three hours at Kannur station..

Oleena  and  Mark
Oleena and Mark were my home stay guests from Ukraine. So have come to the station to pick them up, only to find the train a good three hours late. They are here for a month to learn basic Ayurveda. never knew Kannur had such a reputed place  in the Ayurveda map...Suresh, my chauffeur, asked me to go back home and we would come later.. I was beginning to do just that when I thought..why go back? could buy a book and watch the trains go by and the sad farewells and happy welcomes,  and try reading a magazine in the hustle and bustle. book would be better..as you can sink into a book and magazines divert your attentions to varied subjects
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Going back home would be again, attending to my maid's unending queries, or shooing the rag pickers, or just tackling donation groups..so thought I could sit in peace..in blissful oblivion. So send him off and was happy with my decision..a whole three hours of me time. Strolled over to the book store..and flipped through some interior design magazines..which made me wish for new curtains, new bed linen, new accessories, and then as my thoughts took a depressing turn, put the book down and then, after intense speculation, settled for Jeff Kinney's "Diary of a Wimpy kid". walked the length and breadth of the platform to find a niche for myself, a place free from spit, and eventually found a bench with a lone occupant.  the tea stall  nearby  was empty and I thought it would be nice to settle down with a cup of nice hot chai.  So armed with a paper cup of tea which threatened to give way, and an oily samosa in a newspaper cutting, Pressed the oily dripping samosa into the newspaper, and ( a not so nice practice, I agree) and sat on the bench. A five yr old boy  was indeed keeping his mother on her toes..wanted the entire stock of Kinder joys and  the mother's repeated pleas fell on deaf ears and he started to roll on the spit ridden platform. She eventually bundled the squirming toddler and scurried away. I sat down. Greg Heffley immediately had me tightly in his little finger, and led me along.. I smiled at his anxiety in having broken up with his best friend, Rowley.." .Chandiniii what are you doing here? waiting for someone?, I looked up..Blank..I smiled nevertheless..and pretended she was a long lost friend.  she squeezed in between the lone occupant, and myself, she said how sorry she was about my son's divorce and so on" and happily went on till her train chugged in. vendors selling all sorts of goodies thronged the platform.  Ah..Wonder Greg would mend relations with Rowley, Greg discovers not without a tinge of sadness, that Rowley has filled his absence with another friend, Brian. Brian , in Greg's eyes is a goody goody and Greg felt that Rowley's parents have now to pay and get company while all these years Greg was doing it absolutely free. "Hellooo ... Chandiniii long time..  How are you? have guests? Which train?.. a long lost Teresian  friend this time .. again squeezed in between me and the lone occupant who was jolted out of his slumber, and he strode along to the tea stall.When Tersians meet, we paint the town red..and the lone occupant was not pleased with our chatter, and laughter, so he left us , not before giving us a glare which conveyed his immense displeasure.. Jeff Kinley took a back seat and she left when the next train chugged in .No sooner than I started  flicking  the pages, a total stranger came up and asked" Aren't you Santoshettan's wife? Yes..  what is it? I asked? After a fishy silence, he asked me" Heard that you have put your house up for sale". "Not that I know of", I retorted in a not so civil voice " If it is so, I have a fat party with me"  I realized if I had any intentions of reading  on the railway bench, I would be better off in a purdah.
ahh at last.. Oleena's train would be here any minute, the announcement enlightened me, I got up and took leave of the expectant broker. Raised my placard, and waited for Oleena.