Just in state of mixed emotions after saying bye to my beautiful friend at Chennai International Airport, I returned to the most darkest railway station I ever know, the Tirusulam railway station around midnight. Of course I prefer the majestic rail cars to the normal cars whether it because I don't have choice, or don't know exactly how to drive the normal one. I always loved the late night breeze that splashes on the face if I opt to stand on the doors or rather hang on the doors of the rail car. That's a beautiful feeling and nothing else can really buy that. Often I used to think whether I romance with the lady wind who don't like coming inside but rather stay just outside those doors creating an magical axe effect. Beautiful gals always do that- just stay on boundaries defined by themselves and let guys decide making the choice of falling out of their castles. I use the 'Beautiful' clause just to avoid wrath of the entire womankind nevertheless 'beautifuls' outnumber the others by astronomical proposition. It is because 'Beauty' is an exploration rather than a destination and the exploration is beautiful than anything else. And whoever uses time, mind and heart is the real winner. And I like exploring the beauty of the invisible lady wind as much as I can.
That night the whole station was deserted like it would be usually be at that point of time, but for one police guy, definitely a starter in his profession. Though there was no enough lighting to enable me to read his features completely, I can make definite intuitive guesses about a perfectly build stature, rough rookie face, strong arms and flat bellies. Whoever has read 'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell, would not disregard the intuitive guesses that helps us all our lives. They are firsts of the thought sequences happening in our brain as soon we are stimulated visually, audibly or physically. They help us in making instant decisions- skipping a chapter we feel is not important for a big exam, picking a unknown movie from the library or asking out a girl. My intuitive guesses has always asked me to stay away in that last case and i think it had greatly helped the girls! Intuition, or 'thin slicing' as gladwell quotes is the art we get better at through our oceans of experience. Indeed my guess that night proved I was right sometime later. I must had thoughtlessly observed hundreds of these police freshers over years.
That night, I was using more of my eyes to learn the surrounding than my ears. Funny me to do that in a dark deserted station. But heart win over logic once I plug the premium headphones onto my ears and tune to the best songs on my music player. It's called the Music addiction and is worse than the dangerous compulsions. It makes us to remain hooked to these small funny boxes all day and be deaf to the noises and commotion of the outside world. Many say they indeed make us really deaf. But who listens. And that night I was really not listening. Not listening to that young police constable. I walked past him like a deaf soul and walked 50 more feet to spot a empty seat under the open sky. Beautiful music plugged onto our ears create a separate world just for us where even girlfriends don't exists. We have privilege to ignore anyone or anything. We always have an excuse later.
I reached the seat and jumped on to in and started focusing on the possible side the train would come. Even the most rational of us lose brain in a railway station. Even after being pretty sure of the rail timing, we keep looking over the tracks for those distant lights. Idleness drives out logic and make us small in our actions. I kill my idleness by carrying some books to read. But the dark station didn't help me to do that. The music was getting better and I was shaking my head and feet. Thid. Thid. My body was picking some vibrations from my seat. I slowly turned by neck and almost gave a jerk. Thud. Thud. My eyes acknowledged the heavy thuddings the constable was making on my seat with his baton. Intense suspicion could be spotted allover his dark face. Thank God. Some lights from the road side helped me to notice them. I did not overreact but indeed step-react. Somehow in intense and hard situations I purposely slow down my reaction and act step by step. Sometimes it helps and other times gives me the hard smacks. This time, I slowly removed my headphones as if nothing happened and asked him whats up. He realized his mistake instantly on seeing my headphones and his body showed signs of apology.
Constable: 'Sir Sorry. But where are going?'
I : 'Chromepet. I just came from the airport'
Constable: 'You should be extremely careful. Can listen music. But cant dare to ignore the surroundings at this point of time. It is too risky. Also I became suspicious when you didn't respond to my call and kept walking to this seat'
I: 'I know. But after spotting you there, I know I was really safe. Why should I be afraid of anything in your company?'
Constable: '.....'
He was stunned. I managed to put the ball in the constable's court. That was a smart talk. I do that rarely!
I turned on the player again and started looking for the distant lights..
