When the Unknown becomes your family

Hesitant at first but slowly after a few hours or may be a few days one naturally gets used to the people around oneself. No sooner do you start sharing your thoughts, feelings, ideas, problems, beliefs. 

I don't say this when we move to a new apartment or a new city. But if you may have observed it happens in our day to day lives too. 

India being a populous country, you always have to stand in a queue wherever you go. Be it at the station to get a ticket, or at McDonalds, or even at a wedding to meet the bride and groom. You always have to queue up. And when you are standing alone you are bound to start a conversation with the person standing in front of you or at the back. To begin with, you exchange smiles. Ten minutes into the queue and now you initiate a conversation, discuss random topics from how hot is it today to how long is the person at the counter taking time to punch tickets, or how long is the photographer taking time to click photos of the bride and the groom, or about the photographer at your cousin's wedding. Another hour in the queue (if it hasn't moved ahead and you are still chatting with the person) you find out you have mutual friends, or you are distant relatives, funny, isn't it?

To give you another instance, and probably you may have experienced this yourself, you catch the same train every single day, you see the same people everyday, don't you get used to the same faces? You barely know these people but one day you don't see even one face from that bunch and it seems as if someone is missing. You may probably feel less comfortable that day while travelling. But you see the same bunch the next day and you feel content. You slowly exchange smiles. They slowly reserve a place for you. You slowly start talking about your life. And they share theirs.You slowly start talking about your family. And so do they. You know each other's daily routine by now. You miss the train and that day's small talk is left untold. I would like to quote "5.45 Andheri Local" by Arundhati Subramaniam, 

"In the women’s compartment
of a Bombay local
we search 
for no personal epiphanies.
Like metal licked by relentless acetylene
we are welded –
dreams, disasters, 
germs, destinies,
flesh and organza,odours and ovaries [...]"
                         
The poem wholly justifies my sentiments, how people are 'welded' and by the time you realize they are now a part of your extended family.   

Everybody has their own extended family. As far as my my extended family is concerned, two years ago when I moved to a new city, I was hesitant myself at first to share my stories with the landlord who lived downstairs. Little did I know, they were my biggest support during those two years. From renting their place to me to sharing lunch and dinner with them was not what I had imagined. And so did the lady who cooked food for me. She never forgot to give me an extra roti in the lunchbox. That was what I considered her unspoken love. These are the people I will cherish for the rest of my life. These are the people to be remembered. 

Let me tell you, the best things in life are the people you love, the people who love you back, the places you go, the memories you make, the memories you share, the stories you tell...