The Power of Words

The past week, I have been asking some of my friends this question- “What excites you?” and insisted that they stick to the little things and the simple joys rather than winning-the-Olympic-gold or grabbing-an-Oscar kind of excitement. Most of the answers hit close to home and it was exciting to get a view of how different things affect different people.

I have my own list too, which is clearly topped by tea. Yes. Tea is more than just a beverage for me. Too many emotions attached to it. Few others in my list were— riding pillion in a long stretch of empty road (used to love long bike rides with my dad as a kid. It seems so long ago now), a train ride in a window seat and wind blasting my face, the clouds and the skies, the sun and the moon, the sea breeze. There is another important thing that excites me. A quote or a line from a book, a movie, or a song that just touches me or moves me or makes me go awww. Words are powerful. Words evoke feelings. Words excite. Words heal. Words hurt. Words build. Words break. Words are magic. This is why I started writing in the first place.

I look back to my childhood summer vacations when I would search for books through the loft in my grandparents’ place, like a poor man would dig for treasure. I would pull out a book and carefully turn the brown pages that have become brittle with time. I would read those archaic Shakespearean words and wonder what that was all about. In spite of my inability to comprehend them, I would fall in love with the mystery and beauty of it. And I have stayed in love ever since.

Falling in love with the journey

ALERT! I may get philosophical at places. Hey, I’m back to blogging after a long long break. What do you expect? 😉

After a fairly long time, I had the chance to travel by train last week. If my memory serves me right, this is my first train journey alone. There was another time when I traveled alone but I chanced upon a neighbor from my town and he was in the same compartment “watching over” me, so that doesn’t count.

I don’t actually prefer traveling long hours by a AC bus/train. I’m the “open the windows, let the wind blast your face, don’t mind the hair getting tangled” kind of a person. Stuffy AC spaces are not my thing. But unfortunately, due to ticket unavailability, I had to book a seat in the AC compartment. Little did I know that I was going to have an amazing journey nevertheless.

By the time I boarded, it was lights out. Everyone else in the compartment had climbed into their berths and were asleep. It was 09:15 pm and for a night owl like me, that’s like the start of the day 😀 My phone’s battery was running out of charge and the socket in the compartment was already in use, so decided I’ll just step out and plug it in the common one they have near the doorway.

So I walked to the door, kept it open and started enjoying the rush of wind hitting my face and of course checking texts on the charging phone. The TTE was nearby and struck up a conversation with me. This went on for sometime after which he put his game face on and was determined to clear level 271 of Candy Crush. 😀

I stood there for more than an hour. When I travel with my parents, standing near the door was a strict no no. Here I was, relishing every second of my time there, grateful for the solitude, because at times, that’s exactly what you need. I had conversations with random people. I watched as people stared into the mirror. And sometimes just blinked into space.

As moments ticked away, I realized I was falling.

Falling in love.