The Journey

I felt like I was the first one to get into the train since the entire compartment was empty. It was an AC chair car which usually has lesser no. of passengers travelling during the night.Outside there was a bookseller lost in some other world while there was nobody at his shop to buy any books.I was travelling to Lucknow ,my home from Delhi where I work as a writer in an Ad company, I also have 2 books published under my name but neither is very popular; Also I sing in Cafes on weekends because I love singing and performing but never thought of travelling to Bombay to participate in any reality shows or struggle to become a playback singer.I loved my little world doing things I loved to do.I lived in a rented apartment in Malviya Nagar and cooked myself.My apartment is not very big, its 1 BHK but I have decorated it with a lot of painting I create whenever  I have time. I usually do not get time to go home but this time I'll be there for around 5 days.
The train began to move at exactly 10:30 pm with no delay. Soon nothing was visible outside so I wore my headphones, turned on some music, and closed my eyes.
After half an hour the train halted at the Gaziabad station and soon more passengers filled my compartment. A tall guy with beard happening to be of my age put his bag on the seat opposite to mine and sat. He didn't have any luggage, only a laptop bag. After adjusting and drinking 2 sips of water from a bottle with very little water left, he turned his head towards the window. The train didn't wait for too long and moved. After some time he took out a book from his bag, It was 'Kafka on the Shore' by Haruki Murakami.I was observing him through the corner of my eyes while looking outside.This is what I usually do while travelling because I love observing people, that helps me in creating characters and at the same time I need to pretend to be doing some other task because I can't act like a creep staring continuously.
A few minutes later the guy looked up and said, " Do you want to say something?" I gave the most weird look pretending as if this was the weirdest question ever asked to me.He said furthermore, " No, I am sorry but I felt that you were looking at me for quite a while. I finally decided to stop doing the overacting I was doing and spoke, " Oh sorry, I was looking at the book you are reading, Its a wonderful book." It was a lie. He said, " Oh! Ya ,its a wonderful book, I am reading it for the 3rd time, I had read somewhere that Murakami say that to get most out of this book we need to read it multiple times. I said," That may be true but I have only read it once, I never feel like reading any book again, I love exploring a new world every time. I can't cling to experiences. He looked at me for a few seconds and then began to read again. I found it  a bit rude.
After few minutes He asked me, "By the way what do you do?" Out of nowhere I said,” I am a traveller." I witnessed his eyes litting up with amusement and he said, “Me too, I am also a travel vlogger, So What places have you travelled." I smiled hesitantly and spoke,” I don't travel to places, I mean, I do have travelled to a lot of cities, but not as a traveller. I travel in my stories, I am a writer, sorry to confuse you." He laughed terribly for a couple of seconds and then spoke," Sorry, I didn't laugh at you, but your answer was quite different and amusing." "Thanks", I said. "So what do you write", he asked, I said, “Stories, poems, 2 of my books have been published and I also write for an Ad company." I was waiting for a reply like 'nice' or something else but he just began to read again. This was extremely weird and rude. Since I was a bit bored, I asked him," So what places have you travelled. “He closed his book as if he had made up his mind to talk for a while now, but instead of looking at me he began to look away as if he was looking at something in some other world, trying to remember something and then he spoke," I don't travel to famous cities but small towns, villages and some hidden gems in India. Like I have travelled to a lot of villages in Himachal, Kashmir,Rajasthan,Sikkim,Kerela, I land up myself in a state capital and then I travel with local truck drivers to these villages. I do hitchhiking but I do pay them most of the times.
Travelling makes me feel alive. It helps me in understanding the world, the universe in a better way. The people I meet, the winds, the seas  the mountains, they all have taught me much more than I ever knew. You know what, when we do not travel, sometimes when we are upset, we feel like running away because we believe somehow, that our life will pause and we would get the opportunity to rejuvenate but that is not true. The farther we go, the more twist and turns our life will take like a ride on the mountains.

I was a bit lost in his words and theories that I didn't know when he stopped speaking. I spoke,” I haven't travelled like that, but I do have experienced the same while writing stories, and I don't know but you may become my story too." and I smiled.
Looking right into my eyes he said,” I am already a character in  your story." , I was a bit startled. He further said," I mean, in the story of your life, You know we don't  meet people just for no sake, People cross our paths for a reason." " You are quite a philosopher", I said. He smiled and turned his head towards the window but there was nothing much visible as it had begun to rain. I looked at my watch, it was 1.
I asked him, “So you are travelling to Lucknow to catch a truck driver." I smiled. He once again looked into my eyes and said," No, not this time, This time I am not travelling to Lucknow to reach there but for the journey." "I am travelling so that we could talk", I laughed but I was a bit surprised and a bit scared listening to this. “You mean you are travelling to talk to me." I said boldly. He said, “Yes". I said," Please, you don't even know me, how can you say that you are travelling so that we can have this talk." "Ya of course, I didn't know you but as you said I am the character so I had to be the character in your story, and for that we had to travel together ,this is your story, and you made me live through this journey."

I closed my notebook.