He sat there on as trains rushed by. On the platform of a busy Jamshedpur station. His craft at his feet. His rustic look keeping him company long after the train had left!
He stared a vacant stare. He didn’t speak much as my eyes met his.
As I looked at what he had to sell, crafted stone, I realised he spoke more with his hands.
(at Tatanagar)
It was evening.
It was a long ride. It seemed like we had left San Fransisco ages ago. It was a comfortable road ride. A boring one at that. If you took away some superlative scenery that lurked beyond the windscreen, it would have been a damp squib.
This was quite unlike an Indian highway. Bereft of random breathlessness and excitement. Like there was no bull that shows up in the middle of the road on a whim. Or a tractor that decides to swerve and come face to face with you just as you were wondering if you were faster than then clouds in the sky. You get the picture, don’t you?
In any case, we were looking forward to the evening and night ahead. For up ahead was Las Vegas. Stories abounded about what all could happen there. The excitement in us seemed to cause the engine to purr a trifle more. A new tune played out in my mind.
It was then that I looked at the traffic that was coming out of Vegas. Headed home. I tried reading into the blank emotion on their faces as the cars whizzed by.
Yet, it was easy to recall my favourite line from ‘English, August’ that I read several years ago. “The ecstasy of the arrival never compensates for the emptiness of the departure”.
(at Las Vegas, Nevada)
Of beginnings and ends. The Sun was a painting a new crimson on the snow clad canvas that Himalayas seemed to become . These trees stood firm and beautiful. Bereft of leaves but beautiful still. A new season was coming. This season was ending.
In the end, there is a beginning. Always. The end of one season heralds the beginning of another. The end of a day rustles up a new night. The end of night gets the Sun to wave in its crimson magic.
So what does death mean, if not a new beginning? For both the soul that’s departed and the families and friends that grapple with the departure. With nothing more than a legacy, woven together by a clutch of memories and collected artefacts.
Two years ago, to this date my dad went his way. It’s been a new beginning. To learn to live without his presence.
Some people’s presence outstrips their life. They cause a new beginning everyday. Even though their end came long ago. He was one of them.
But then, what is an end if not a new beginning?
Do share a thought if you have one. About ends and beginnings. It can be a new beginning to someone who is coping with an end.
Anyone.
#travel #traveller #instatravel #instapassport #blogger #travelblogger #blogging #travelinsights #traveladdict #traveltheworld #wanderlust #destinations #Nepal #Kathmandu #death #loss #arrival #departure #latergram (at Kathmandu, Nepal)