A Journey Within

by Gaurav Jaswal (India)

I didn't expect to find India

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Would you consider a journey to be over once your plane hits the tarmac after an 8 hour return flight? Or is it really over when you have collected your bags at 4:00 am in the morning and boarded a taxi on a 2.5 hour ride back home? One: you are sad that you have to come back from that exotic location you had been to. Two: you are sleepy and grumpy about the fact that you have to go back to your desk job in a matter of hours. 3rd January 2020, sitting in the backseat of a taxi its almost 5.30 am in the morning, we have crossed the busy lanes of Mumbai and were on the Expressway driving toward Pune, I noticed my driver trying to look back and gauge if I had dosed of. At first it was weird but then he asked in an unsure voice ‘‘Sir Could you please lend me your Phone? I need a call to make.’’ “What happened to yours?” I questioned to which he replied he was out of battery. I unlocked my phone and handed it to him to make the call. All I could hear was he speaking to someone apologizing to have not called at 5 am as promised and requesting the person on the other side to wake up. He disconnected the call and as he was about to hand me back my phone I could notice the man was bit emotional. ‘’Everything alright?’’ I asked to which he replied “Yes, it was my 13 year old daughter back home, I had promised her to wake her up at 5 so that she could get herself and her younger brother ready on time for school, but my daughter has grown up as she was already awake even before I could call.” The emotion of a husband who had lost his wife just a month ago, that of a father who suddenly has an additional responsibility to fill in shoes for a mother and thought of 13 year old daughter who grew up from this protected kid to a responsible adult suddenly struck somewhere within, helping me realize no matter how exotic your vacation was or how angry you are about your job next day life itself is a journey where real memories are with the people you care, love and meet while living.