The Perfect Strangers

After failing to convince my extended family for a trip to Mysore to be part of the Dussehra celebrations I was able to sell the idea to a friend of mine, who was more than eager to hit the highway and break the routine. He was more interested about the adventures the highway had to offer. Headlights, dipper and indicators was what he was excited about than the light-laden Mysore Palace. But then, two of a kind always make a good pair. When in Mysore we experienced everything my family had feared...heat, traffic, crowd, commotion...but we also experienced history, grandeur, and the spirit of the Mysore Dussehra. But this post is not about the Mysore Palace or the city itself decorated like a bride that night. It’s about a family I met during this trip…

When on the highway I was informed by my friend that we would first visit some family friends of his and then go about doing our exploration. I really didn’t like the idea as meeting strangers, even though I am good at it, is not something I really enjoy. But I had no choice and our first stop in Mysore was the Central Food Technology Research of India, CFTRI. As we entered the gates of the CFTRI colony I went into flashback, of the 16 years of colony life I had in me. The CFTRI is one of the most beautiful colonies I have come across. Green, clean, expansive and peaceful is how I describe it. Legend has it that the Mysore kings allotted a mini palace and 150 acres of land surrounding it to Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru for a rent of Rs.1. The palace is now the office of the CFTRI and the beautiful colony surrounds it. Colonies are a world away from the world. Difficult to explain but a pleasure to live in. Though I couldn’t explore this colony to my heart’s content, I longed to spend my retired life here.

Here we met a typical Tamilian family. Well educated, highly informed, traditional and soft spoken is a typical Tamilian family for me. Warm, affectionate and friendly are the adjectives I would like to add now. This family knew my friend since he was a kid and their affection towards him was justified. But I was so floored by their simplicity and openness that I became an instant fan. One of the other reasons could also be that people in the so called metros have become so self-centered that anything and anybody coming in the way of their plans or lives irks them badly, me included. I was shown around the house, and then we had a sumptuous meal with drumstick saambar being the highlight. The discussions ranged from cricket, history, entertainment, education etc and I found myself so comfortable with the family. It was so hard to believe that in this day and age when people have so less time for themselves this family had no issues in cancelling whatever plans they had and being the perfect host.

We, the so called metro dwellers take ourselves so seriously. Kindness, warmth, affection among strangers is so hard to find in a city. On a popular reality show Javed Akhtar reminded that the real India is still alive in the small towns, I got a glimpse of it in Mysore.