Playing on unfamiliar Turfs

New mornings…as autumn bids goodbye and paves way for a cold and damp winter in this part of the world, every morning is a new revelation. There’s something to look forward to, there’s something that has changed from what it was like yesterday. Leading a new life in a new place with some new dreams and new goals… And the unfamiliarity of it all…that’s new too. 

I board the bus, the same bus everyday, to work. I swipe my bus pass and say my hello to the driver who warmly welcomes me on board. The bus takes off. Unfamiliar sights surround me. The fields, the roads, the buildings, the snow – everything is unfamiliar. Or is it?

The man with two small dogs boards the bus with me. His dogs whine when it is too cold for them and he cuddles them and makes them comfortable. 

The little girl boards the bus with me too. Her mother only accompanies her for two stops. The girl proceeds alone for four more stops until she has to get down near her school I presume. She says hello to everyone on the way to her seat. She even walks and greets the two small dogs that are owned by the other man. Her thick brown curly hair is adorable and so is her smile.

A few stops later, a couple board hand in hand. Though it is the man who flashes the bus pass for both of them, the woman waits by his side, holding his hand until he is done. They usually find seats together but when they can’t they wait for someone to get down so they can sit together. They are old, have grey hair and wrinkled skins. They still smile at each other like they might have when they got married.

The guy with red hair walks into the bus after this couple on most days. He doesn’t take this bus everyday though. But on the days he does, he smiles at everyone as he finds his seat. Then he settles down, put on his earphones, listens to music and ENJOYS his bus ride.

The two construction workers get on the bus at some point but they only talk to themselves.

The woman with pink hair gets on the bus too, different days, different stops. She, however, is always on the phone scrolling on the screen and checking her social media feed I would think.

The man who looks like he must work in some firm, dressed in formals and holding a briefcase, has his breakfast on the bus each day. He eats his sandwich and reads the newspaper. He rarely looks up from the newspaper but he always knows when to get down.

*****

I know the people who get down at various stops before mine, I know the people who read on the bus, I know the people who smile and those who frown…How is it still an unfamiliar place?

“It is strange that what seems at first alien becomes second nature in the blink of an eye.” – Sara Sheridan, The Secret Mandarin

It is true what Sara says…and it is bound to happen to me…but until then…