On my way back...

...it was raining, like it always does. I ran to catch my 3 pm ferry but missed it by a whisker (read 6 minutes). An old punjabi uncle jee, who saw me there and approached me. He must be atleast 90 going by his demeanor.

"Chalo Chaleye", he said.
I was a bit confused by what he just uttered.
"Haanjee", I said very politely.
"Tusi Nanaimo naee chalna", he said.

A young punjabi munda approached from the other side.

"Papajee, aee saade naal nayee nee", he told him

Although, it was a bit bizzare but the old uncle jee reminded me of Dadajee and a smile came across my face.

There was still 2 hours before boarding, and there were few punjabi kids making noise in the waiting area (someone new reading this must be thinking that I am somewhere in Punjab). I picked a quiet corner a bit away from the main lounge and started reading Amitav Ghosh's "The Hungry Tide".

"The dolphins quiet, regular breathing had lulled Piya into a doze from which she was woken by a sound that seemed to come out of a dream..."

The story of Piya and Kanai, set in the hauntingly beautiful Sundarbans, took me to a different world altogether. I was in the small raft when Piya was following Dolphins with Fokir rowing the raft and Tutul pointing to the Dolphin and her calf. I could feel the Dolphins around me hunting for fishes, going through channels as the tides were changing. I was in Morichjhapi when Nirmal had to take refuge in Kusum's dwelling with Horen. I was in Lusibari when Nilima asked Nirmal where he was going and he lied to her for the first time..."

The ferry for Nanaimo was leaving with Uncle jee...


I went back to the departure lounge, waited a few minutes there. A group of girls soccer team was was coming from Vancouver and the girls were very loud for me to concentrate on the book. The ferry started loading a few minutes after and I grabbed a chips packet and took my corner seat near the window. It was still raining outside. The ferry started moving very slowly and I could see a bird sitting on top of the railing area from my rain shattered window.

The weather was lazy enough to put me to sleep. I got up in 15 minutes and decided to go outside for a little stroll to freshen up. It was still raining but not enough to wet one completely. I went to the top floor of the ferry and saw a beautiful small lighthouse as the ferry was passing by it.


The first word that came out of my mouth was "Aah...heaven". The lighthouse was as tiny as the island itself. I found it fascinating that I was passing through these small islands while in my backpack was the book set in small islands of Sundarbans. I tried imagining the setting of the novel with my passage but the sophistication of islands on my way were no comparison to the rawness of Sundarbans.

We passed along the most beautiful house on the next island. An orange colored house located facing the ocean with forest all around the place. It was the most visible house that I came across during the journey that passed through several small islands. It was the kind of dream house, one can only wish for...

Our ferry was leaving a long trail behind and seeing the ferry cut the rough waters is a sight in itself. A big lump of steel cutting cold water and making the way is an impressive sight indeed.

It was beginning to get dark and the lights outside the ferry were coming on.

My eyes were on the water though. A lot of things were going through my mind like the waves moving from one side to another by the passing ferry. I was looking for my next shot when I saw "it". I thought my eyes were playing games with me and this was not possible but then "it" jumped out of the water to confirm to me that "it" was indeed a dolphin. I had heard stories how sometimes dolphins would come beside the ferry and usually they would come in a bunch, so if the captain saw them he would announce and everyone would rush outside. But this dolphin seemed to be lost from its crowd because now my eyes were searching the deep water but I couldn't see anything but the wavy darkness...