Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear

A berth in an AC train has never failed to allure me to sleep. I rate it as one of the best beds that anyone can have.
I usually cover myself with a blanket and sleep for really long durations with short breaks to appease my stomach.
I detest the idea of being connected when I am sleeping. Hence I switch off my cell phone before going into that blissful state.
I was on my way back to Mumbai after attending a childhood friend’s wedding. Attended the wedding and even before it got over I congratulated the half married couple and left to catch the 3:00 AM train to Mumbai. Had I missed that, I would not have been able to attend the office on the next day. The entire plan was made in haste and I ended up spending more time traveling and less time at the wedding.

I got up at 11:00 in the morning for some fresh coffee. Imagine opening your eyes in the morning to find 3 really good looking females and 1 okay looking female in the same compartment. I cursed myself for having slept longer. I got down from the top berth and looked at the females to make some space for me. They were all coming back from a wedding in Calcutta and had so many luggages that I had to put my single small bag in space between the seats when I boarded the train that night.
I have never been able to figure out why females invariably need to carry so many luggages.
As I got down from the top berth, one of the females moved to one side and made some space for me simultaneously apologizing for occupying all the space available for luggage. Voila! A conversation had started without any effort and that too so early.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face and came back to the seat quickly. One of the females was quite a look alike of Riya Sen; she was the one who had offered the seat. She caught my attention again. My presence had silenced their never ending talk. I knew within that it would be resumed with even greater vigor shortly. The uncomfortable silence made me take my cell phone out & switch it on; as soon as it was put on messages started getting delivered on it.
4 msgs and all of them were implying a sense of urgency, requesting me to contact office as soon as possible. One of my team mates called me up before I could contact office, asking me to contact my PL right away. She transferred the phone and my PL broke news that promised an abundance of opportunities for me. I was selected for a new project @ Greece. Just as he was about to reveal more, the network was gone. I fumbled with my phone trying to find a network manually; I did find one but was unable to make an outgoing call. I messaged my PL to call me again. The network was so bad that nothing was audible when he called. I hung up telling him that I would contact as soon as the train stopped @ a station. I called him up after some time when the network tower was so high it would have come out of my phone.

I was selected for an Onsite assignment @ Greece and was to fly in about 2 week’s time. The project was to be kicked off in a day or two. The short conversation was so pleasing. It filled my head and soul with anxiety and happiness. My face had become a mirror of my emotions. I had been waiting for something like this for quite some time. Riya Sen triggered the conversation again by asking me if I was flying to Greece. She had overheard my conversation with the PL and so had everyone else in that compartment. We started talking and soon another beautiful stranger joined. I boasted about our Job and how it frequently demands us to go to various geographical locations to implement projects for giants like GE, HSBC, CITI etc. I kept them interested with my talk for sometime but my mind was somewhere else. All but Riya Sen got down at Durg station. She was a good company and accompanied me till Akola. She was one of those people who had multitude of topics to talk on and who knew exactly how to start a conversation. She reached her destination at 10:00 in the night and I helped her with the luggage when she got down.
All awhile even amidst those conversations my mind was working on the plan to go to Greece. There was so much to be done in so less time. I was hoping everything to happen according to the plan.

I went to my berth after she got down. As I stretched myself on the berth, I was thinking deeply about things. I realized I was feeling sad because flying to a foreign land would estrange me from my few close friends who I spent time with. It would also mean short and less frequent visits to my family. Some faces flashed in my mind turning me really sad. I knew I would not meet some of them for long time to come. I remembered something I read so often on the rear view mirror of the vehicles, ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear’. In the mirror of my heart I could see some faces for which I was feeling stronger than usual; they were definitely closer to my heart than they apparently appeared to be. In some time that berth in the AC train started working and I unconsciously covered myself with the blanket. I switched off my cell phone again and went into that blissful state.