The alarm clock

Birthdays and anniversaries are like alarm clocks. Sometimes I wonder if we would be growing as old and as fast if we were not reminded of it precisely every year at the same time. Since when did we start celebrating birthdays? Since when did it become such a special day? A day to cut cakes, distribute sweets? A day of expectations? A day when you expect to be the center of attention. Is it because at some point people realized that we need at least one day in a year to be treated special? Or is it mainly the marketing of companies like Archies and Hallmark?
What about the fact that the inflated importance tagged with the date also gives rise to heart breaks, unfulfilled promises, failed expectations and thus leading to depression? What about the competitive nature of birthday celebrations which are taking place more and more these days? Parents going out of their way to celebrate their kid's first birthday in a five star hotel, just because all others are doing the same. Does a one year old even understand what a birthday is?

As with many other things in life, when the ritual becomes more important than the meaning behind it, I start getting uncomfortable and I have to ask questions. Why do you celebrate your birthday?  What is it you are proud of? What exactly are you celebrating?

Random train of thoughts

Having bypassed my pre planned Mumbai halt, I am now in Nashik with my family.  I had wanted to take the overnight train from Delhi to Mumbai initially. The whole experience of sitting in a train, and passing by many states and different sceneries in a single journey always excited me. Apart from that, the thought of building a temporary mini home for yourself within the single seat that is allotted to you is also exciting. The seat is then converted into a bedroom at night. But it is a slightly more interesting bedroom than the one back home. In the sense that you get to peep into random people's temporary homes, even see them get ready for bed and finally fall asleep to the gentle rhythm of the train.  I usually feel this rhythm for a few hours even after the journey is over and I am back in a static place.

The fact that you can observe people so closely for the entire period of the journey is one of the highlights of such a journey for me. In rare cases of course the observed party may not be all that interesting, and then you just have to make do with the book you are reading, the music in your ears and the scenery passing you by... but in some cases the co-passenger is a good looking intriguing guy, or a silent professor looking middle aged man, or a flamboyant teenage girl or a foreign couple smuggling a little puppy with them unofficially.

Train meals are also very interesting. Usually if the train has a catering service your order is taken in advance and you are served at a certain time. The train compartment now gets converted into an eating room and if you happen to have a family with lots of home made food with them, you even get offered some delicacies.
Waking up in the morning also means a fresh order of breakfast. Apart from train catering service there are also random hawkers on the train who serve a special variety of train-street-food. This brand of street food can only be had in trains or sometimes in stations but nowhere else. Thus eating, drinking and even playing games with fellow passengers is an inclusive part of train ride and as a child I have enjoyed these journeys to the fullest.

Why then can I not find time to take up such a journey now?
I am told people these days prefer to travel by flight. ( I myself took the flight from Delhi to Mumbai because I wasn't keeping too well the last week I was in Delhi). Most people don't have the time to feel the relaxed pace of a train journey these days. Trains are now the second option, and only people who cannot afford flights take them. I had initially started off writing about the many people I met in this trip who kept telling me they are so busy and they just didn't have the time. But all I could really think about are the memories of different train journeys from my childhood and I have to resolve to take effort to make this journey happen in future.

UPDATE: I did it!! Overnight train journey from Mumbai to Goa 2nd class. Awesome!! Try it to believe it!