3 States

No i am not starting a novel ala chetan bhagat...though I really liked his latest book on love and parents against love and a win finally. I am just getting 'inspired' from the title of his latest novel to write something which is not about love, nor parents, neither about a win really. It's well more about roads and cars and people and lights and cold and sights and sounds and drivers and passengers and waiting and sickness and well...about 3 states.

Yes, three states.Haryana, Delhi(UT), Uttar pradesh. These are the three states which flash against my eyes when I commute to work and a mere suggestion of this travel plan to my colleagues draws such astonishing looks and physical expressions-which is the only thing that lets me gauge the seriousness of my itinerary.

Well I never think of it as a draining distance. great, yes it is but i think the exertion part of it is more mental than physical and it depends too. Like the days when i am looking forward to work helps me a lot to disengage with the hectic travelling. But the days when i am a reluctant employee, it sinks in...and it sinks in hard.

Sights and sounds greet me. Gurgaon's vast and cold roads, the suburban feel to it, with malls and haryanvi attire dotting the region makes it a splendid place to cross by. Delhi's cosmopolitan atmosphere makes me giddy. so does the serpentine traffic jams in the city, but not before enthralling me with the latest skodas and BMWs that zoom past me or the state of the art buses that ply (without going up in flames) or the costumes that people showcase amidst their hurried steps. I still have not found any affinity for Noida. I am more bruised by the dusty roads and the crime graph peaking everytime there. And well office work is not somewhere where you find solace in. But nevertheless.

There used to be a time when I 'travelled' 3 blocks to go to my school and maybe 300 steps to go to my college. That was in Calcutta. Things changed in Chennai where my college was a good 30 kms away.

During my travel here, I read a book or listen to music or simply stare at the roads and a million things crop up in my brain making me numb to the things outside. Almost everyday I spot the mangled remains of a car lying on the sideway. But reaction has ceased to exist.

Sometimes, i get lost but then the driver knows his way or I ask some helpful people who oblige.