30th Street Philly Station

Just a random rambling that I want to take off my mind for a week.Not meant for public consumption as such.
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I recently went to California to meet this good friend of mine when he dropped in from India for some work. He graduated from Villanova University. Our strongest point was that of sharing a weird sense of humor(That comes from looking the Philly of everyday things from a unconventional perspective). One fine day he decided that India was the right place for him, and I bade him farewell by going to his resident place called Stafford located in South Eastern Pennsylvania.

If you travel on the Northeastern corridor of Amtrak's Washington DC to New York or Boston line you might have noticed the stop for 30th Street Philadelphia station way to get to starboard is get down at that station and change to local SEPTA line towards Paoli. A noticeable difference from the rest of the country is that they have some quaint trains with human conductors punching and verifying tickets. Its almost travelling back in time.

There is a kind of unsaid camaredrie between friends who know each other for a long time thats kind of missing in other acquaintances and the social interactions that happen everyday or week. Its kind of like coming home. It rejuvenates you and flushes your memory.

After his departure, many a time I had to travel to New York for meetings,etc.There was a longing in me to get down there and meet up my old pal whenever I used to cross that path. Now I had the time and money but the person I want to see at that place is absent.(One of life's ironies like that of wanting a higher resolution monitor when all you need is some decent engaging content).It helps to know somebody so well known around your spatial co-ordinates. That kind of geological proximity allows you to take off a weekend to their place and enjoy the company. Just a wishful thinking, not that it bothers me a whole lot.

The best of my buddies are nowhere near my corridor and This last week on my way to New York, I no longer felt that longing.(Agreed that meeting him in person at a different place does make it a moot point!). Slowly I began to wonder how the transaformation took place.(A train ride does give you that luxury of thinking anything in depth). The Quarter Life Crisis as someone said.

These days the conversations mostly happen to be around marriage or plans about it. About career changes and the fear of instability otherwise.Gone was the time when we used to just idle away our days in thinking about whats the next coolest thing that can be done. Now people develop personalities.Despite all these technological advantages like instant communication there is hardly anything that you would say at length that is half-interesting as the material you were thinking of when you were young.Probably not knowing whats impossible help us entertain all kinds of possibilities.Flights of Fancy is the name given when you grow old .

Because at this time of the life people are mature enough to think whats possible and whats not.Whats good and whats not.What makes the next best step in the calculus of your career.
Some call it realism.I dont know. If it makes you happy I guess that okay.

In fact I believe I have some brilliant friends who are absolutely unique and fantastic in their own way.I kind of have a gratituous feeling for having been associated with such a kind.I should be real lucky to even have had the time to meet some many interesting people.Each one to his own path but we have some moments that we could treasure with the guarantee that things are never gonna be the same again.

The painting on my wall pretty much sums up the optimism towards all these good folks.

"I Have a Premonition that soars on Silver Wings
Its a dream of your accomplishments of many wondrous things,
I do not know beneath which sky or where you'll challenge fate,
I Only know it will be High,I Only know it will be Great!"
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