Goodbye To Goa

Goa was very pleasant to stay till the month of March. By the end of March, it would start to get hot with lesser tourists for business. The weather was turning hot and humid making it difficult to live with ease. Cold snow-capped mountains in the North were calling us. We realised that time has come to leave Goa. In all excitement to reach Salli, we started packing our stuff. I booked a train from Goa to Ambala as we had to pick Noor from Punjab on our way to Himachal. Before leaving Goa we met all our friends wishing to meet them next year again. Our train was at 12 noon so we thought to leave the house by 10.30 am. I had built some connection with that house. So many beautiful evenings and late-night talks had happened in that balcony with our friends. Memories of four months lived in that house were running in front of my eyes like a movie. I felt blessed for the unforgettable memories that house had given me. With a heavy heart, we left by leaving the gates open for the next year. Artur came to see us off. I was surely gonna miss his English and his pure energy full of love. Goa had blessed me with a great life. Thanks to Madhu.

Madhu was fond of train journey rather than air travel. Especially 3 tier AC was her favourite. Her social and talkative nature demanded a good amount of people around her along with the comfort of AC. She found 2 tier AC quite deserted and boring as the curtains won't allow much socializing. The train was on time. Soon after loading our luggage, we got settled in our seats. In front of our seats were three young Haryanavi cricketer boys and one Punjabi uncle next to us. I was surrounded by the people from top tier extroverted places in India. It took not less than 10 minutes for them to socialize like childhood friends. That would have probably taken me a year. I was really admiring that quality among North Indians while my super slow brain was lagging in processing that situation. As an introvert living with Madhu, I was a little bit trained for such life-threatening scenarios. We were gonna spend 35 hours on that train. Soon I got comfortable with everyone around. The energy in our compartment was absolutely alive. Many passengers would come, sit and enjoy our company. As always Madhu was holding the centre of attention. Everyone would share their funny stories, play antakshari, damsheras, cards and after a while would go to their beds to sleep. The best part of the journey was mealtime. Everyone would pull out their tiffin boxes and offer each other their unique homemade food. It was a big feast. I felt like I was on my school picnic. Madhu was right in choosing to travel in 3 tier AC. That was full of life. We had made new friends on that journey.

We reached Ambala late at night. Madhu's friend Sonu came to pick us up from the train station. He was a businessman there living with his wife and kids. Sonu was a complete gentleman person with a warm heart. During our stay in his house, he would personally cook things for us. It was rare to find a person like him who was just giving without asking anything in return. Every friend of Madhu was a gem. I guess like attracts like. She would often say that 'My life's biggest success is that I have earned good people.' I was witnessing that from the last couple of months. I wasn't just living a great life, but life was teaching me so many valuable lessons through all those people I was meeting. There was no logical explanation for why was I blessed with such a beautiful journey.

The Journey Was Just Revealing What Was Missing In My Life.