Diversity.

"Get up quickly! We've got a train at 8." Said my mom waking me up for a train we had to catch as we were leaving for Ahmedabad to attend a wedding. And as usual I didnt feel like getting up but had to. Who would feel like getting up after sleeping at 1 or 2 in the night ?! How much ever I plan on sleeping in the "pm", internet always has plans to not let me sleep before "am" ! And then every morning you realise it was a bad idea staying up late but again the next day same is repeated! *sigh*..the sleeping schedules! So yeah, after struggling a bit, I got up anyway.

Dad had arranged for a taxi to take us to the railway station. We all sat in the taxi and left. The driver was driving kind of faster than the speed thats acceptable to me, so I was sitting a little consciously. He kept driving at the same speed. And then an auto rickshaw driver tried to overtake us 'coz of which the driver had to apply the brakes suddenly. This made him scream and abuse the rickshaw driver. I moved closer to my Dad and whispered, "Why is he screaming ? It was his mistake to be driving fast even on a busy street!" Dad said, "These taxi drivers have a full day job. They need to keep picking and dropping all kinds of customers from any corner of the city and at any time of the day. The roads might be busy or free. Its stressful to drive the whole day..maybe this makes them behave cranky and annoyed at the fellow drivers even if its their own mistake." It made sense. And anyway he dropped us at the station, safely.

We entered the station and were welcomed by the smell of tea and "pakoras" being cooked at the refreshment stalls. These stalls are kind of depressing rather than refreshing, after you see the whole process of something being cooked. Unhygienic at its best. Its not even the vendors fault, they cook the whole day to fill people's stomach with whatever funds they have. But you really wouldn't wanna eat once you see how it's cooked. Plus the stench. Yes, railway stations.

Our train had arrived. Everybody rushed towards their compartments. The train was going to stay on the station for 10 minutes. But its like a competition starts about who's gonna get in the train first everytime a train arrives! :P Not like we did anything different, even we tried getting in the soonest possible. :P Then we finally settled down on our seats and thought about eating. I thought about eating. Eating is the best part about train journeys I feel! :P Afterall, there's so much variety being sold. Our train started moving in a while. And there came in the food vendors one by one. They come in with their particular tone of "chai chai" selling cutting chai and "chana zor garam".  Its cute how small kids get excited when an icecream wala enters. Even I get excited! :P Though we hardly buy anything from the vendors in train.  There are many who buy too.

There are so many kinds of people you get to see and know about in the train. The poor, the rich (rich in the AC compartment ofcourse! ). The little boys who clean the seats and the floors expecting people to give them a penny or two. Its disheartening to see them "survive" like this. And know those boys with a typical musical instrument and a mouth organ singing the same "shirdi wale sai baba" everytime ? They're pretty talented. On the other hand, there are happy families going on vacations to spend their saved up money and enjoy to their fullest. They've got huge luggages, one for each member. And home made food to relish during the journey. Happiness is all that is seen on their faces :) And then there are the poor familes. One of such families was sitting on the berth infront of us. They looked really poor. All of them were in tattered clothes. Clothes are such a major part in judging someones economic status. The kids had nothing on their feet too. They had two small bags for a family of 5. And they carried a broom too with them. Maybe they were shifting their residence. Everytime a toy seller or a jewellery seller passed by, the poor man's wife looked at them with hope and longing in her eyes. Probably wishing she could afford them. Only option is to hope they get to live a happier life in the near future..

Anyway, the time to reach Ahmedabad got close and we started collecting our luggage and keeping them together. The day we reached, was the "Sangeet" in the wedding we were attending, and we had a performance to give! We were all super excited about it and practised our steps for the last time after reaching the hotel. Weddings are one more sort of ocassion where you see too many types of people. The crazy maniac dancers, the hard workers( doing all the arrangements), the shy ones, the silent observers, the overly-decked-dressed-up, the foodies! I belong to the last category. Give me food and good clothes, I'll be there. So we had our performance done after a lot of nervousness and excitement, and it was loved by everybody! :D Then after all other performances were done, free style dancing started. We sindhis don't like moving our body too much but our hands are gonna be the hero of our dance moves. Some people look like a statue with just moving hands while others have hand movements which literally look like they were throwing off garbage. We youngsters find it kind of funny so we stick to our latka-jhatkas. But the elders love the "ancient" dancing style and hence keep dancing the same way making it look funnier than ever. The old uncle and aunties look cute though, dancing that way! :D And you might also find some over-excited aunties with pencil heels dancing with every ounce of energy in their body. Stay away from them. The heels might hurt. Hurt real bad. Anyway, however funny or scary the dance moves may seem, its all a form of happiness! :D

Then comes my favourite part. FOOD. Many people, including me, are there in marriages generally for food. And if the food is from a 5-star hotel its like a "sone pe suhaga" for us. Free treat. :P ( I should stop sounding greedy now). There are people who fill their plates like the food would get over if they got a little late for their second helping. Its fun imagining how funny would it be if their plate just dropped. Heartbreak. </3 And there are also people who'd try every single item and take 2-3 helpings of the food they like. ME. Can't wait for desserts.

Its crazy how in a couple days, we come across so many people. So many different people. Its difficult to describe every type I came across while I had been to the wedding. So many forms of happiness. And more forms of sadness. So many ways to express love. So many ways to be happy in others happiness. So many ways to heal someones sadness and be empathetic. So many ways to just be sympathetic. So many ways to understand others. So many point of views. So many perceptions. So many people. So many emotions. So much Diversity.