I was on an electric train to my uncle's house in Chennai, when I came across a group of middle aged office-goers who were celebrating the end of another working day.
As I pulled my suitcase and sat beside them, trying to balance my bags in the train that just jerked for motion, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation; and as I did that, I began to observe that these men were no different from us youngsters; they joked, shared, and cared just as we do, when we're in our own little circles; the rants and ramblings; the fun and the picking; teasing a friend about a call from his wife, among other little things; showing off one's multi-lingual ability; sharing experiences out of the 'work-sphere', chatting and laughing about the day, making sure politics was arguably the most entertaining conversation of the evening, while the semi-humid evening Chennai breeze brought much relief to mood after the topic. I also noticed that during all these wonderful moments these men shared, they also merrily 'high-fived' and 'low-fived' each other generously!
As the train blew it's horn, braking and coming to a halt, one of the gentlemen was very nice to invite me into the conversation by asking me for the time - unfortunately for me, it wasn't the right time to make small talk.
My turn to get off the train and miss out on a whole lot of new conversations made it sad; but I learnt that not all middle aged people are boring or stuck up - they still have the fun in their blood, but somehow choose not to exhibit them for reasons galore!
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