Tirupati et al

It was a good trip.. quite different from my usual experience. The last couple of times I had been there with my cousins and relatives.. This time it was just the three of us, me and my parents. The last few times we had climbed up the hill/stairs.. This time we went on a package tour (AP Tourism). The last...we could see the sun. This time.. it was cold, drizzling and foggy (hardly any visibility.. 20m or so.. and the driver still managed to drive decently fast and safe downhill)

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Disclaimer: A collage of my imagination/observation....

I didnt notice her when she boarded the coach. I had drowned myself in AR Rahman on my iPod. It was only after a couple of minutes of her staring at me did i notice.. quite a pleasant face, sharp eyes, neck-length hair. And there was nothing awkward about her stare... or her mother's. yes, they were 5 of them.. in fact, 6... she, her parents, her sister, bro-in-law and their small cute a-few-months-old baby.

I gave them a faint smile.. and got back to my music. It was only when the bus stopped for our dinner that I got to see them more. They seemed a loving family.. warm and friendly. Everyone was showering their attention on the newly born. And the baby was enjoying it all through! Once in a while, she would turn my side and give me a known-you-long kinda look.

I found out her name.. And then I noticed that her sister walked with a slight limp. Even she did. (I was wondering.. whats that? some kinda hereditary disorder or what.. but their parents seemed fine..) In a way, my respect for the guy (bro-in-law) increased. He has married someone with a walking disability (though quite slight a limp). It is quite rare to find somebody like that.. someone who values the person rather than their physical structure.. someone who didnt let the others' feelings of 'looking good or bad' cloud his own judgement..

And thus, we continued the journey up the hill and into the night.

Early morning, we reached our destination and were allotted our cottages at the resort on top. We met again at breakfast at the restaurant and thats when I noticed the thick, long, curved scar on the bro-in-law's face.

And I saw her crying.. rather sobbing.. Her family was trying to console her. Thats when I noticed her legs' finger rings..'metti'.. the like Hindus wear after marriage.

It seems.. she lost her husband a few months back in an accident at the same place.. when they and her sister's family were traveling downhill in their car.. and it took a tumble....