Haridwar Through My Eyes: Part 2

The Railway Station

This one should have come long back but anyway it has come and as they say, "देर आए दुरुस्त आए"!

I do not get to enjoy a lot of vacations now, not that I am busy but the college doesn't give enough "chhutti" to go home. One exceptional vacation ended recently and I was on the railway station with my parents waiting for the train.

Even though it was late at night, the station was living in its full glory with all the hustle bustle and chatters around. I would rather say I saw aspirations and emotions roaming around in human form.

So to start with:

You enter the station and you notice every new thing that has happened with the infrastructure. And this is not because you are observant, it is simply because the station is not really big and you have been watching it since you were a kid. The book stall now has halogen lamps, the coaches now stop in front of the marked numbers, the food vendors are following proper hygiene codes.

It is all getting so advanced, so Delhi like! And we say it with pride!

For people, well the people are more or less the same. Their faces have changed but their character hasn't.

The moment you step on the first stair of the station, you know your life is going to change after that. Either you will go and make a difference somewhere or you will stay back and have a difference made in your life by the void which would be left because of the departed.

You look around and you realize that how everyone is running towards their goal, waiting patiently (not really) for the train and then hopping fast in to it to make sure that they do not miss it.

It is not just the train they have to catch. They have to make it big in a big city! And the veracity can be seen in the fact that most people are either Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore bound. Haridwar or the likes are just too small for their dreams.

Those goodbyes said from the train, those promises to meet again, the spark of successfully completing the goal which made the people leave their homes- so many emotions just puzzle me, forcing me to leave this one on an open end too, but I will not do that.

You see, somethings do not change at all. Like our memories, our little heart which still gets super elated when we come back to our small town. The air that blows across your face just when you enter the city limits, a smile comes out of nowhere and you know you are back home!

And among the things that have remained constant all through these ages is the old weighing machine still standing tall on the station.

You know what, one day when we will become old, we will become like the old weighing machine on the station which has become old and rickety and stopped functioning too yet is made to stand there, for it has seen the ages pass and in it stands the memories we had.
Just standing and observing and smiling at what has happened and waiting for when its existence will be ultimately removed!

Close your eyes and realize!

Haridwar: Through My Eyes- Part 1

The Sabzee Mandi

You have to be lucky to be born in a small town is what I feel as I stand in the sabzee mandi, holding two bags of vegetables with hot and crisp jalebis and pakoras being fried right in front of me.

Fully acknowledging my exponentially increasing weight, I still go ahead imagining the magic these out of the world, high on fat items will spell in my digestive system.
As if this wasn’t enough that the sudden expression of a lady got my attention. She was bargaining with a small time retailer over an item she wanted to buy. I cannot say that I did not overhear the conversation because I did and as I write this, it is playing in my mind all over again. From there, I somehow lost myself to the numerous human emotions I had around.

Sabzee Mandi, believe me it is the best place you could ever be in if you want to know what humans are. It is a mini outing for many, the happiness of that one gola a father buys for his child, the colorful bangles the girl is happy to even see, that achievement of getting a rupee off.

The chaat-pakori treats, the happiness that is all around. For once, there is no divide of rich and poor, of Brahmin or Kshatriya or any other caste for that matter. For once we all stand together.

The numerous vendors shouting out loud, some just sitting like that; no marketing strategies nothing and yet they make it good. Sometimes for some people it is not a good day but do they end it in a state of despair; I do not think so! The hope in the eyes is what captivates me!

Then occasionally the stray cows and bulls come and the way people run, well it is some kind of a show for those who are just watching.

I sometimes wonder how people can be so hopeful, with so little at their disposal they are still making the most of it and here we cry about the petty things we do not have!

Anyway, with so many emotions around, so many images to capture; as I write this I smile. Knowing it well that I have failed miserably at capturing the emotions, maybe some photographer could have done that better.

Or maybe we all could just close our eyes and feel the same, paint our own pictures, just the way we want them to be!

Emotions! Though art inexplicable!