Mornings are something that I do no associate story telling with. It is time for work, time to grab hold of the day. And work is inherently serious; serious to a degree that there can be no space for a story to be told. Stories are distracting & messy. And my work, my intellectually stimulating work, completely grabs hold of my attention the moment I wake up for work. The idea of work has been ingrained in me even before I started working. The school system is no different, six hours of school every day, and then eight hours of work. This is quite literally the life that I have been taught to live. And probably for the best, otherwise how would I gather all the material comforts that I so dearly love.
Sometimes I get this dangerous notion of breaking off with it. Given the fact that we don't have to worry about wasting fuel to generate light during the night, is there a reason to gather up and work during the day? Do we even have to work every day? I suppose there is research studying the humanity's pattern of work-life; I have not read any of it. But what I do know is that days that I do not work, are not particularly interesting. As in, there is nothing I can come up with that I really want to do when I am not working. There is nothing that I am compelled to do other than work. I guess I would get pretty bored if I was not compelled to work. Maybe that is what happens when people retire.
Ratul thought the same when he saw the person talking to him. He was probably in his late seventies. Something about him spoke of experience; the man has worked forever, compared to Ratul's lifetime. But it is unusual for a Indian Railway employee to get down on the platform, and pick up passengers. Also where is that train going?
"Where is this train going?" - Ratul asked. "Guwahati", he said. That won't work for Ratul. He wanted to go back South. "I need to go back to Bandel", Ratul responded. "But you read the Wild Sheep Chase?", the man asked. Ratul was flabbergasted. That man knew his affinity to Murakami's novels. "Isn't that also why you are on the road?", the man asked again. "You are looking for something, aren't you?.".
Such a storytelling trope, Ratul thought. "No I just came for a short trip through Bengal, and my vacations are over, so I need to go back to Kolkata", Ratul answered. He could not not figure out why he is still answering normally, when clearly this man somehow knew him. How else would he know about his taste in books?!
"Don't you want to know how it would be if you went on your own wild sheep chase?"; Murakami again! Ratul thought. "I am sorry, do I know you?". The man completely ignored Ratul. "Listen, I am on a sheep chase on my own, do you want to come or not?". "There are no sheep in this part of the world!", Ratul responded, half smiling. This interaction was very becoming very surreal.