So, you think you know somebody!

As the train screeched to a halt in what appeared to be the midst of nowhere, amma peered concernedly out of the window, impatience surging through her, being only some hours away from her destination. She could see a station further ahead and the reason for the sudden halt disturbed her. She turned enquiringly towards her co-passengers, a family of four and a lone young man who happened to be a doctor, all of whom she had become acquainted with since the night before. Gradually they came to learn that a faulty crack lay in the track ahead, which could have caused a derailing if the train had progressed, and that it might take an hour or more to rectify. The uncertain indefinite wait ahead seemed torturous and desperation to seek alternative means of reaching their destination heightened among the passengers, including amma. So when the family of four decided to step out of the train and engage a taxi for the rest of the journey, amma impulsively took up the offer to travel along with them. The eternally poised and usually reticent amma picked up her (fortunately light) bags and alighted from the train, walking with some difficulty on the path beside the train filled with large stones and gravel. The group walked past the train, reached the station and was proceeding onto the road to hail a taxi, when the sound of the train horn signaling its departure reached them! What would have been sweet music to their ears had they still been seated inside the train turned to one inducing mouths opening with panic and disbelief! Adrenalin rushing, the group raced back through the station and towards the train and to their ultimate horror they realized that the train had started moving. Painfully hurrying over the stony path, arms stretched out waving and flailing frantically in an effort to catch the attention of the engine driver, they reached close enough to the slow moving engine to hear the driver ask them if they were passengers of that particular train. Heads nodding vigorously along with a loud “YES” the group paused to heave a huge sigh of relief when the train stopped enough for them to rush into the closest coach. Amma could not believe their luck and joined the animated talk about their near-miss experience, attempting to ignore the pain in the soles of her feet from the difficult marathon over the stones. To cut the story short, amma reached home safe and unhurt to tell the tale to her family, but only after having accepted yet another friendly offer by the doctor to give her a drop home from the station in his friend’s car!

The protagonist amma turns out to be my mother and I do thank God that the story ended well. I always took it for granted that I had this affectionate, composed, correct and cautious woman all figured out, having known her for nearly four decades! And bam! this revelation, of this completely new impulsive, spontaneous, adventurous side to her that I never really knew existed! As I see it, she probably didn’t see this coming either! However, I do like what I see (albeit a nail-biting-tension-filled four hour wait until she reached home safe and sound) and the thought that my mother can even at this age reinvent herself without rigidly conforming too closely to the expected comes as a fresh breath of air. After the initial role reversal of admonishing her about lurking dangers and the harm she could have encountered I loved to be able to laugh along with her when the humorous side of the story sunk in. At that moment, sitting by her side reliving the experience and laughing out aloud, I felt like we connected in yet another way, like she was more approachable, like she had playfully skipped down a little from being a guarded parent!