A Day Commute

When the competition poster was released, I was confused about what to write about 😕?  Should I write about the hill stations I've visited, my trip to Kerala, or my visit to North India 🤔?

Then, a thought came to my mind: "nama valkaiaye oru payanam thane" why cant you write about your everyday travel?

In parallel, my mind remembers the story of the race between Lord Ganesha and Murugan.

"ulagathai sutri vantha kathaiyai vaithu parisu peruvathai vida iruntha idathai sutri vantha story yai vanithu parisu vendruvidalam yendru oru perasai". Then I was coming back to the reality regarding the everyday travel in my life.

Kelampakkam - Central/CMBT:

I am in Kelambakkam, Chennai. Whenever I planned to visit my hometown, I would take MTC bus  570 to CMBT or 102 to Central. I was often lucky enough to get a window seat, since these buses started from my place. However, my happiness would fade when I thought about the travel time to Central/CMBT. My entire journey to my hometown from the station or bus stand would take around 4-5 hours, but it would take nearly 2-3 hours just to reach the station or bus stand.

Kelampakkam - Northern Arc (Client-Office):

I usually go to the office by bike. I'm sure the traffic police would recognize me immediately, because I used to ride without a helmet, listen to music on earphones, and finally don't have vehicle insurance. I do have some priority tickets to work on, but my daily P1 task is to check for traffic police within the next 100 meters so that I can find another route to escape. I'd say it's easier to find higher story pointer tickets than to deal with the morning traffic between 8 and 10 AM in Sholinganalur, BSR Mall, and Tharamani Signal. After all these struggles, I have to stand in line to get a paid parking token for my bike.

The scenario is completely different when I return home. To put it in a nutshell, it's like the 1990s song "Povomaa oorgolam boologam engengum". The one thing that keeps us from going crazy is the pending task that our manager expects us to complete by the end of the day, which we cant able to do. Bug tickets play a vital role in this process.

Kelampakkam - Zuci Systems (Rainy Season):

I despise getting wet in the rain. Whenever I feel a drop of rain, I immediately scramble to find shelter and wait until the last drop falls. I even hate going out in the rain, even if I'm wearing a raincoat.

My office commute usually takes an hour, but if it rains, I have to add an extra 30 minutes to account for the time it takes me to find shelter and wait for the rain to stop. By the time I get into the office and settle down it will be around 11 to 11:30 AM. I go out for lunch between 1 and 1:30 PM, and that takes  another hour. At 6 PM, I start checking to see if it's still raining or if it's going to rain again. If the sky looks clear, I leave the office around 6:15 PM.

Working in the office for only 4-5 hours and planning to work late nights to make up for the lost time makes me think of the famous dialogue from comedian Santhanam's movie, "Athuku paruthi mootai godown lae irunthurukalame vathiyare".

Kelampakkam - Native Place :

I usually travel to my native place by train. The reason behind the train travel is not for a comfort or an earlier arrival, everytime I used to pray god before every train travel not for a safer journey but for a Vinaithandi Varuvaya, Varanam Ayiram, Hridayam train moments. It's been 4 years since I was in Chennai and traveled nearly 25–30 times, but no such incident has been recreated.. Below are the actual scenario that God planned for me,

Scenario 1:

Getting a Tatkal ticket, especially side lower seat, is a nightmare for many of us. Most of the time, the IRCTC website is too slow and glitchy during the Tatkal booking. Even when we are able to get a Tatkal ticket, there is only a 20% chance that we will get a side lower seat and that too doesn't worked for me 😤😤😤.

Scenario 2:

If I am lucky enough to get a side lower berth, some elderly uncle or woman will likely approach me and ask me to switch seats with them as they can't climb the middle or upper berth.

Scenario 3:

I will try to accept and move on with the fact that I didn't get a side lower berth, and prep my mind to enjoy the journey by listening some songs or scrolling through insta news feed. But then, some random boomer uncle will come over and start roasting me with irrelevant topics , ruining my entire mood 😑😩.

Scenario 4:

Even though I don't have any Vinnaithandi Varuvaya moment, I will still consolidate myself for a good rest, no matter what seat I get. But the real problem starts when people start snoring from all directions, which ruins my sleep mood too.

Scenario 5:

The phase that I go through in this scenario is one that no man can digest. The same situation that I was dreaming of will be happening to another person in the same coach. That moment, "smile with pain," I can't express in words. Nothing can be more painful or hurting than a person living in our dreams 

Despite all of these drawbacks, I will always try to stay positive and tell myself not to lose hope. In the back of my mind, I hear the dialogue from the movie "Yenai Arinthal" running: "Ithu unakana neram Victor, potu thaku pothu thaku". Once I sit down on the train and look in the mirror, I feel like I have a clown's wig on my head and a mask on my face, with the song "Dil wale puchde ne cha ooo oooooo" playing in the background.