A brief train journey that stayed with me
A stranger on a train to Tambaram
On the night of June 7, I boarded a train that was headed toward Tambaram. The next morning, on June 8, at around 10 AM, I woke up and noticed a fellow passenger on the berth opposite mine. He was traveling with his mother and grandmother.
We never spoke. In fact, I don't know his name, where he's from, or anything else about him.
This isn't a love-at-first-sight story or a confession. It couldn't be, because I know absolutely nothing about him.
What stayed with me was a strange feeling of familiarity. For some reason, he seemed familiar, like someone I should have known, even though I'm certain we'd never met before. It's a feeling I still can't explain.
Throughout the rest of the journey, we happened to exchange a few brief glances here and there. As the train got closer to Tambaram and everyone started gathering their bags, I found myself thinking about how odd it was that a complete stranger could leave such an impression.
The train reached Tambaram around noon, and everyone went their separate ways. I got off, found an auto, and headed home. That should have been the end of it.
Yet the memory stayed.
To be clear, this isn't a post about finding someone. I know there's almost no chance that person will ever come across this, and that's perfectly okay. I'm not looking for contact, a conversation, or anything beyond sharing an experience.
I think many people can relate to this feeling. Sometimes, during a journey, at a station, on a bus, or while simply passing through life, we come across someone we know absolutely nothing about. There is no romance, no destiny, and no grand story. Yet something about the moment stays with us.
Eventually their stop comes, our stop comes, and we continue with our lives. We may never see each other again.
I've always found it fascinating how a complete stranger can be present in your life for only a few hours and still leave behind a memory that lasts much longer than the journey itself.
If that fellow passenger ever happens to read this someday, then perhaps he'll recognize the moment. If not, then he'll simply remain one of those brief, unexplained memories that make life a little more interesting.