What once was..

Ah! Finally some positive experience to share.. [ yey!! ]

What does an average guy wish for, when he's about to travel in a train for a journey of six hours?
Some common answers would be..
1. Good sleep.
2. No loose motions from the train food.
3. A 'chick' as a co-passenger.

Some time ago, I too was traveling with hopes like these and two out of the above three came true!!
[*hint: 3. Was one of them. Rest, go figure!]

Now as I proceed to settle down with my luggage and stuff, I see this woman, probably in her late 30's sitting in the seat next to mine. I courteously ask her to make way as I was at the window seat. Past, which we both settle down for rest of the journey. She asked me which station it was where I boarded the train and I perfunctorily answered..."Cantonment".

The woman didn't look all that attractive, I actually didn't pay much attention to her face as such. What I did see was that she had dark circles around her eyes and her lips suggested that she had enjoyed a good puff at some point in her life.
I  took out my earphones and started listening to some kick-ass songs that I had downloaded from the net at home into my phone. Meanwhile, the lady took out a book and started reading it. After half an hour I was bored and started looking around [for no reason. What?! I can't look around!?!?] peeked into the book she was reading and saw her reading something regarding "luggage", "unpacking/packing".

I thought what kind of person would write about luggage? More importantly who on earth would READ about packing and unpacking luggage? I was about to shrug it off and turn the other way around but since the woman had already talked to me before [yes! I can never initiate a conversation with another person.] I casually asked her which book it was, and why would she read about packing luggage? She said that it was a book about psychology and talked about burdens of a human etc. etc. and then she said that she was a professional shrink! I was so excited to see someone who wasn't a doctor or a techie for a change and from there on we proceeded to talk about who her clients were [IT companies, NGOs, victims of Rape/Child sexual abuse et al.], how much she charged [Rs.800 per hour] and she asked me similar questions like where I worked and if my job was stressful [those who know me would be ROFLING right about now.]

We exchanged names and from there on we went to more personal questions like where she lived and if she was doing what she was passionate about. And trust me, I had never seen a person in my life who was doing something (s)he was passionate about, before the lady I was talking to.

These kind of people give off a totally different kind of positive vibe when you talk to them. You can see the satisfaction on their faces although you might also see that the person gets only 4hrs sleep everyday.

Suddenly a weird question popped in my mind and I asked her if they employ techniques like handwriting analysis/reading body language etc. for checking their patients out. The answer was negative, however she did employ hypnosis to ease her patients. [OMGWTFAX!!] Soon after saying that she quickly asked me to not ask her regarding the field much, as she'd have to charge 800 bucks per hour.

To divert the conversation [and to save my wallet ] I told her that I was into all these pseudo-sciences like graphology, astrology, face reading and palmistry. She had that curious glint in her eye....and from there we went about talking about human personalities and how they're displayed by the person's handwriting etc.
I told her she looked like a Scorpio and I was right!!
Going along with the flow of conversation we reached at a point where she said that she was married and had a 13 year old studying in school and that was a SHOCKER!!

I mean if I had heard her with my eyes closed she'd sound like a college going chick! She was using profanities like a college going lady. I was dumb struck for a moment. She asked me if I had ever been to Goa, to which I replied as "no". She was like " Dude!! You haven't lived your life!!".
I was sitting there dumbstruck further.. asking myself  "Dude??? She's a mom!! Holy shit! What hole have you been living under?". To defend, what was left of my mano I told her that I had plenty of time to live it up and currently, if I were to be left in a room with a comp and an internet connection with food, I'd be the happiest person on earth.
She acknowledged and said these exact same words "Isn't it interesting to see how simple a human's pleasures are? Its only the society that fucks things up but yeah Goa will still be a big miss....."
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It took me a while to digest what she said and how she said it! And soon after she finished saying that she came up with the mother load of a shocker. We talked why Goa was so attractive with all the hot chicks and the weed and stuff. She said that she had tried everything in her college life, she went to bhutan and saw people growing weed in their houses like it was a Tulsi plant. [Now for the shocker] This prompted her to ask me if I had ever done any weed..

Let me put this in its bare bones.....

A mother of a 13 year old...telling that she was once a weeder  and asking a twenty-something guy if he has tried weed.

It was like lightning falling on my family jewels!!
After recovering from the nutcracker I gave the answer as a no. She was surprised and didn't believe me,
[I guess till she realised that I was a boring little doggy.] I asked her how she got to being where she was right now to which she responded as, that after a point in time she realized that she had to do something with her life and followed her passion to do some good, that would help humanity directly and that's why she chose the profession. [these words still remain in the back of my mind.]

But that's not all! Our lady had a second side to her too...
I was so interested and curious to know about her son and her parenting style.
She came out to be like a normal mom who loved her normal bratty son [bratty is a positive word here].
She also was worried that her son would turn out like her, to which I pointed out that she was doing so good for herself and it wouldn't be bad if her son did turn out like her. All I got in return was a smile and the words "Back in those days it was easy to come back from things that I've done...these days its very tough".
Ma'am you've spoken like a true mother! Talk about a 180 degree shift !!

Think of it, she's been to the edge and back. The lady had seen both the ends of the spectrum, she has truly lived! A truly and awe-inspiring persona, I must say.
Hats off to you Ma'am. You're an inspiration to the populace and I shall remember these 6 hours of conversation with you, as the most important and interesting time of my life.

Thank you [Really.]

And for the one's reading this....


Breathe easy \/.