Candy Floss

It was past midnight but the CST railway station looked busy as usual. Parth saw a train leaving the platform, but he didn’t bother to run and catch it like he usually did in the morning when he came to work. He knew there was a next train and he was also too exhausted to make an effort.

It had rained heavily in the afternoon and Parth knew that the trains would be running late. He was glad that he left late from the office and avoided the train fiasco.

He was not sure whether it was raining outside when he took the cab from his office as all the while he was thinking about the presentation that he had made for the meeting lined up for the next day. When the train arrived, Parth hastily got inside, just to realise that it was not needed as it was not so crowded. But habits die hard.

Parth thought of catching up on his sleep and closed his eyes. He tried to sleep but as soon as he closed his eyes, his mind raced to the work commitments and the assignments he was into. He remembered of few emails that he forgot to revert to before leaving from office. His mind couldn’t allow him to sleep. He looked around and found that pretty much everyone around was thinking something or the other. He noticed an old man seated in front of him. He must have been in his early 70s. Parth couldn’t help but notice the candy floss in his hand.

“Hi, I am Mohan”, said the old man. Parth realised that he was staring too much at the man and felt embarrassed. “Hi, I am Parth”, he said hastily.

“Hi Parth, you are coming so late from work?”

“Oh yes. Had some work to finish off”, answered Parth.

“You know, I always felt that technology would have made life simpler for your generation. But I find life getting more difficult and stressful for you guys.”

Parth didn’t know what to say. He nodded in agreement.

“Are you from Bombay? I mean Mumbai”, asked the old man.

“Yes from Mumbai. You are travelling at this hour, uncle?”

“I had been to my daughter’s place. She lives here. Once in a month, I visit them. They tell me that at my age, I shouldn’t be travelling and that they would come and visit me. But, you know, this is the only time I go out. It feels nice. So, I insist on me coming over to their place.”

“You know when we use to work, there was no culture of working so late.” continued the old man. “I use to reach home by seven in the evening. Then I use to go for a walk with my wife and daughter. We didn’t have malls or good hangout places that time, but a simple walk in the bylane of our locality or a nearby park was enjoyable.

Parth thought of his family. His wife wanted to go on a short vacation. She said it was ages since they have gone for a family outing. He felt it was ages he slept the whole day and not done anything. He believed that God plays a trick on the weekends. He accelerates the earth so that time flies bringing in monday faster. And the icing on the cake is the guilt you face every Monday morning, of not doing anything either for you or your family over the weekends.

Parth remembered his father. His father had more responsibilities to take care of and life was tough back then, but he never grumbled or cribbed about situations. He was always there when Parth needed him. He might have had a bad day at work but that was never vented out on his family.

Parth felt that he was in a more comfortable situation than his father, had more facilities, but he was never at peace like his father. Sometimes he felt he had a good life but there was something missing. Well, this was not the first time that Parth was going through these emotions but positivity was more mortal than fear. The train stopped and so did his emotions.

Parth realised that while he was thinking all these, the old man was looking at him. Just to come out of the uncomfortable silence, he asked the old man, “You like Candy Floss.”

“This is for my wife.” the old man answered with a smile. “She loves them. Whenever we used to go out, she always insisted on buying them. She said it reminded her of her childhood. I used to wonder why she needed the remembrance, she was always a child, innocent to the core and as in bliss as a child could be. Maybe the candy floss kept the child in her alive.”

“Perhaps, you are the luckiest guy in the world whose wife is happy just by a candy floss”, Parth couldn’t control his sarcasm.

“Oh yes, that I am. She is the best thing that happened to me.”

“She isn’t travelling with you today.”

“No, she has travelled too far to be with me. I lost her couple of years ago. But even today, whenever I go out, I buy a candy floss for her. I know I need to take the candy floss to her because she would be waiting for me and I just can’t wait to see her excited like a baby and devour it like a demon.”

Sometimes words fail you. The feeling churns in the stomach, courses through the veins, nudges the heart and dies in the throat. Parth was currently in such a state.

“Ok son, I reached my destination. Need to alight now. There is candy floss to be delivered.” The old man smiled getting up from his seat.

“It was nice meeting you and don’t work so much.” 

“You too take care.” Parth said shaking the old hand.

Parth realised that he too needs to make a move now. Couple of stations and he would reach his destination. He wanted to get up in a hurry like he usually did during peak hours, but realised that this haste was not needed. There was no one to stop him from alighting the train. He was his only competition. Maybe he should just sit back and relax and be in the moment. Maybe that’s how his father was always at peace.

Parth knew that there were too many course corrections needed to be done in his life but the larger question before him was; Years down the line, whether he, like this old man he met today in the train, would be able to share a similar candy floss story with a co-passenger.