A Saga of Commute

I decided to start this blog with a smart quote and googled for it. The first quote that caught my attention is "To travel is to Live". I am not going to talk about some life-altering travels that I  undertook. But rather about mundane commutes which are an essential part of everyone's life. We don't need to start with any cute quotes for a prosaic commute, do we? Therefore, I dropped my effort to find a relevant commute quote from Google and proceeded to word my thoughts.

For the major part of my early life, I had not only travel but even commute sickness. Essentially I dreaded to get into a taxi or a bus to commute or travel. Even for my under graduation, this disability forced me to go to the nearest college from my residence and I happily cycled up and down for three years. During my PG years, I had to take the bus to and fro. It seems, somewhere along the growing up process I got over my commute sickness. To my pleasant surprise, I rather enjoyed my humdrum bus commute, especially more when I could find a window seat. On both the ways, I boarded the bus at the terminus, so it wasn't difficult per se. Thus begin my tryst with the commute.

My Commute Days in Trichy, Tamilnadu

A Lady who talked Everest-size

On one such commute, a working woman happened to sit next to me.  I turned and gave her a semblance of a smile and she straight away dumped her entire life story on me. I have always encountered this kind of bizarre behavior. I guess my warm, open, and naive looks made others open up to me spontaneously. With little or no effort on my part, I end up hearing all their secret stories. I always think I would have made a better psychiatrist or at the least psychologist. Coming back to the lady, she narrated her growing up days with parents, her marriage life, the difficulties, and about her kids. Sometimes she was boastful, sometimes resentful and most of the time, matter-of-factly. Initially, I was a bit lost on how to respond, as she went on I was able to get a grip and made appropriate grunts and gestures, I believe. Because she didn't stop till we reached our destination.

Phew...I am always a capitalist (or Far-Right)

It's not a myth that all our education make us believe in left-leaning ideologies. I staunchly believe left ideals such as selfless, sharing, utopian society captures young mind effortlessly. Every person at the young age should be a leftist at heart. Not that the left ideology is a best practice, but the operative word is "AT HEART" here. In theory, the Leftist idea is giving your energy, wealth and whatever you have for a common cause but never in practice, I guess. Leftists are far more ruthless, authoritarian and dangerous for the society than dictators.(How politics enters into a blog about the commute? Politics really has no boundaries!!!)

On my return commute, I always pass through a marketplace where a stretch of hardware shops are located. I kind of fell in love with those shops. They are always bustling with activities, paints and other kinds of stuff stacked to the roof,... that mayhem and organization efficiency kind of gave me kicks. I didn't get bored not even a single day for the entire year. I really doubted whether a beautiful serene location will capture me as much as these hardware shops. I felt weird that time though, why should I liked those of all the things I saw and why I still remember that. Later when I read "Atlas Shrugged" by "Ayn Rand" I kind of relate to the feeling I had during my commute. I liked the productivity and efficiency that hardware shops emanate which made me like it and I realized I am a capitalist through and through.  Of course, it doesn't help marrying a card-carrying right-wing person. But I have understood what a farce left ideologies are and glad I have become a Far-Right. I am looking for a word equivalent to "Thaduthatkondan". That is the world I would like to use for my conversion from Left to Right.

My Commute Days in Chennai, Tamilnadu

Non-Happening Commute

My workplace was just 2 stops away. So, before I grabbed the attention of the conductor and get my ticket my I would have reached my destination. So it always was a non-happening commute. Even in that short commute, if I found a window seat, I invariably would have overslept missed my stop and alighted a couple of stops farther and thus made my commute a little bit exciting.

Not the Bridges of Madison County but A Bridge over Adayar River

This one is not a bus commute, but a motorbike commute with my husband. He usually drops me till Luz corner and from there I took a bus to my workplace. We usually put tremendous effort to leave our house before 8.45am to avoid the maniac traffic. When that happens, it is really satisfying to cross the Adayar Bridge. My husband is a very law abiding citizen, always wear a helmet and also a little deaf in his ears, so it is difficult to have a conversation with him during the ride. It's kind of convenient for both of us. He is not much of a talker, and I like sight-seeing during the commute. We have to cross the Adayar Bridge. It's nothing special. Because on any given day there must be 1000s of people regularly commuting through the bridge. But my best part of the travel is crossing the bridge. There are no words to describe the feeling of excitement or optimism or whatever. You have to experience that as me. I can give you one instance though, on one bad day I and my husband fought before we left for our work. But like any responsible husband, he didn't want to leave me because of one stupid fight and was grudgingly took me to the usual bus stop. We both were seething but when we came to the bridge I couldn't stay mad anymore. I couldn't help but feel the same excitement and optimism and my woes forgotten.  The bridge is special on one more count it showed me I am capable of loving nature too. When I quit the company, besides my friends I missed this journey too.

Another Favorite was Scrap Metal Shops

On those days, when my husband didn't take me halfway I travel all the way through the bus. And like the hardware shops in Trichy, I liked the scrap metal shops in Guindy or somewhere near.( Sorry, I suck at geography). These shops are as ugly as it comes. But, it grabbed my attention mostly because of the brute physical force it emanates, I guess. I always favor intelligence over physicality. Just for the kicks, I would like to work in such a place.

A Boat Building Shop

I liked Kevin Costner's 'Message in a Bottle' movie. I always picture Kevin Costner working in the boat building shop. I know next to nothing about boats and not even sure whether boat building shop is the right word. But I like looking at the cavernous hangar-like building and some days a finished boat will be hanging on the outside of the assembly hangar. I guess boat making is a serious business and unknown to all the intelligentsia and lime-light few ordinary persons doing that is the most awesome thing in this country. Behind all the media glare those real persons doing real productive work is getting our country going. 

A Bus Journey that Gives "ME" Space

I am traveling by bus now and it's a long journey too. But this time it is entirely different. It is an AC office bus. I tried to look out through the clear, big window. But it doesn't have the same effect. Not able to commute with folks from different walks of life, not able to hear the ambient noise somehow dampened my journey. But it helped me find that elusive "ME" time. Now I use my journey time to read books, watch my kind of movies(mostly drama and art films), and listen to TED talks. When situation warranted I strike up an intimate conversation with my friend who always sits next to me on the return journey.

No matter what I'll find a way to enjoy my journey either in commute or in life, I guess. Instead of beginning with a cute quote, I am ending with one. Life is best lived when you enjoy the most mundane moments too.... (Cute enough?)