My Passion For The Window Seat A Repost

Passion for the window seat,

Even as children I remember I loved this seat a lot, what great visuals, It looked like you’re grandma’s stories the hills and mountains, the stream, the farm lands, the forest with an identity of its own, the change of scenes in the various seasons, the rain oh! the most romantic.

As a child while traveling with my parents, we had an entire bogie known as saloon in those days, and we had a kitchen, a dining come bedroom with an extra room for the kids, and the majestic office at the back side, where the entire back was a window so large, one felt watching a great movie of the scenes but for the tracks.

My father was an Engineer in construction so had plenty of assignment to keep checking on the various railway tracks, so he used to take us along in some of them, during our holidays. We had a cook, who would spring out great favorites. Apparao from Andhra was always ready with some tit bits for us, as dad always stuck to his schedule even in travel as it is his office routine work,

Those days we had steam engines that let out a lot of coal particles landing in our eyes, even as we rub the eyes we could not forego the scenes, so enjoyed it at the cost of blurring eyes, in those days I remember the long sleeper just next to the windows and not grills only a glass shutter so once u pick up u practically can lean out, though mom was always furious and afraid that we may fall over, felt a wonderful open space with a moving scene all the time.

Then came the diesel engines and a lot of pollution coming from the train stopped and with that many improvements, like the snacks varied, from just pop corns or fruits and biscuits it has come up to cutlets and various items like bhajji bonda and so many fried stuff which u want to munch as you read your favourite novels, magazine and books.

I have always loved the journey after a marriage with so many things packed as the tamarind rice, curd rice, vadams, and adirasams, mysore pak, and murukku, these were given to the groom’s family and also the bride’s, so while the elders gossiped all we enjoyed was the scene after scene that passed by, my Bengali mother had a penchant interest in plants, she would point out the cabbages, chillies, okra, corn and so on, sometimes even the trees like guavas and mangoes the great orchards…

As the scene moved towards the darkness I used to feel too let down, as we have to close the shutters and sleep, but as elderly I never close my window, as I lie there on the side birth below, I enjoy the starred sky, sometime with the moon’s hue.

My passion for the window seat did not stop at the train, I always wanted the same in car journey, during my prime years of a career in singing, I have insisted in sitting in the front, giving an excuse that the guys smoked and drank a lot which I was not used to, and it was so much more pleasant in the front, as my interest were only the scenes, especially the morning sun, or the sun sets with the different rampant colors spread over the sky, But I could never sleep, and in case I did, the driver used to swing his steering with a jolt and bring back to wake me up, and would stop for a tea to keep me alert.

Many a time I had a very jittery journey, when the drivers were drunk, I remember a journey we had been towards Bellary, and on our way back the driver was too drunk, and I was stuck with him, he would drive to the tree and then take a turn on to the road, this kept on until we came home, that night been a miserable fear of an imminent accident.

With all these circumstances I always love my window seat any day for my travel….regards sunkan