Notes from the trip

A family holiday happened. My not-so-social family and two of our not-so-social friends decided to get ourselves into a special tourist train full of very social people with whom we had nothing much in common except that we were all there to Discover India. The fifteen day journey, covering seven thousand and odd kilometers, eleven states, brought some things into perspective..

•My dad who heads the not so social clan, is social. The second day into the train journey, daddy dearest who usually spends most of his time alone and who acts as if socialising causes him physical pain, knew a horde of people from almost every coach and was on the first name basis with the pantry dudes, security uncles and even the cleaning boys! People would drop off at our compartment several times of the day and talk to him, and dad would introduce each one of us to his newly made friends and tell us in return, his life story. Every time this happened, mom and me would look up from our books and exchange looks that varied from "What happened to him!" to "Do we even know this guy?!"..Although all of us did make friends with a whole bunch of people by the end of the journey, it was dad who stole the show!

•I am a major street food junkie! I wanted to have e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g the street vendors were making and would gravitate toward them, but my paranoid medico brother would scare me with gruesome details of the after effects of eating unhealthy food and lead me away, quite forcefully.

•The train which was in all senses, a malayalee society on wheels, had corners where the ungils in lungis would huddle together, gulping down chai, talking politics & coming up with solutions to social issues and they would laugh so loud that even the others would invariably smile. The auntie's from different parts of Kerala, joined together by the same faith, would meet up in the compartment next to ours in the evenings and sing hymns and mantras, which would even shut the ungils up and everyone would be eerily quiet till they finished..

•I've said this before and I'll say it again- I am a woman of contradictions. I get scared out my wits when I look down from four storeys up. My knees buckle and I cling onto the railing for dear life. But there I was, parasailing over the ocean, feet dangling in the air, arms outstretched shouting, 'weee im a birdddd', without even a flutter of a butterfly in my tummy..

•Shopping with mom is a no-no! Okay so here's the deal, I've always had fun hanging out and shopping with my mother, who is oh so awesome at it, but off late, I'm starting to think there's a reason my friends aren't as excited about the prospect as I am..Here's an example:

Veda (drools at a junk jewellery selling shack and is being pulled towards it by its awesome powers): Mom, hang on..

Mom (looks at the shack, grunts): Look at that stuff Veda! Who'll buy all that?!

V (mouth wide open): Are you kidding me? They're beautiful.

M: They look like the stuff adivasis (tribals) in wayanad (our home place) wear.

V:No ma..(trying to knock sense into her)..They're actually pretty cool up close.

V manages to lure her into the shop, with her extraordinary persuasive skills.

M (looking around. not happy): I could make this stuff for you, if I wanted to.

V (snorts): Yeah right!

M (eyes pop put - Tom & Jerry style): 1500 bucks for THIS?!! (picks up an ornament that has big round colored ball like things hanging from a black thread) WHY!

V: Erm..yeah maybe its a lil overpriced, but it might look good on you.

M: From which angle does this look remotely good young lady?! This is such a waste of time.

V: But..

M: Veda, look at those shawls! (drool)

V: Sigh.