Page 34 - You Only Live Once [BooksLD]

I rest my head against the window to see the beautiful countryside pass
by. Although it’s night, the moon is at its brightest best. A train journey is
like no other. If you’re on-board with your family, it’s about deeply bonding

with them as the train whistles across the country; if you’re on-board alone,
it’s about deeply bonding with strangers and knowing their story. They say
time travel isn’t possible yet. Physically, yes. However, the moment I step
into a train, it takes me back to my childhood. If you’re a 90s kid, you know
what I’m talking about. Everything—the soup being served with
breadsticks, the chaiwallah s roaring amidst the hustle, the cutlets, relishing
Parle-G dipped in tea, and reading Champak bought from the railway

platform of some on route station— it all takes me back to the time of my
life that I cherish the most.
After flying for miles in the economy class of various aircrafts, where I
feel like a stranger amidst so many sophisticated passengers who would

hardly look at each other, a train journey is where I come back home to.
When my day ends, everything fades away, and there is only one thought
left, Tara.

Some relationships have a closure. You meet for one last time and end
things with a conversation. In my case, it was so abrupt that I never knew
when we met last that it was actually going to be our last.

Have you ever stood at the end of a relationship not knowing what went
wrong?
Was it their fault? Was it yours?

The older the pyjamas get, the cozier they become. But sometimes you
feel like slipping on a pair of jeans. If you stick to the pyjamas for long,
you’d never know what breathing in the fresh air feels like. I have put on
my favorite pair of jeans, certainly.

I sip my cup of tea and reach out for my pen and scribble in my diary:

I kept shifting apartments
changing cities
in search of a home.
And then,

I found home.
In her.
She didn’t.