Level Crossing

Twice before I had badgered my taxi driver to hurry up, as soon as I opened my mouth to pester him again he indicated that the level crossing ahead was closed. This was something neither he nor I could help but wait patiently. I reassured myself that we had almost reached the railway station and won't be late. I was on my way to receive my daughter who was coming from Hyderabad. While enduring the endless wait for the gate to open my attention got diverted to the assimilating crowd ; the Bihari rickshaw wallas, the fish and vegetable vendors, the local people, women with their big red bindis and crisp cotton sarees. I realised that over last two and half decades I had become a part of these people, this city, their culture; dressing like them, speaking their language and there were times when I had caught myself even thinking in the language I had once worked so hard to acquire as my own!
My thoughts took me to my first train journey to Kolkata where I was visiting as a newly wed bride. I was apprehensive and little scared about how I would adjust in a totally different society. I was a Punjabi girl, raised in Gujarat, now married in to a Bengali family. My fate was taking me to a town I knew nothing about. It had been fascinating to read novels revealing this culture but being a part of it was a totally different deal. My sister-in-law and her husband, who were travelling with us, we're trying to relax me by cracking jokes and telling me more about the family, specially my Ma-in-law who I would now meet. My husband seemed to understand my apprehensions so he just let me be. His intermittent assuring smile was my only comfort. I realised that thinking so much about unknown situations will not help me in any way so I just gazed out of the window. The speeding train and the green surroundings had a calming effect.
The vegetation of this region was very different than what I had ever seen in Gujarat or Punjab. The lush green paddy fields that I was seeing for the first time, the coconut and banana trees around the little hutment areas, and the most amazing were the small ponds near every settlement. I was told that people