I'm sure you all remember the lovely wine tour I went for. Well, it came back greet me again but this time it was for quite a different reason. Emma, an amazing person with a fabulous personality, decided that even those that she's come to know 1 week ago is a good enough friend to say bye to as she left Australia. This is the story of how I found myself in a house full of strangers!!! :)
After all the confusion of where the farewell will be held, it was finally decided that it will be at her family home out in the hills. I had seen the famous hills from afar many times, but never got the chance to go up there. It looks beautiful from the distance so I was sure I was in for a treat when I got there. Anyway, getting back to the trip; I had to train ride it for almost 40 mins before I could reach the venue.
So my first adventure for the week started on a train. I remember vaguely what my brother told me about railway line in his travel. "Its the same anywhere in the world. No difference at all, well the stations may look more or less fancy but overall, the construct and structure have such and eerie feel of similarity". I was hoping to make him eat his words but to my sad revelation, he was so right. I walked down into Adelaide Railway station only to find myself in a modern style rail system. Nothing that I was not expecting anyway. To find my train that I needed to get on was not going to be such an easy task as the platform that the information screen said had my train had a completely different train. Profoundly confused, I almost made up my mind to go back and ask the information counter or an official for help, however, before that, an instinct kicked in that I never thought i'd use here in Australia. Follow the crowd. The very few ( I could count them on my fingers) people that walked onto that platform continued walking down the platform. So I decided to walk along and find out where they were going. Sure enough, my train was on the same platform parked behind/ahead (depends on how you look at it) the first train I saw. Well, this was interesting. I decided not to make much of it and simply continue to take a seat somewhere in the first rain car. I did not want to be on the wrong train. :)
As the clock lit up with our departure time, the train slowly pulled out. Now, if I compare these rail cars with those in Chennai (Madras), i'm probably going to get shot down by a few chennai residents who read this blog, however, i'm still going to take the risk. I'm going to list each with my comments in brackets
All the seats were cushioned (Like the a/c volvo buses of MTC)
The whole rail car was Airconditioned (That's no surprise to me because everyplace in A/c here)
The door's closed. (Yes they are electronic and you need to push a button to open them. Oh and no hanging out the door like we can, to have the air hit our faces)
The view outside the window (If I did not know I was in Australia, I could have sworn I was in India; Absolutely no difference)
These are the ones I remember and it has been quite a while. I have been too busy to even write a blog. Good I say. :)
Nevertheless; I made it to my destination. I called up my host for the evening, Emma, and I was picked up just as she promised. I was given the grand tour up to the hill home (as I will call it) by Emma's sister, Rachel. The sight of the city from atop the hills was a grand splendeur that I could not have fathomed such a view. In the dusk light of the evening when the streets were just getting lit up with the golden glow of the sun in the background, I could have not asked for a better time to have a camera to capture that moment and save it for the world to see.
We drove down to the house which was situated on the side a lovely hill. What a house. This was Emma's parents house. One that they had so cordially allowed to be used for her farewell. So I finally made it to another place where I was about to meet 40 strangers. Lovely people but all strangers. I'm loving this. I realised that my skill to meet up with new people was being challenged again. I had not had such a feeling since my childhood where I used to have to go join new schools ever now and again.
The house was simply amazing, but the one thing that caught my eyes was the fire that started off slow at first but definitely in place. This brought back a bunch of memories for me. memories that I had from so long ago under the African sky's where I had gone camping and sat under the beautiful stars and in front of a lovely camp fire. These memories flowed in as people gathered around the flames started to share stories. Random stories of each person, but stories that were from the heart of interests and events past; it really did not matter what we spoke. I just enjoyed the moment. It was not too long after that I heard the sound of a guitar on the other side of the house.
Yes, music, the only element that was missing in my mind. Everyone had a go with their guitar. I can't even remember who was playing now but yes, it was a time that everyone started to sing and enjoy each other's company. As the music was playing we were all gathered around a canvas that was out to be painted by every person that came out to the farewell. It was a canvas that Emma said she wanted to take with her to England. Well, is that not something that would be great. Oh yeah!!!
Well, the party wound down into the night with many people leaving but the music and the singing kept on going. It seemed like and never ending scene of songs. We all had to call it quits into the night but this was definitely an experience that took me back many years to the streets and families I knew in Sowa Town and the many memories that still remain with me till this day about that place and its inhabitants.
Well, I better get back to my studies. I think this was a well deserved break that I took to write this down. :)
Party
After all the confusion of where the farewell will be held, it was finally decided that it will be at her family home out in the hills. I had seen the famous hills from afar many times, but never got the chance to go up there. It looks beautiful from the distance so I was sure I was in for a treat when I got there. Anyway, getting back to the trip; I had to train ride it for almost 40 mins before I could reach the venue.
So my first adventure for the week started on a train. I remember vaguely what my brother told me about railway line in his travel. "Its the same anywhere in the world. No difference at all, well the stations may look more or less fancy but overall, the construct and structure have such and eerie feel of similarity". I was hoping to make him eat his words but to my sad revelation, he was so right. I walked down into Adelaide Railway station only to find myself in a modern style rail system. Nothing that I was not expecting anyway. To find my train that I needed to get on was not going to be such an easy task as the platform that the information screen said had my train had a completely different train. Profoundly confused, I almost made up my mind to go back and ask the information counter or an official for help, however, before that, an instinct kicked in that I never thought i'd use here in Australia. Follow the crowd. The very few ( I could count them on my fingers) people that walked onto that platform continued walking down the platform. So I decided to walk along and find out where they were going. Sure enough, my train was on the same platform parked behind/ahead (depends on how you look at it) the first train I saw. Well, this was interesting. I decided not to make much of it and simply continue to take a seat somewhere in the first rain car. I did not want to be on the wrong train. :)
As the clock lit up with our departure time, the train slowly pulled out. Now, if I compare these rail cars with those in Chennai (Madras), i'm probably going to get shot down by a few chennai residents who read this blog, however, i'm still going to take the risk. I'm going to list each with my comments in brackets
All the seats were cushioned (Like the a/c volvo buses of MTC)
The whole rail car was Airconditioned (That's no surprise to me because everyplace in A/c here)
The door's closed. (Yes they are electronic and you need to push a button to open them. Oh and no hanging out the door like we can, to have the air hit our faces)
The view outside the window (If I did not know I was in Australia, I could have sworn I was in India; Absolutely no difference)
These are the ones I remember and it has been quite a while. I have been too busy to even write a blog. Good I say. :)
Nevertheless; I made it to my destination. I called up my host for the evening, Emma, and I was picked up just as she promised. I was given the grand tour up to the hill home (as I will call it) by Emma's sister, Rachel. The sight of the city from atop the hills was a grand splendeur that I could not have fathomed such a view. In the dusk light of the evening when the streets were just getting lit up with the golden glow of the sun in the background, I could have not asked for a better time to have a camera to capture that moment and save it for the world to see.
We drove down to the house which was situated on the side a lovely hill. What a house. This was Emma's parents house. One that they had so cordially allowed to be used for her farewell. So I finally made it to another place where I was about to meet 40 strangers. Lovely people but all strangers. I'm loving this. I realised that my skill to meet up with new people was being challenged again. I had not had such a feeling since my childhood where I used to have to go join new schools ever now and again.
The house was simply amazing, but the one thing that caught my eyes was the fire that started off slow at first but definitely in place. This brought back a bunch of memories for me. memories that I had from so long ago under the African sky's where I had gone camping and sat under the beautiful stars and in front of a lovely camp fire. These memories flowed in as people gathered around the flames started to share stories. Random stories of each person, but stories that were from the heart of interests and events past; it really did not matter what we spoke. I just enjoyed the moment. It was not too long after that I heard the sound of a guitar on the other side of the house.
Yes, music, the only element that was missing in my mind. Everyone had a go with their guitar. I can't even remember who was playing now but yes, it was a time that everyone started to sing and enjoy each other's company. As the music was playing we were all gathered around a canvas that was out to be painted by every person that came out to the farewell. It was a canvas that Emma said she wanted to take with her to England. Well, is that not something that would be great. Oh yeah!!!
Well, the party wound down into the night with many people leaving but the music and the singing kept on going. It seemed like and never ending scene of songs. We all had to call it quits into the night but this was definitely an experience that took me back many years to the streets and families I knew in Sowa Town and the many memories that still remain with me till this day about that place and its inhabitants.
Well, I better get back to my studies. I think this was a well deserved break that I took to write this down. :)
Party
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