a long long time ago, a palmist told me that everything in my life will be hard, but i will achieve whatever it is that I wanted. just nothing will come easy. and then another person told me the same thing. No wonder I used to day dream about being a station manager of a railway station that was the last stop of a train into the himalayas.
that would be the easy life that i can never have.
in my day dream, i had two rooms in the railway station. and here, i do not embellish my young self. one room would be filled with books. the other room would be filled with mangos.
during that phase, i would often sneak out of the house at night. and hop trains. i know, it was dangerous and insane. but i was in thrall with the sound of the train as it rolls over the gap in the rail.
and the night.
i wanted that clanking silence.
if that makes any sense.
5 Comments
“a long long time ago, a palmist told me that everything in my life will be hard, but i will achieve whatever it is that I wanted. just nothing will come easy. and then another person told me the same thing.”
All palmists and swamis who have read my janmakshar/janampatri (horoscope book) have told me that I’ll always have a very difficult life, and money and material security will be constant sources of anxiety.
That much is true.
They also told me that anything I do will involve travel.
And that is true.
They went on to say that when I’m 28 years old, I’ll be noticed/recognized for something.
That didn’t happen. I just jumped over the 29 mark. Bunch of liars.
Speaking of the Himalayas, aren’t they lovely? Here in Nepal, you can’t see them at all because of the haze and dust– in fact, you can’t even see the hills surrounding Kathmandu. But everyone says that post-monsoon, you can see them and they feel very close to you.
How’s this for a new Orient Express? Would be a really cool journey.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3779897.ece
Few things as seductive, hopeful, full of possibility, as the sound of a train, especially in the dead of night. You should do a desi cinema and railways post.
desiknitter—>
thanks for that link….I have something to fantasize about now while I sit through the torture of studying for law school exams.
While talking of railways, even though irrelevant but look at this thug
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23590819-5005962,00.html?from=public_rss
clanking silence makes perfect sense.
and dk, asad, I’m with you. Not that I’m likely to be able to afford a ticket, or get that pesky Iranian visa, but what a dream journey.
And seductive/hopeful, yes, but I think night trains also carry an air of potential menace–that’s possibly even part of the appeal.