The Odyssey

*** My original post was deleted :( I don't know how. Tried to recover, but no luck :( So I have just saved my old post content to this new post..

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 34; the thirty-fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "Of-Course, I'm insane"

"Are you insane?", some woman asked in hysteric voice.

The ladies compartment was moderately crowded. My eyes drifted in the direction of the voice. She was middle aged woman, dressed in a nice cotton saree with a suave floral pattern. She was sitting on fourth seat diagonally opposite to me on the other side of the train aisle. Her authoritative and arrogant face implicated the ilk of government employee who send back the customers complaining either that some unwanted document was missing or it was their tea time/lunch time. In her lap was a polythene bag containing green peas. She was picking out the peas and the other ladies around her were pretending to be helping. Together, they looked like a knock out gang.

They all were looking hysterically towards the girl in the window. She was wearing a stylish shirt and trouser which made her look quite odd in the gang. I was intrigued and inadvertently started listening. The train was slow, journey long, with no other way to pass time, I thought, it's okay, I need some entertainment!

"Off course", another woman said.

The pretty girl sighed as if stepping down but then the next second she started animatedly with new found courage. "Don't you think instead of sulking and grumbling everyday, it's better be off that job and do what you actually love"

"Leaving such a high payment job for a hobby which can't give even half of your salary!" The woman next to her said shaking her head left to right. Nobody seemed to be convinced with the girl's argument. "How come your parents gave you the permission?" the woman continued.

Somewhere behind me, voices were getting louder. I tried to concentrate and focus on the gang talk."You know what?", the girl continued, not ready to give up. She had a confidence in her voice and her face reflected happiness, like it was a decision of precision and that would change her life.

She continued with a relentless urgency to prove herself, "Yea! You are right! Of-course! I am insane! You think it that way b'coz you all have forgotten how to live life! Is this the way to live life? Look at yourself. What you have become? A schedule. A timetable which is planned by someone else. Weekdays by office and weekends by your husband or saas. Get up at 5 am. Make breakfast which you yourself don't get time to eat. Rush for the train. Reach office and crib about everything the whole day. As clock strike six, rush for the train, squeeze yourself inside. Once reached destination, stand in Queue for the auto. And after all this maneuver, what's next? Wait sulkily for tomorrow which would be exactly the same junk.

You think it's insane to leave a good paying job, but I think its wise to get free of this rollercoaster ride which does not give you any amusement but instead makes you puke and dizzy.

You are looking at the monetary loss but plainly ignoring the satisfaction you get from it. Few months of work that I love will give me much more happiness which years of unequal work will not give me" She let out a heavy sigh.Why was she defending?
Everyone fell silent. Even the girl flushed about her speech and started looking out of the window. I knew what everyone was thinking. Same what I was. Is this true?

The sound behind me grew louder and interrupted my contemplation. I turned around to see what was the fuss about. Two ladies were quarreling over seats. Each was trying to raise her voice over the other. Both the parties repeated their point again and again and again. Then, one of the two blurted a curse. This threw the other in fit. She wad shaking in rage. Their quarrel was right on the thin line and was just one cross-word away from a real-good woman-fight. The ladies who were earlier listening and some enjoying, now looked tense. They knew fighting women are very unpredictable. They may slap each other, abuse or they may just end it up with a few bad words. But anyone from the spectator might get hurt. In between their shrieks, there was a sound of someone singing.

A few boys had sneaked in the ladies compartment and were hanging out at the door The guy began to sing loudly. Now the whole compartment was turned into a mess. The irritation was visible on everyone's face. I looked at the other gang. Some of women were looking at the fight, some were looking at the singer with a twisted face while some just sat looking out of the window. I guess they were still contemplating the girl's speech or trying to stay peaceful in the outright chaos. A lady among them said, "It's good philosophy to talk about. But life is not so kind". She was still stuck to the question and she looked hurt.

The guy seemed to have taken the attention as encouragement and he started to sing louder. He was hanging out without realizing the risk. Now everyone stared at him with a minacious look. Then all of a sudden, the situation changed. Everything seemed to happen in flurry of moments. As the guy continued to threw his voice up singing oversmartly, a train came from the opposite direction and the next moment everyone heard a loud sound of a tight slap. The song evaporated and the compartment turned silent, complete silent. All mouths flew open. The singer had his hand covering his cheek. The astonishment faded, realization dawned and smiles curved on everyone's face. There were roars of laughter. The chaos has disappeared, fights forgotten, confusion about purpose of life lost its influence and the crowd of individuals turned into a single gang.

I couldn't stop laughing, at the oversmart singer's fate but also to think how the gravity of moment has changed it's course. I almost said aloud, Yea! Such is life!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Introduced By: Megha Haware, Participation Count: 04