How can we expect NYC Penn Station here?

I got down from the bus crushing that small paper between thumb and index finger, so tempted to toss the bus ticket in the road. Heavy contemplation was going on - like there are lot of garbage in the street and the small paper ball I have is almost negligible and would make no difference... But I didn't...

I am an ardent patronizer of this practice. So whenever and wherever I go out with family and friends, I act consciously and without talking about it, I spread this concept - "Don't treat all places like garbage bin; use designated bins" (Yes, Yes... I hear several cries - please show me one such stuff in our Incredible India...)

I watch people traveling by cars and trains, unscrupulously abusing the already handicapped streets and roads... Railway tracks are usually around the city, suburbs, rocky mountains, across the rivers, farm fields etc etc. Millions of people frequent these tracks every day. As a culture and practice, we hurl plastic water bottles, Lays chip cover, polythene bags in which we brought packed food from home, paper cups among thousand other things. I think our gray matter can compute the aftermath of this ill-use without much articulation...

What about people traveling by cars - Vrroooom! Bring the power windows slightly down, chuck the stuff out and close it immediately... Done. Got rid of the waste! Oh really?? Remember when you get out of the car, you would be stepping on the junk copiously cursing the junta who have done it!

This is what I do... When we travel by train, I leave all kinds of scraps under the berth but not dispose it on the tracks; or I carry them home. I am fairly sure some routine cleaning happens in the coupes. By car - I again resist my temptation, collect it in several niches provisioned in the vehicle and finally clear stuff when I reach home.

So, now the interesting part comes...
We were on a vacation to Ooty and Coimbatore along with my BIL's (Sri anna) family recently. I had booked the return by train. It was quite a job to reach the station platform with 4 kids and several luggages. My co-sister was obviously busy feeding the tiniest of toddlers who traveled with us - Jyo - the 2 year old and I caught her redhanded when without thought she dropped the parcel covers on the tracks. I was like 'has she dropped?' as if she lost something important. Sri anna curiously enquired 'yes, she did. Why what happened?'. Immediately I quipped 'Then how can we make this like the NYC Penn Station?!' :D

I am not writing about drivel disposal (I mean spitting :P!) which is again another irritant found among the country habitant. I hope and pray the readers of this blog don't own that exclusively "Indianized" filthy unhealthy habit!

Bare handed...

What 9/11 is to the world is 6/11 to me. It is totally devastating. I didn’t know parting can be so painful. I am talking about the loss of my beloved iPhone. I am not a person who cared about materialistic stuff. To me, anything and everything other than life is redeemable. Hence I adopted a carefree approach towards pretty much lot of things (I mean non-living things). But today, I see myself in excruciating pain, pain of loss of a dear one. There is not a single moment where I was away from my cute monster phone. I carried it even to the rest rooms checking emails, facebooking, playing games, browsing and at times talking to someone. It was my third hand; It was the ‘Rest of Abi’. Now without it, I feel barren… Every time I move out of my desk, I watch my bare hands only to know my personal assistant is no more.

May be I relied too much on it for the much caused agony... All those lovely pictures of my kid, her recent hair-do we did yesterday, her dancing video clips, funny expressions which I flaunted to a lot of my friends - All gone in one shot! Someone, please tell me I am living through a nightmare...

My mind is refusing to look beyond – to see, what can be done next. A lot of times, I have thought no phone can replace an iPhone. An iPhone can be replaced only by an iPhone. He is special and no one can come close, certainly not an android. He was my symbol of pride!

The fact that I can’t get him back and not even a similar one is kindling my tear glands to pour more and more. As I carried him in my lap today when having a pillion ride to my office with my husband, I didn’t realize he is going to slip out of my lap forever. When I comfortably kept the phone at home, Raj promptly (as he always is) asked me if I had taken my phone. Gee… No! I went rushing back to collect the phone from my sister who had brought it half way through. He perfectly murmured – “why not you throw it away as you don’t care about it anyway?”. In another 10 minutes, my intelligent device was gone!

One call from my colleague, the reminder from Raj, bike ride instead of a car drive and the fact that I was carrying too many stuff in both my hands today – acted as catalysts to today’s event, while the main ingredient was my carelessness! With this, I also lost the kids’ playmate. What answer do I have to them?! My dad, if given an option, will send me out of home! My husband, but for the marriage vow, would want me quarantined for my eccentric behavior…

All is over. Now ever waiting for that miracle to descend upon me (which I knew cannot happen)…