The Love Letter Challenge

This entry was originally written for the CBC Valentine Love Letter (?) Contest. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. 

I sank into my seat like a stone dropped in water. Tired, I closed my eyes and shut the world out, seeking shelter in my sleep.

But dreams began to invade my sanctuary. They came like a drizzle, a hint of a smile, a whisper of a voice. But soon there was a downpour.

Voices gave way to curved lips and pinched cheeks. The lines of your jaw lead down to your throat, where a pulse throbbed in the wake of titter. And the titter, born from your smiles, fledged into a laugh and rose through the air, like a bird let lose.

Troubled I woke and our eyes met. I became a human popsicle. Like a breeze you whip past me, and I shudder when I think of the chill in your eyes. How long has is it been since we last met?

Finally, the engine roars into life and goes rolling down the road. Inside the vehicle, we move as one. Everything I see you see, the air you let go, I take in. The bell that rings for you rings for me too.

I smiled. You are here and not just in my dreams.

As I look out the window, I spot the restaurant, the one we went to on our first date. I see the cherry blossom, under the boughs of which we shared our first kiss.

Each building, each passing structure, reminds me of you.

But they pass me by like the days passed by.

Everything vanishes into the void as the bus drivers on.

And each moment is turned into a memory as time turns on.

And I realize with a pang that like the days before, this too will end.

If only the earth stood still.

I Want To Be a Traveller

Ever since I was a child, I have always suffered from a deep-seeded urge to wander. But I don’t want to be a tourist. I want to be a traveller. You want to know the difference?
A tourist’s approach to travel is very casual.
Step One – He spots her:
The tourist zeroes in on a place. He doesn’t give the place a lot of thought. Instead he picks it like he would any woman in a bar.
Step Two – The rendezvous:
A tourist makes a catalogue of places – popular (read cliché) places that Google so kindly lists for him. He rushes through each one of these places, religiously. Sort of like a quick fuck. You are in and out before you know it.
Step Three – The Morning After:
When you are a tourist your relationship with the city or country of choice is like a one-night stand. It is a brief love affair that lasts for a night and is forgotten the next morning but bragged about for days to come. But travelling is not very different from falling in love.
Step One – Love-at-First-Sight:
A traveller sees a place - and sometimes instantly or even slowly over a period of time – she (the place you long to travel to) catches his attention. And so he Googles the place relentlessly, gazing dreamily at pictures of her. He stalks her online by reading websites and travel blogs on her. He envies those who have travelled to the place with the passion of a lover seething over a girlfriend’s ex. And after days or even months of longing from afar he decides to take the first step.
Step Two - The courting:
After months of penny-pinching he is finally there. [Here again travelling is no different from a lover. She empties your pocket.] Now that he is finally with her, he pays her his undivided attention. He studies her history, her people and her places, and relishes his time with her. He takes long walks in the city, learning her every curve. He strays far beyond the tourist spots and hunts for secret places hidden in her contours. He savours her aroma and her taste at local food stalls and cheap restaurants. He makes memories with the city. Memories he knows he will hold dear for years to come.
Step Three - The parting of ways:
And when it is time to leave he carries a little part of her with him. Back at home, he thinks of those long nights and strolls on the streets with silent longing. He knows he will travel to other places, and love them more or less. But each place remains special in its own ways. I want to be a traveller. I want to know every city I go to as intimately as a lover. See, a relationship changes you. So must the places you travel to. If it hasn’t, you haven’t truly seen the place.

*I am blogging about my dreams and passions for the Club Mahindra#DreamTrails activity at BlogAdda. You can get a Club Mahindra Membership to own your holidays!*