Vacation is over.I bid good bye to everyone including the doggie at my neighbours house and started to kochuveli in kerala for my train.I took bus to trivandrum and then an auto to kochuveli.The auto driver with a typical malayalam moustache asked me 110 rupees for driving me to kochuveli.I argued but later gave in to his humble requests in malayalam.As i reached kochuveli  station, a brown attire-clad security stopped us
           'Train cancelled' he said
            I enquired the reason.
          'Paalathile mannu udanchi...' he muttered.I understood that there had been a landslide on the train route.I had no other go but to return the way i came.Malayalam moustache auto driver got 200 rupees from me happily.As i was returning by bus to my native i booked ticket for the next day through tatkal,thanks to technology,all i needed was a gprs activated mobile.

Next day:
        I didnt bid good bye to the doggie today for she wasnt there.I had booked ticket from trivandrum hence went unreserved upto trivandrum from nagercoil.And as trivandrum arrived ,i switched from unreserved coach to Third A/C coach.I walked inside the narrow pathway between the berths searching for my berth B13.All six berths,lower two,middle two and upper two were raised and i saw three white people sleeping on the lower two berths and one middle berth.I wished my berth was nowhere here but it happened to be so.Mine was the other middle berth.I slipped in without making any noise and silently covered myself with the blanket provided.I slept.They were sleeping hard.At around 10 am ,one among them, a guy, woke up.I gave a side glance to have a look at his face.He,  still wrapped in his white blanket glanced my glance.I immediately switched my glance.

Little moments passed....

       Another person from the left lower berth woke up.She, still covered in her blankets, sat comfortably and was reading.I too was reading at that time in dim light, made dimmer by the window sheets.But i didnt mind and kept on reading.Noticing this she enquired something to the other person on the right lower berth.I got only her last few words 'He is reading'.And suddenly light got brighter.I turned my face to see her and gave a half smile muttering 'Thank you' to myself.She too stopped her smile halfway and i saw 70 percent of her cute face.And she kept on reading.I did the same

Little moments passed....

   They kept conversing to each other in American accent.I had never been so close to hearing American English.I had heard only in Hollywood movies with my eyes fixed most of the time on sub-titles not able to follow through their English.

Little moments passed....

  A 50 plus year old man joined us in the upper berth.He kept on talking loud in malayalam but the americans looked undisturbed.Another keralite joined on the right upper berth.All berths were full but no one interacted with the americans.I felt disturbed.I should atleast say a hello to them.I am really sick of my shyness.My guilt feeling didnt help me

Little moments passed...

  Evening turned to dawn.
'Can i switch on the light?' i asked the american on the left lower berth.She didnt hear me.Neither did I.I spoke too softly.She brought her torso in front to listen.I again asked.
 'Swith on?Yeah No Problem ...You can....' she replied and nodded with interest
I switched on the light and kept reading

Many little moments passed...

  'Are you getting down at Salem?' the same american asked.I said 'No' and as if i was waiting for this moment i started asking them questions.And then our conversation started.We got introduced to ourself and put mokkai(chat) on favourite movies,favourite music,namakkal eggs(they were supposed to go to namakkal from salem,they are doing their masters degree in US and had come to India to research on HIV positive people),fish,their travelogue,Colarado(their native in US) ,sudoku(the american guy was solving it on train) and quite a few things.And by the way ,the guy's name is John,the girls' names are Cara and Eme.

Little moments passed...
A he/she came at this moment and started fiddling with the american guy.He felt shy.I mocked at him

'May be she finds you very attractive'
'That boosts my self esteem!' he replied
I gave he/she 20 rupees
'50 roopa kudukarthu ..hmmm..'(why dont you give 50 rupees...hmmm.) she asked/seduced
'Change illa ...'(I dont have change..) i replied
Giving me a dirty look she went.
The americans thanked me for giving her money on behalf of them(I hadnt i just gave on my behalf!)

Little moments passed...

'Do you want cookies?' Cara asked me.I thought she would offer me some american sweets.Thanking her and saying NO would be decent, but i thought accepting her offer would make her happy.And so i said
 'I shall get it for your pleasure'
She took two britannia biscuit packets,offered it to me,one held in the left hand and the other in the right hand.
'We have two cookies.One is butter coated and the other one cashewnut.Take whatever you want' she offered
The butter biscuit packet was already open and on her insistence i took two biscuits.
Then she offered chewing gum.I hesitated.She told not to accept it if i were not interested.I accepted.She nicely held the cover between her hands and broke it ,the gum fell smoothly into my hands.

Eme was relatively less involved as she was unwell suffering from diarrhoea.
'It is her turn now' mocked John as the other two had already been through the same
She was lying with her hands resting on her stomach and enjoyed the conversation and my answers

Little moments passed...

'Can i take a photo with you?'

'Yeah sure' they all replied in unison

And the following followed...