I was born at a time when my generation used postal service as a mode of communication. So if I had to send a piece of message to my dad who was stationed at Kashmir with his regiment, I had to walk in to a post office or an authorized centre, buy an inland, write my letter, stick it with glue and give it to amma when she goes to office next day so that she can post it. It would take few days before he gets the letter and it would be further delayed if he was on duty at the border. But hope keeps me spirited that the letter would have reached him and he would have replied to mine with a promise that he would be soon back at home with the Sony Walkman that he promised last time. After a few days I got a letter with my name written bold in ‘to’ address. I was ecstatic for two reasons, one that was the first letter that I ever had received under my name and second it had the news that he would be coming for his annual leave in May. It was only March and I was occupied with the year ending exams. Summer heat was getting hotter with each day passing by.
Temperature at Ottapalam was reaching new highs. Bharathapuzha was dry causing water shortage in the region. We always say that water level in the water well in our compound and the level of water in Bharathapuzha are same. Though never proven I wished to believe it that way. As exams ate a good number of days in March I was too close to the day in April when the world loved playing practical jokes on every one. School had announced the closing dates and it was mid of April just after the Vishu. For me Vishu always had a special place though Onam was considered the state festival of Kerala. The special part of Vishu was kaineettam which helped me raise my pocket money for the next year. My school was closed two days after Vishu got over. Amma had got a letter from dad which said that he would be landing at Ottapalam on May 7th. That gave me a new goal line that I need to target for.
Though I was spending my vacation with the days split between mine and relatives home I always took some time off to dream on what I would be doing when I will get by Walkman. I dreamed of hearing the music in bus, on the banks of Bharathapuzha, in bed and on and on. But that was fun as they say what you heard is sweet and what is yet to be heard is sweeter. I had decided that I would go to Ottapalam railway station to pick my Dad. Then came that day, the day when sun shined a bit brighter. I was in my best dress. A red checked shirt untucked against black trousers. I took the platform ticket and waited at the platform number one. Twenty more minutes were left for the arrival of Kerala express. From the platform I could see Bharathapuzha.It was dry with only a trail of water which flowed on the left side of the river. The weather and illegal sand mining had taken a heavy toll on the river. They were saying Bharathapuzha was dying and I hated to hear that. The diesel engine roar broke all these thoughts, the long whistle signalling everyone in the train and on the platform that it was coming to a halt. I adjusted my position where S10 compartment would stop. Train slowly passed me and I could smell the friction between the running iron wheels and the mighty rail as the engine tried slowing the train. There goes S2 and then S3 and I could see dad’s hands waving signalling me. That moment was always special though how many times you would have had it before. I need to say that I hated the same moment when the waving hand was moving against me. It always wets my eye though even after years when I was the one who was waving hands and dad was the one at platform. As he came closer to me and I could see him clearly. S10 stopped in front of me and I helped Dad to get his luggage out from the train as the stop was hardly for two minutes. We did it with more than a minute to go and I need to say that his training years in Army had moulded him to be fast enough on his responses. He hugged me and I was so happy and excited. We rented an Auto from the Auto stand in front of station and reached home in less than 10 minutes.
All are excited and the family was re-united after almost a year. I don’t know, but there is always a special fragrance when dad comes for Vacation and I and my sister loved it. We sat in our front room with his luggage towards the side of the room and he shared his train experience which we loved to hear. Amma prepared tea in between as we listened to all those exciting experiences from Dad during his train journey. Dad could see my excitement as well the hidden curiosity in me about the walkman. The next best part in Dad’s vacation was opening his luggage though years later I never felt it when I came with a bundle of luggage for vacation. May be he would have felt it then. Dad told me that he had got me Sony walkman, four set of batteries for it and couple of cassettes too. In the mess of luggage and the train journey he had forgot which suitcase or box he had kept it. So that left us with the beautiful task of opening every box and suitcase. We opened all that he brought in but couldn’t locate the walkman. I could see the batteries as well the cassettes but not the walkman. He was sure that he had packed it and he had no luggage missing. Latter we found a cut in a box that you would observe only if you closely look in. A cut that was done smart enough for a hand to go in and grab the treasure there. But next came the question of when and who? Dad had carried it all the way in his hand and the only time when he was away from the luggage was when it was carried from his camp to railway station and someone in the crew in the rickshaw did this magic of vanishing my walkman. When he did that magic he never knew that 3800 kilometres away he had vanished dreams of a boy too. Though it had dampened my spirit, I was cheered by the fact that he had brought a small little calculator with a flap to cover it. Though it couldn’t replace the walkman at least it could fill the vacuum that made me better. As I finished the tea we had relatives walking in to see Dad and that made me forgot about my dream faded away by a magic.
