“Journeys Never End” - My entry for the Get Published Contest

The Idea
This tale has its origins in a moving tale that was narrated to me when I undertook a trip to Rameshwaram a few years back. I have retained the names of the characters as narrated to me by the story-teller. It is a love-story of a Tam-Brahm senior architect and a Bengali trainee architect.

What Makes This Story ‘Real’
I cannot verify or ascertain if the tale is 100 percent true; but I had this story narrated to me on a long train journey and I feel that anyone who has ever been in love will find something special in this story.

Extract:
It was 9:35 PM and my train to Rameshwaram was scheduled to leave Egmore station at 9:40 PM. The Tambaram-Chennai Beach local train reached Egmore just in time for me to run like Usain Bolt and get into the Rameshwaram Express.

I tried to catch my breath as I settled into my seat L-21. I looked at my fellow-passengers; a middle-aged couple eating their dinner, two nuns praying and a man in his thirties; with a copper urn in his hands.

Train to Rameshwaram and a copper urn - probably his parents' ashes I surmised. How wrong was I? I would learn what true love meant in the next fourteen hours of my journey to Rameshwaram - a story of love that overcame all odds!

A parting thought:
Does true love transcend boundaries of space and time? Can someone grieve the loss of a loved one - forever? Is not this life too precious to be just just grieving on and on; instead of moving on with one’s life and duties?

Endnote:
This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.