and people believe she will cause trouble. The Nazis slowly started taking over France, but the changes were too sudden to cope with. Despite everything, we find families holding onto the hope of meeting their loved ones, and that hope led many people to fight for those they cherished. 

The uncertainties of life and the fear of the unknown remained present in the hearts of the people.

The title of the novel itself signifies the sisters, who are named Rossignol, which means Nightingale in English. The name Nightingale also serves as Isabelle's code name. Jews were the targets of abuse. Women and children were deported simply because they were not born in France, and it was the French soldiers who initiated the move.

At the heart of this novel lies the relationship between family members and loved ones, and the sacrifices they make for each other. Vianne, as a mother, always tried to keep her daughter safe  both physically and emotionally. Yet with time, her daughter grew beyond her years, learning about restrictions, loss of freedom, and death. As days passed, mothers were separated from their children and sent to camps, losing their homes and displaced in unknown places, yet still looking forward to freedom.

In the end, many people died and vanished, many remained missing, and countless children were left orphaned. Isabelle came home, but she was no longer the same girl she was a lost and broken woman, almost dying. She waited and waited for her lover, who had promised to return. The day he finally did, she died in his arms, surrounded by her family.

This novel taught me the value of life and the people surrounding us. One beautiful quote among many others that struck me deeply was:

"Some stories don't have happy endings. Even love stories. Maybe especially love stories."

Waiting makes the letter more precious

 

Letters were once an important source of communication. It was crucial for both parents, relatives and even lovers. Many love stories behind letters. Current technology has made life easier but the thrill of waiting for someone special to send a long message would be far more precious. We also find our parents have letters that they still preserve. Those might be some ordinary words for us but they carry a lot of meaning and stories behind them. Letters exchanged among parents and children are also precious as it contains the love and longing they have for each other. 

The short story "The Letter" by Dhumaketu talks about a father waiting for a letter from his daughter. This short story is a translated work from Gujarati language. The writer whose real name is Gowrishankar Govardhan has published over twenty-four collections of short stories. He also wrote twenty-five historical novels and criticism essays.

This story is about a man named Ali who was a hunter later he left his old hunting life, but his daughter was married off to Punjab and for the next five years he went to the post office regularly waiting for his daughter's letter. Despite harsh weather conditions he went and waited patiently at the post office.  People made fun of him as he daily had to leave empty-handed but it never discouraged him. He had faith and he strongly believed that his daughter  would send him the letters and that kept him strong. He never got the letter when he was alive but still, there was a letter addressed to him.

There are two fathers mentioned in the short story. The one who never understood the pain of waiting in the beginning and made fun of Ali but towards the end he too had to wait for the letter from his daughter which led him to connect to the emotions of Ali. This short story shows the love of a father and the faith and trust he has in his child till the end.