There came a situation where I need to travel alone to Vellore
from Madurai. As it was noon when I departed from Madurai, there were not even
a single bus or train that could carry me to Vellore directly. Thus I was
forced to reach Vellore via Viluppuram.
The bus started at 6.45 PM from Viluppuram and contained
more than the people it could actually contain. Luckily, a politician who was sitting
offered me a seat near him. I accepted it without any hesitation.
After 3 hours of travel, the politician who was sitting near
me got down and another person who looked sturdy carrying an office bag,
speaking to someone with an old Nokia phone sat near me.
After few minutes, he ended the call and asked me, “Neenga
Vellore ah?”
As I was listening to some music with my earphone, I was not
able to hear him properly. By perceiving some of his gestures and lip
movements, I assumed his question, “Idhu Vellore ah?”
I said, “Therla. Vellore innum varala sir!”
“Innum varalaya?”
Then, I figured out his question and answered again.
“Na Veellore ah nu ketteengala? Idhu Vellore ah’nu sonna
maadhiri kettuchu sir! Na Vellore than sir!”
That man gave a smile and said, “Illada kutty, ne Vellore’ah
nu dhan ketten”
As it was a cool breeze at 9.45 PM filling the moving bus, I
switched to Kaatrukkullai song from Sarvam.
I really wasn't able to figure out his mental character. I
paused nearly 10 times the song just to answer his question. He started asking
about hometown, the reason I’m travelling to Vellore, number of brothers and
sisters and more. I lied more to him for improving my own creativity.
Randomly he asked, “Madurai la mazhai ellam peiyudha?”
He looked funny and so, my way to reply his questions turned
funny and sarcastically “mocking”.
“Oh nalla peiyudhu!”
He mumbled, “Vellore la irukavanga paavam, anga veyil
bayangarama adikkidhu” and gave a “plich” sound for showing me pity about the
Vellore people. He also said that he is from Thindivanam and was travelling to
Vellore for worshipping the goddess at Golden Temple.
He turned to me suddenly after mumbling and asked, “Inga
mazhai ya kootitu vandhura vendiyadhu thane?”
“Adhu adutha bus la varudhu”
“Enna Arvind ne? Vitutu vandhutiye ne! Thaniya ne mattum
vandhurka? Paavam la Vellore la irukavanga?”
(Yes, Arvind. I faked my introduction and lied my name as
Arvind and he introduced his original name as “Sampath”)
I remained silent and turned to the window, resuming my
favorite song in my mobile.
Few minutes later, he got a call and said that he was
travelling to Vellore and will reach there by 11 or 11.30 PM.
I purposefully asked him, “Enga irundhu phone’u?”
This time I didn’t call him “Sir” or any respecting word as
he became somewhat close. We even exchanged our mobile numbers. He asked me to
store his mobile number by giving me a “missed call”.
“Office la irundhu panranga. Na Registration department la
vela paakuren. Namma aalu thanni potrupaaru pola. Na enga poren, poyi sendhutena
illaya, eppo poyi seruva apdinu kekuraaru”
“Nalla officer! Ungaluku kalyanam ayiducha?”
“Na avalo youth’a va theriyuren? Enakku kalyanam ayiruchu da”
He used the word “da” not rudely, but same way as he used
the word “kutty” previously at the first conversation.
After few hours of travel, when we reached close to Vellore,
I got a couple of calls. After finishing my calls, he surprisingly asked me, “Epdi?
Ne avalo mella pesura? Avangaluku kekuma?”
“Kekume, na mic kitta thane vechu pesuren”
I attended every call with my earphone which was without
mic. But I used my handset mic to speak.
“Oh cha! Super da thambi! Mic kitta vechu pesuna avangaluku
kekum la!” he raised his voice and said.
I was shocked and my suspect about his mental illness
increased at great height.
Few minutes later, when Vellore was just 5 km away, he asked
“Na unna romba tholla pannitena Arvind?”
“Lighta”
“Oh strong vera light veraya?”
“Aama”
As I was answering to every question by removing earphones or pausing
my music, he guessed that he was disturbing me.
After few moments, he advised me to collaborate socially
more. I said, “Seri” and nodded for every advice he made. Then, we reached our destination.
We both stood up to get down. He thanked the conductor. I was behind
Sampath waiting for him to get down the bus.
When Sampath thanked the
conductor, he responded back. I was not in an idea whether Sampath is a regular
passenger or thanked the conductor out of his mental illness which I guessed he
was suffering from.
After getting down the bus, he waved his hands and bid bye
to me. I just waved my hands and we both started walking in opposite direction.
The journey came to an end.
