144 TO BOSTON

144 TO BOSTON

RAJAN V KOKKURI

 

“GIVE ME A CHILD TILL HE IS SEVEN & I WILL GIVE YOU A MAN”

Bruce Lipton

     The 1^st seven years of the child’s life is programming and next few next years are expression of that program.

I and my mother used to live in our ancestor house at a remote village of Thrissur. My father used to work in Bangalore those days. My mother had been to his place for few days vacation and returned. On that day I went to take bath in pond in our house. Generally, I try to swim on the steps and take bath. That day I saw wooden pole at distance I swam to that location without telling anything to my mother and swam back safely. My mother did not know I had learned swimming. Initially, she thought I had slipped into deep water. I had given a surprise and her anxiety became happiness suddenly. This was the 1^st wonderful achievement of my little childhood.

Right from the infant stage my mother had given me freedom, encouragement, and taught compassion. Years later we were living in a place called Neelasandra in Bangalore. Once a Keralite couple with two little girls came home and subsequently, we became very close family friends. It was during those days my respect for my ex-serviceman father was growing day by day by his relationships with people around.

Kunjnni my father’s colleague in Survey of India office was at my door steps when I opened the door in the midnight of that day. We went to his house by cycle and found she was no more. There was the requirement of taking her body to Palakkad immediately. There was no time to get death certificate and the chance of taking the body with permission was not possible. My father took up the responsibility. He lit a cigarette and sat back seat and took the body to Palakkad. I felt proud of my father and his helping actions guided me forever in my life. He has lived his life very simple helping everyone around.

Years went by while I was organizing the journey to the United States to attend my son's MS convocation at Penn State University. We had arranged to go to Newark and spend a day with Saji, one of my old Saudi pals who was staying in New Jersey. I worked with Saji in Al Khobar for several years, and we kept up our contact though many years passed after he left to USA. After years of wanting me to travel to the United States, Saji finally got a chance to hoist when my son Nikhil went to Pennsylvania University.

The thought of Uma the yesteryear tiny little girl’s face suddenly flashed my mind. I send a whatsup message to her, we are reaching New Jersey on 9^th August 2022. Is your place close by? Is there a chance for us to meet you. She replied, yes, my dear brother, we must meet. We are around 5 ½ hours driving distance from New Jersey but somehow, we want to you see you and Ani chechy.

I was simply a little let down to learn about the challenges posed by driving and distance. Uma took copies of our passports in order to explore every option. After a few hours, I was given two-way bus tickets to get to her location in Massachusetts. I never knew she would refuse to take the money from me.

We reached Newark airport in New Jersey on 9^th August 2022 and was welcomed by by close friend Saji Cyriac. The immigration was easy and we reached Saji’s lovely villa in New Jersey soon after. I met Saji’s wife Jinsy after many years. I was trying to recollect my connection with her. Once Saji had forgot to bring something from his home which was inside the Saudi Aramco compound in Dhahran. I had the co., car and Aramco ID, so I drove to Dhahran and managed to get the important document in time.

On August 10^th, we traveled via Peter Pan bus to Providence, Rhode Island. When Uma waved at the bus terminal, I was reminded of the little girl's hands. We were picked up by Uma Shaji, who took us to their beautiful villa in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Uma's adorable children, Chikku alias Samarth and Chinnu alias Samrudhi, as well as her intelligent dog, Koda, were thrilled to see us. They wanted to hear the stories we told them as kids. What a fortunate day it was to arrive at their house—it was Chinnu's birthday. After chatting and drinking tea for a while, we went to the Mexican Restaurant Ranch Chikko. It was a new experience for us, and the meal was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality.

We shared many memories while staying up until the middle of the night. Next day morning and then drove to the heart of Boston and saw many historical places. After that, we had a drive around Harvard and MIT. Time went by so quickly that I struggled to keep my eyes under control when I dropped them off at the bus stop. I made a lifelong commitment to return to see them. From the third floor of the BDA apartment across from the bus stop. Sometimes I to used to wait for hours to catch the BTS bus in Bangalore.

Uma's mother and I had a unique affinity and shared our Malayalam Makam Star birthday. I had just moved from Kerala and had no idea what to study to find employment. Uma's father, Dhanapalan uncle was Chief Draughtsman with BEL.  I had completed the same course from college. So, he helped me start my carrier with BPL and susequently helped me to become a well-known writer of authoring 2 BPL books by name BORN TO DREAM.

My bus travelling to college by Bangalore BTS bus route number 144, the little girl’s hand waving and  bus travelling from New York to Providence, all had something in a bonding. The episode looked like a dream come true.

END.