The Pursuit of Familiar Faces

                                Coming out of Trivandrum was my first adventure and a new experience. But ending up in Kasargod was not my idea. But I reached here and I have to cop up. The place is infinite, you feel like it will swallow you now. From a place like Trivandrum to a place like kasaragod should actually suffocate you due to unavailability of resources which you had in your native place. But for me Kasaragod is rather an isolated place which suffocates you with its enormity. There are hardly any shops; the place seems to have no touch with the people at all. The shops are situated faraway from the highways; there are no “road-side” vendors as such. While we have been shouting for footpaths back home, I wonder whether someone here really wants it. This place makes me curious. I cannot see here a happy blending of the soil and the people. They seem to be detached from each other. Those eyes staring at me through the Burkhas are searching for a solution for these detachments. The houses here are either too “big” (which is bigger than you can imagine. I thought one of them to be a resort), or too small or else apartments. I feel like they are lost among the bushes growing taller than them here.  All these houses for me seem to be not attached with the soil; they are floating to find a place to fix themselves up. The soil here is still in solitude. Sometimes when you listen, you can hear them craving for happiness and completion. 

                                While travelling back and forth from my hostel, the first thing I notice is the hills. This was the first time I was watching hills way too close on a routine basis. It’s like they are welcoming me to their abode with a broad smile.During the early hours of morning you can see two layers of colours in those hills. The top of it has green mixed with the whiteness of mist and actual green to hills which are closer to you. In the midst of them you can see smoke rolling up which add to the beauty of hills. We are actually at the top of a mountain, which thrills me. Travelling back your eyes are gifted with the wonderful picture of sunset in hills. I love the sunset here. It’s like the hills are singing lullabies for the sun by creating a wave of colours ranging from blue to dark red. It’s wonderful to see the transformation of the same to dark clouds at night, like the baby sun has finally shut his eyes and slept.These sights most of the time persuade me to step down from the bus and just fall to the enormity of the process. And then you have the moon. Or shall I call it a lamp? Because that’s what I felt, coming here. A wonderfully carved lamp, hidden sometimes by the curtains, formed by those milky clouds. Looking at the moon through the trees is a treat to your eyes. And slowly the mist creeps in again, without disturbing you. Sometimes it comforts you from something unknown, and leaves you with a cold shrill at some corner of your heart. And sometime it just tickles you and passes by. At the end of the day,the dark clouds tuck you in for a sound sleep.

                                The only human with whom I could make an innocent thread was a little girl who waves at our bus. I don’t know the child nor the child knows me, but those happy waves and a cute smile can make my day. While our bus passes by her house, she just jumps out of nowhere and waves at us. Even though the smile comes from an innocent child who is not aware about the busy chores of life,the smile has the power to assure you that everything is going to be alright. I try my best not to miss the child in the morning. During our way back, in the evening also she waves and smiles at us and sometimes a simple flying kiss too.It feels like going home after a busy day and your mother welcomes you with a warm hug. It’s amazing how a smile coming from such small lips could actually change the way you look at unfamiliar face. If not for that child we wouldn't have met her mother and all the members of her family and nearby who occasionally comes up with her to wave at us.

                                Maybe the only familiar face I see here is that child, the only innocent eyes,which could reflect yours thoughts and help you with a smile. We all search for such familiar faces in unfamiliar world. The little familiarity we find a midst the vast unfamiliarity is what actually keeps us going. So, even if it is a simple smile, give it and take it. We never know whose is going to comfort us and whom we are comforting..!