The End

Friends,

“Walk.

You were born for the road.

Walk on.

You have someone to meet.

You do not know as yet.

Perhaps it is your own self.

Walk on,

Your footsteps will be your words.

The path ahead will be your song.

Your exhaustion will be your prayer

And the silence at last will speak to you.

Walk on,

Alone or in group,

But go out from your house.

The others you thought of as rivals will be your companions.

The ones you saw as enemies will be your brothers and sisters.

Walk on

Although you do not know

Where your feet are taking your heart.

Walk on.

You were born for the road,

The pilgrim road.

Someone else is walking towards you,

Someone who is looking for you

So that you can find Him,

In the sanctuary at the end of the road,

In the shrine of your heart.

He is your Peace.

He is your Joy.

Go.

Already God walks with you.”

The above is from the Prayer Room in Zurich Airport. I had Him for company throughout the journey and He guided me every moment during it as He has in my life. It is His intervention that took me closer to those who I knew previously and brought me close to the new friends I made during the past 124 days. He gave me good health and adequate wealth to complete the journey. I thank Him for the wonderful experience.

Before I began it I had dedicated the journey to my parents. All along the way I experienced their warm presence and blessings. My brother and his family are very dear to me. Their constant care and concern lifted my spirits and kept me in touch with ‘home’. A host of relatives provided the comfort of prayers and encouragement. 

During the journey I never felt alone, even for a moment. This was only due to the rich interface with friends, old and new. A special thanks to my railway brethren and Service colleagues, who went extra miles to ensure that I felt at home in new environments. Some of those who helped me are still only voices I recognize. Whenever I asked for assistance it was forthcoming and never once was it refused. I salute every one of them. Those who followed my blog posts were the real cheerleaders.

A Dream has been realized and I am sad, in a way, that the journey has ended. But, life’s journey goes on. And there are other dreams to travel for and more to dream. I end with another gem from Lin Yu-Tang, “A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveler does not know where he came from.”

DAY 124 – Salem to Cochin

Friends,

Manickam worked his magic. There is nothing better than his coffee to start the day. A couple of cups of them and you can set out to dare the world. I took the NH47 for the last leg of my journey that has given me so many experiences and so many good friends. While I was happy to be getting back home I was also wistful about the journey of the past 18 weeks and a bit sad that it was coming to an end. But, as Lin Yu-Tang said, “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”

I had targeted to reach Cochin by 5 pm. Accordingly I lined up a short diversion to the office of RLM, the manufactures of premier spinning machines, and lunch with Abraham (Abe), my cousin, and his family in Coimbatore. I had informed Abe that I would have to leave by 12.30 after lunch. The slight delay in locating the RLM office meant a further reduction in the lunch hour. However, Abe and Tresa ensured that I had enough on my plate to concentrate on than worry about the hours that sped by. The glorious soup started it all. Though I was tempted to accept a second helping the rest of the spread on the table and the alarming protuberance of my belly settled the pang.  Sausages and a salad in mayonnaise sauce chased the soup down the same path. At this stage I could not resist a second helping of the calorie filled salad and sausages. Rice, noodles, cabbage, chicken curry, etc disappeared from my plate in double quick time. Then came the juicy, sweet watermelon, yummy brownie (which did not appeal much to the baker of the said item) with ice cream and delicious black halwa. Tresa insisted on packing the rest of the halwa for the journey and that is when I decided to go down to the car as fast as the lift would bear me to the basement. There is no way in which I would have made it by the stairs. Ajay is privy to this fact.

I realized that it was quarter to two when I left Coimbatore. I almost panicked for I had to be in Cochin by 5 pm. A combination of improved roads beween Trichur and Angamaly and luck with the city traffic lights, despite a huge hold up at Vytilla, ensured my entry into the Riviera Retreat compound a little after 5 pm. Satheesh, Anju, Neeba, Paulu, Mathew and Bibu made up the welcome committee. A garland and a grand bouquet of flowers preceded the traditional welcome with a sweet burfi. In occasions such as this it is a skill to keep all present engaged with a narration of your experiences as well as a clarification of doubts. I do not possess such a skill and hence the party broke up pretty soon. Thereafter I had a couple of sessions with reporters from The Indian Express and Malayala Manorama. The journey well and truly ended with a ‘spirited’ debriefing session with Satheesh and Mathew.

DAY 123 – Chennai to Salem

Friends,

The bags were repacked once again, hopefully for the last time before touching down in Cochin tomorrow. Rose, Avirappi’s wife, returned from Kerala just in time to give us a warm send off. After discussing alternate routes I decided to take the NH45/68 to Salem. As it panned out, the road from Ulundurpet to Salem was not good as work to four-lane the stretch is still on. Ajay assumed the role of the Navigator from Chennai. His skills settled any doubts I may have had about doing the journey all alone. If I had depended on such skills I may have ended up back in the North East! Mercifully he discarded the road map and made himself useful by sleeping after a while.

The CONCOR terminal in Salem Market was a personal contribution and an immensely satisfying experience in project management. The terminal was given on a franchise to a leading client of CONCOR. The model was innovative and successful leading to it being cloned in some other terminals of CONCOR. Right from the first day of operation at Salem Market, even before the terminal was formally launched, it was Jayachandran who spearheaded the development in the location. Exceptional customer service was the watch word. The business at the terminal prospered till the model was tinkered with much after I returned to the Railways. Jayachandran insisted on taking us for lunch to the newly opened Ragas Hotel for Chicken Biriyani and Fish fry. Since the premises were new, we were the first customers in the Hotel for lunch.

Yesurathnam was a colleague in the Railways. He heads the Commercial department in the newly created Salem Division. This commercially important unit was a part of the erstwhile Palghat Division. Whenever I needed help in the area I turned to Yesurathnam and he obliged always. So was it when I wanted an ORH booking to spend this evening at Salem. I called on the Divisional Railway Manager, the Sr. DOM and Sr. DCM in their offices to understand the developments in the BU after the bifurcation of the erstwhile Division. It was wonderful to meet up with some old associates. The Division presently functions from a temporary shelter. The new Office and residences are under construction.

Jayachandran took us to the ‘Sarathy Classics’ for ‘Tiffin’. Ajay and I were yet to fully recover from the lunch and hence, settled for idlis and dosas for dinner. The idlis were soft and the dosas yummy; the ghee added a special taste to them.

I first met Manickam nearly a dozen years ago on the Salem platform. He operated a couple of stalls there. He used to give me excellent coffee and idlis whenever I visited the Station. He used to sell mangoes in one of his stalls during the Season. On special order and payment he would send consignments to Trivandrum. When we returned to the ORH from dinner Manickam was waiting for us. He came to know that I was halting the night there and visited us only to respect the relationship we enjoyed. He spent some time with us recalling the old days and giving me an update of his business and family. His was the only stall untouched by the IRCTC intervention. Manickam has been operating the stalls at Salem since 1961. Manickam has taken personal tragedies in his stride and constantly thanked God for His blessings. He is completely at peace with himself and all around him, which gives him contentment. He told Ajay many times that I was the only one who ever called him a ‘Muthalali’. I will never forget the disarming smile of Manickam and his love and respect.

DAY 122 – In Chennai

Friends,

I was on track to complete my journey in Cochin on the 28^th of January, as scheduled. The invitation from K. Allaudin IAS to attend his daughter’s wedding in Chennai changed my plans. I decided to extend the journey for 4 days and accommodate the function. Allaudin has been a dear friend from our days as probationers in the Academy in Mussoorie. Hailing from Tamil Nadu and having spent most of his student days there he had a tough time adjusting to the cold and chill of the Hill Station. I will never forget the ‘monkey cap’ which was the trademark of Allaudin in the Academy.

After reaching Chennai I called up Allaudin to tell him that I will be at the venue by 11 am. He ‘ordered’ that I be there at 10. I had come to Chennai only for this and hence I readily agreed to meet him early to chat. I landed up at the venue with Abraham and Ajay and was immediately sucked up by the vast humanity that thronged the marriage venue. With strong connections of either parties to the political and bureaucratic circles of Tamil Nadu, the marriage was like an open social function. The marriage and the reception were attended by the CM of TN and very many high officials and politicians. It took Ajay and me an hour to reach the newly wedded couple on the dais. I feared a stampede. The crowd was so large that I did not get the time to greet and chat up batch mates. I had to be content with shouting a hello to some of them from a distance.

Savio is my Uncle but is younger to me by three months. He has been in the Apollo Hospital with diabetes related illness for the past few weeks. Abraham, Ajay and I spent some time with Rani and Savio in the Hospital. We were happy to be told and note the definite progress being made.

DAY 121 – Bangalore to Chennai

Friends,

MC Tom was introduced to me by PG Thyagarajan in CONCOR. If first impressions were anything to go by I would have kept Tom as far away from me as I could have. But I am glad that I got to know this lovely human being; a bundle of energy and a storehouse of information on the Shipping and Logistics Industry. A person completely unafraid to recount his failures and losses, he has learnt his lessons from them all. Tom is a doting father and a loving husband. Tom and Lizi, the God-fearing couple, have provided an ideal home for their children. Before I started the journey Tom told me that they were moving into a new flat and wanted me to visit them when I was in Bangalore. Then he came down with a heart problem and was in a critical condition for a few weeks. I called him up on arrival in Bangalore. He suggested that I vacate the ORH and spend a night with them in the new flat. I did just that and enjoyed every minute I spend with Tom and Lizi that evening. The flat has been so tastefully done up that I have ‘contracted’ Tom to help me with my flat in Cochin. A few shots of vintage Glenlivit and home cooked Kerala food provided the background for a good night’s sleep. Before setting out for Chennai this morning I had two cups of piping hot tea.

I evaluated NH4 and 7 for the travel to Chennai and settled for the latter. For the first time during the journey I had a co-passenger. Siva Shankar was my colleague in CONCOR. He is an outstanding professional in the Logistics Industry and has recently changed jobs. His ability to connect with people and stay in touch with them is exemplary. SS can telephonically connect you to anyone you want to in this country or elsewhere. Such are his skills. His natural team building skills have fetched his cricket team numerous trophies, which are on display at his residence. What is remarkable about SS is his ‘size zero’. Bebo will have a new target if she comes across SS! As he had some business to transact in Chennai and I happened to be travelling to Chennai SS requested to accompany me. He had specifically told me that we would have breakfast en route. SS introduced me to Adyar Ananda Bhavan (A2B), which is located 7 kms after Soolagiri on the NH7. All tables are invariably occupied and I found a couple of spaces only after hanging around for some time. The sweet Kesari was the best I have ever had in my life. The Pongal and tea were superb too. SS kept a constant conversation going right through the trip. The 5 hours to Chennai went by quickly. However, I could make out that my driving made SS a bit nervous.

Johny of Mathrubhoomi, Chennai, who wanted to do a piece on my journey, contacted me and asked if I could drop by at his Office. We had a chat and took some photographs upon my arrival into Chennai. Most of the Press coverage during the journey were the initiatives of Thulasi and SCJ.