Le voyage entre Montréal et Toronto

It has been a really long time since I made the effort to pull myself to write in this space. I am not really certain why and what made me write today. There is this intolerable and relentless zeal of energy to narrate my first ever train ride in Canada. I rather dunno what to write but wanted to pen down something just to ensure that I do not fail to reopen my blog the next time hoping to look for something different to see apart from that good 'ol movie names. I have now watched exactly 2^{# the no. of movies in the previous post}[I am not kidding!].

It all began on 13th of May 2009 when myself and A started this long but enjoyable road trip to Kingston. It was a lot of fun for A since he got to visit Queens again and catch up with his buddies. The purpose of this trip was actually to attend our first conference away from good ol' Waterloo. Believe it or not, I was supposed to give a half-hour talk at this conference. Talks are fun (only in the literal sense) when one thinks it really matters. Boy oh boy, I realised how I hate those presentations which has got no attractive pictures/videos to draw the attention of the audience. I must admit that I still had loads of passion only for those abstract talks that involve Hilbert spaces or compact operators or semigroups. My talk went really smooth with some interesting questions at the end. I did mess up one of it, thanks to KM for correcting me. [Wait ! Looks like I am deviating from the subject].

I took this opportunity to visit my extended family at Montreal over the weekend. I think I was lucky to grab the $1.00 Mega bus ticket (Yes, thats exactly what it costs) from Kingston to Montreal that comes with a free wi-fi. Rishi is just a couple of weeks away from celebrating his first birthday on this planet. He cried all the time, whenever I took him in my arms, since I seem to look like a stranger to him. I wish he realises soon that I was there to receive him when he came home for the first time. Shruthi
is still that same cheerful 10 yr old kid, who prefers to be more than a grown up. She tells me, "You are so lucky because you are a grown up and not a kid like me." She is hyperactive atleast with the latest trends with due-respect in the context of gmail, orkut, yahoo mail and facebook. She thinks that nobody chats with her since she is a kid. (I could hear you murmur Aaaoooowww !! cho chweet inside your head) It is strange the way the next generation looks up at ours.

Spring time is the perfect weather that every Canadian would love to rather spend their time outside home. Finally here I am sitting on viarail train, on a pleasant spring afternoon from Montreal to Toronto. I spent the last hour and a half watching the Bollywood blockbuster, "Rock on". Part of my enthusiasm to write today comes from it. Other part of it is shared by Vikram Hazre and Chitra roy's sweet voice.

So, then what's special about this train ?

This reminded me of the good old Brindavan and Lalbagh express that runs daily between Chennai and Bangalore. I remember booking tickets purposefully in the last minute to lure myself with "Ponniyin selvan" six sizzling hours straight.
Weather takes a bumpy ride from severely boiling conditions to a nice chilly breeze combined with a quick 10 minute downpour, followed by a warm sunset and the chilly bangalore breeze.

Difference now being I cant smell the freshness in air anymore, since these trains only comes with huge windows which remain closed by hard ubreakable glasses that lets you peak at the outside view but not enjoy the cool breeze. We dont hear that thick whistling noise that engines used to make. Except for the unfrequent quick jerky movement that feels like the ground is shaking, you hardly realise that you are on a train that is actually moving. So much for the era of technology that we are now in, wi-fi internet makes us feel connected all the time even when the train is moving at 110 KPH. I love the leg room.

Unforutnately, the grand old lady sitting besides me would rather prefer a genuine conversation with me than browsing through the only 20 page journal which she is staring at for the last couple of hours. Sorry ma'm, I am not so used to be chatting in a train journey. There are plenty of things which could be enjoyed in silence rather than constantly using the muscles in the mouth.

There's something very peculiar about the lushy green outside which beckons me to keep looking at it. It is unassumingly hard to take my face away from it even for a moment. Sun remains bedazzled in the blue clouds. The view outside window is outstanding. Its like watching a movie which keeps moving only on one direction. I wonder what does it take to live just with the nature by yourself with all its beauty. It feels like you are hearing a beautiful story narrated by the heavens with a melodious sweet music that descends down in the background of this eye-capturing view. The serene blue waters on the left side of the train and breath-taking view of the sunset on my right makes this moment truely magical. I cant stop thinking Kalki's amazing narration of the beauty of mother nature on an island sandwiched between southern tip of India and Srilanka by name, "Mohini theevu" (மோகினி தீவு, http://www.scribd.com/doc/4889655/Kalki-Tamil-Novel-Mohini-Theevu). This day, the seventeenth of May would remain lively and scripted down my memory lane forever.