Remembering Giri during Lockdown

Giri was my school classmate. He too was based in Neyveli, the same place where i belong to and so we used to meet up almost every evening and spend some time together, chatting about everything. Giri was physically challenged but he used to be very positive in outlook, cheerful and bold. He passed away unfortunately in 2015 after a brief illness. As the lockdown continues, one evening, i happened to recall an incident that used to happen often every evening.
THE 7.30 TRICHY VEHICLE

The early night sky is as magical as ever. The dark canopy of darkness is dotted with twinkling stars. The fabric of mystical silence envelopes the world, seemingly trying to communicate something which we cannot comprehend.
Day after day, sitting at a lonely, chosen silent haunt, Giri and me used to inhale this existential silence. We found a hundred interpretations between us as we discussed this celestial mystery over roasted peanuts at roughly half past seven every night.
Our conversations sure would have, am sure, rivaled those of Socrates and Plato, as we transcended known and unknown metaphysical theories connecting them with our own experiences. We argued and debated on the efficacy of these theories, touching upon the entire gamut of Realism, Idealism, Pragmatism with a liberal sprinkling of Vedanta.
Of course, we used to pause to admire the half-baked propositions and notions that sprung out of our amateur heads, amazed at our own capacities.
It was around this time that our flow of full blown philosophy would be halted, at the droning, buzzing sound in the magical canopy of the dark sky, the source of our exalted dialogue. We both would lift our heads with a sense of déjà vu. “The 7.30 Trichy Vehicle”, Giri would mutter with a chuckle.
The tiny avatar of an aeroplane invented by Man, an artificial foil to a real creation of God, with its flickering blue lights and a buzzing sound penetrating the lower stratosphere to reach the ground, would be visible….gliding across the dark sky at a measured pace…a delightful sight…that both of us would relish in silence, till it disappeared slowly further into the sky, with a reinforcement of the Doppler effect we studied at school.
This was a regular phenomenon, most often in the circumstances sketched above. And every time, we would be gazing at this sight like awe struck children, enjoying it over and over again.
The ephemeral nature of worldly experiences is time and again reiterated by the acts of God which are not intelligible to ordinary man. It is more than four long years that dear Giri embarked upon a new journey at another level unknown to us.
Today, as I stood outside my house, lonely and idly gazing at the sky above in silence, I realised the time was half past seven, the very same time that this flying object with its flickering lights and buzzing sound would appear, the “7.30 Trichy Vehicle” as Giri would call it with a material amusement.
With the lockdown in place, there would be no flight to Trichy…only a flight of fancy perhaps……what if Giri came back with his trademark chuckle and his remarkable confidence to overcome challenges from his birth…..what if….?
No, I told myself…, that lockdown is intransient. Dear Giri is beyond these earthly matters. He is continuing his journey, happy with the thought that everyone he came into contact with during his earthly journey, always think good of his noble nature and cheerful attitude.
Meanwhile, the “7.30 Trichy vehicle” will appear in the skies, after some days.