The train attendant was serving another round of tea when the driver braked suddenly, was it the signal or something else, it was a foggy evening and the night had descended on us, we had travelled two and a half hours and it was beginning to dawn on us the importance of being in suspended animation with our co passengers. The train stopped at a small station for 5 minutes, during which the outside world became evident to us.
"What station is that ?" I asked the attendant.
"Tohana," he said with knowingly, they all felt that way when they knew something that the other didn't, but in this case it was somebody reassuring us,"we have a two minutes stop here, its a small town famous for its vicinity to Damdama Sahib where the famous Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur had his hometown."
"Seems like a very small town," I said eyeing the station that was small enough to be called a Level C township, " more like a village."
"It looks strangely quiet and peaceful," Anjali continued as the attendant walked off to serve the other passengers.
"Small towns give me the feel of people who have been there and done the real thing, they don't need any road signs to tell them where they are going."
She smiled smugly, she knew my disdain of road signs, and my feel for country roads and the liking for the scenery. She knew I loved the city but travel had to be in the country. Road Signs were meant for people who knew exactly where they were going, in a hurry to get to the destination ignoring the not so obvious beauty of the journey. The train started to move and gather up speed and momentum.
"Isn't it strange that the moment the train stops the conversation also stops," asked Anjali, actually it was more of a comment than a query.
"The spell is broken as we reach a destination."
"I hate travel and you know it," she said tweaking her nose.
"I know, I know."
"I wish they had faster trains, cutting down travel time," she for the first time acknowledged that technology had its finer points. Technology was methodical and precise, the more accurate the better the results.
The Shinkansen in Japan had achieved speeds up to 320 km/hr and test speeds of over 400 km/hr, sitting in the Shinkansen would make up our journey in one hour. With technology upgradation came the need for cultural acceptance, people who preferred country roads wouldn't ride in the Shinkansen even if the cat was after their life, it wasn't as if these people didn't understand technology, it was just that they preferred longer journey's that provided knowledge and understanding of the world.
Technology upgradation for a train meant laying down new lines, understanding infrastructure requirements like train sheds and parking bays and even though the Shinkansen ran on standard gauge it had taken Japan well over 50 years to reach the speeds of today.
"Where is that art article you were reading ?" she asked curiously.
"I passed it on to the lady in the next seat."
"Do you think I would excel at languages like Geetika, I have been thinking of learning a new language," she continued and I was listening.
"You have everything going for you right now, what language are you thinking of doing, I could suggest Spanish, French or Italian."
"I haven't decided that as yet though Spanish seems just right."
"Spain has a history and culture that spans the continent, the language is spoken by as many people as Mandarin, maybe a little less than that but is catching up."
"I could do a course that gives me a degree in the language and then move to translation, don't you think ?"
The speed was increasing and without knowing the buzz of the conversation had also caught up, we were moving again and in the middle of mustard fields and chirping birds that were endless, I was thinking of languages in the coach, they were a mixture of English, Hindi and Punjabi all that I understood, was catching strings of conversation going on between people around us, it was hard to concentrate but I understood the significance of what had been told to me right now. Anjali wanted to be afoot with newer things, she wanted to try her hand out at new ideas and concepts that were a conceptualisation of all that she was today.
"Wouldn't it be fun to buy a new computer for your den?" I asked her thinking she was ready for the new Pentium I5.
"I kind of like that idea, why don't you select one for me ?"
"That's easy, a fast computer with lots of memory would be ideal for you, you could publish mails, newsletter and modify graphics on its fast graphic card, all part of your work profile."
"I like these new desktops with good audio."
"Yes that would be important part of your work."
"Yes, I am sure there are half a dozen DVDs in the market that I could browse."
"I got this new DVD with the art magazine," I said showing her the DVD in its cover, she took it from me, opened the cover and had a look, "Isn't it the magazine itself on the DVD ?" she asked.
"Yes, that is correct."
We were two hours from our destination and I was sure there was more conversation that would pick up and I had to plan her new computer, my mind was already churning out configurations.
We Dream And So We Are.
"What station is that ?" I asked the attendant.
"Tohana," he said with knowingly, they all felt that way when they knew something that the other didn't, but in this case it was somebody reassuring us,"we have a two minutes stop here, its a small town famous for its vicinity to Damdama Sahib where the famous Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur had his hometown."
"Seems like a very small town," I said eyeing the station that was small enough to be called a Level C township, " more like a village."
"It looks strangely quiet and peaceful," Anjali continued as the attendant walked off to serve the other passengers.
"Small towns give me the feel of people who have been there and done the real thing, they don't need any road signs to tell them where they are going."
She smiled smugly, she knew my disdain of road signs, and my feel for country roads and the liking for the scenery. She knew I loved the city but travel had to be in the country. Road Signs were meant for people who knew exactly where they were going, in a hurry to get to the destination ignoring the not so obvious beauty of the journey. The train started to move and gather up speed and momentum.
"Isn't it strange that the moment the train stops the conversation also stops," asked Anjali, actually it was more of a comment than a query.
"The spell is broken as we reach a destination."
"I hate travel and you know it," she said tweaking her nose.
"I know, I know."
"I wish they had faster trains, cutting down travel time," she for the first time acknowledged that technology had its finer points. Technology was methodical and precise, the more accurate the better the results.
The Shinkansen in Japan had achieved speeds up to 320 km/hr and test speeds of over 400 km/hr, sitting in the Shinkansen would make up our journey in one hour. With technology upgradation came the need for cultural acceptance, people who preferred country roads wouldn't ride in the Shinkansen even if the cat was after their life, it wasn't as if these people didn't understand technology, it was just that they preferred longer journey's that provided knowledge and understanding of the world.
Technology upgradation for a train meant laying down new lines, understanding infrastructure requirements like train sheds and parking bays and even though the Shinkansen ran on standard gauge it had taken Japan well over 50 years to reach the speeds of today.
"Where is that art article you were reading ?" she asked curiously.
"I passed it on to the lady in the next seat."
"Do you think I would excel at languages like Geetika, I have been thinking of learning a new language," she continued and I was listening.
"You have everything going for you right now, what language are you thinking of doing, I could suggest Spanish, French or Italian."
"I haven't decided that as yet though Spanish seems just right."
"Spain has a history and culture that spans the continent, the language is spoken by as many people as Mandarin, maybe a little less than that but is catching up."
"I could do a course that gives me a degree in the language and then move to translation, don't you think ?"
The speed was increasing and without knowing the buzz of the conversation had also caught up, we were moving again and in the middle of mustard fields and chirping birds that were endless, I was thinking of languages in the coach, they were a mixture of English, Hindi and Punjabi all that I understood, was catching strings of conversation going on between people around us, it was hard to concentrate but I understood the significance of what had been told to me right now. Anjali wanted to be afoot with newer things, she wanted to try her hand out at new ideas and concepts that were a conceptualisation of all that she was today.
"Wouldn't it be fun to buy a new computer for your den?" I asked her thinking she was ready for the new Pentium I5.
"I kind of like that idea, why don't you select one for me ?"
"That's easy, a fast computer with lots of memory would be ideal for you, you could publish mails, newsletter and modify graphics on its fast graphic card, all part of your work profile."
"I like these new desktops with good audio."
"Yes that would be important part of your work."
"Yes, I am sure there are half a dozen DVDs in the market that I could browse."
"I got this new DVD with the art magazine," I said showing her the DVD in its cover, she took it from me, opened the cover and had a look, "Isn't it the magazine itself on the DVD ?" she asked.
"Yes, that is correct."
We were two hours from our destination and I was sure there was more conversation that would pick up and I had to plan her new computer, my mind was already churning out configurations.
We Dream And So We Are.
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