Twenty beautiful years. That was what I was blessed to be with my parents and my brother, day in and day out, physically. Ever since I was born and till the day I completed my graduation, I stayed home with my family in our small town of Changanacherry in Kerala. Post graduation took me out of my town for the first time and since then I came back home for vacations which were some of the most cherished moments in life.
During the Coimbatore days, each time after a vacation got over, I used to travel back from Changanacherry to Coimbatore by bus. There was an almost religious sequence to those sent offs. Mom and dad packed food stuff like pickles and snacks which I’ll take back to my hostel. Dad would’ve already booked the bus in advance and on the day I had to leave, with absolutely no exception, he will drop me at the travel agency office. It didn’t stop there.
Buses to many destinations stopped there at the office to pick up passengers. There were always a few boys or girls like me in the waiting area or outside the office awaiting their buses. Almost all of the girls had their parents or at least their fathers waiting along with them for the buses to arrive. That was rarely the case when it came to boys. For most of them, it was either their parents or sometimes a friend or a relative dropping them off and wouldn’t wait for their departure. This was where my dad was an exception.
Dad would drop me at the travel agency, parked his Maruti 800, the cutest car India produced those times, came to the agency office and stayed with me till the time my bus arrived. The waiting time could be anywhere between half an hour to one hour, sometimes more, depending on the traffic conditions on the road. I thank God now for allowing me to be born in early 80’s before mobile phones became popular that I spent all those waiting time talking to my dad.
After a while, the travel agency owner would announce the arrival of the bus in the next five minutes. That’s when I’ll get ready with my bags and wait for the bus to show its face. The agency office was located at a place where you could see the bus coming from a distance. As soon as dad spotted the bus, he would prompt me to get ready for departure. He’ll ensure that I didn’t forget any of my bags and once the bus arrived the same assurance is made for the luggage to be tucked in the belly of the bus safely and I was seated comfortably inside the bus.
The most precious of all those times were the last moments when I bid goodbye to dad before boarding the bus. I had never seen him cry, but always felt his deep love for me welled up in his heart as he looked into my eyes and uttered probably the shortest word in this world, ‘OK’. That ‘OK’ had everything included in it and I knew he didn’t have to be vocal to express that. Ironically, I am just the opposite when it came to expressing love and emotions. Even though dad was not quite comfortable with public display of affection, I always ensured that I gave him a tight hug and a loving kiss on his cheeks and told him to take care till we meet again. He will nod his head and smile. And that’s how we parted.
I loved the fact that I am the one who was leaving and not staying back, as I always felt seeing off someone is more painful than being sent off. The one who is going away will have new experiences to look forward to including the travel itself whereas the one who is seeing off will go back to the same life minus the loved one whom you just sent off. That hurts.
I guess dad got tired of being the one who was seeing me off all the time and decided on a bright and sunny day on, 16 Feb 2023, to allow me to see him off. This time I was the one who was speechless, though my tears did all the talk as dad was on a journey that had no return. But I did tell him for one last time to take care till we meet again in eternal life. He didn’t nod his head but had that smile on his face as always.
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