Published: July 11, 2022
It’s been a few days since I met my last stranger and the only thing that was keeping me away was the rain and bad weather. It was mostly dry during the month of June this year, but now, it seems like the dry spell is over. The month of July is not only freezing cold but literally super wet this time, at least for the last few days. Besides, I actually got scared of getting myself drenched along with my camera as it happened recently during a similar attempt. And as such I had no choice but to sit back, relax and chill!
Well, actually there was yet another reason – service disruption for public transportation. Bad weather always causes some chaos in the service. Now on top, the employees are fed up too. Although I don’t know the inside story but soaring prices and privatization was probably the reason for this massive unrest among employees in that sector.
And when the employees refuse to work, we call it a “strike”. It’s a closure of service – in-action. But here in Sydney it is called “industrial action”. Well, there is always an irony in everything. But let’s cut to the chase. So, this (in)action happened once few days back. Then the departing govt. negotiated but looks like it’s happening again. Striking a deal of your dream to prevent this massive “industrial action” of employee strike, is sometimes a difficult job I guess – short of a real nightmare, perhaps!
Anyways, I am a layman and as such I have no business in deal making or even breaking. All I wanted was to take the backseat in the train and relax! Well, that may sound like a plan. And in fact, it always is the plan when the sun is shining, wind is blowing, birds are chirpings, and the clocking is ticking! Well, let’s not get carried away by too much poetry for now. Let’s rather stick to our plan for the moment! So, with that plan – along with other plans – when I came to the station today, I found it rather full. In addition, because of these disruptions in the service many trains got cancelled and as such the delay was commonplace and so was the huge gathering – the unmoving crowd along the platform.
But luckily it was only two minutes waiting in the station today (July 08, 2022) while I could see the train coming. When the doors opened, I went to the lower deck and found only one empty seating – a three-seater at the back – my favorite one. But there is a trouble – no sunlight. The one next to, which is bathed in the sunlight is already booked. But hey – less is more – I calmed myself down! So, myself and my backpack settled onto that empty seating. So far so good! But there was more to it – some trouble – for my head. As I tried to lean back hoping that my head will touch the wall behind, for it to rest – it didn’t. It kept going. As I lean more, it kept going more! It came to a point when if I lean further my head will now make a full yoga posture going all the way when I will be able to see what’s in my back instead of what’s in my front! (In the older train models sometimes, the backseat is not right at the back. Instead, there is a huge gap between the carriage wall and the last seating. But I didn’t know about it before today!)
With this trouble however, I gave up the idea of sleep and dream during this journey by train to CBD episode! Although the compartment was full and lots of drama going on which I thoroughly enjoyed in the past, today however, I kept myself busy with my other companion – my cell phone. Half an hour has passed and its now time to get off at St James station. The breeze is not that bad – it’s cool but not freezing cold. However, instead of going into the park, I kept walking until I reached Westfield and from there, I went to townhalls. More than an hour has gone by and although I spoke to a few people here and there, they didn’t have enough time – half an hour seems like a long period for them. So, into two hours or so I went to Circular Quay – a place that is always buzzing with people – and some of them are perhaps laid back, relaxed for the day – taking it easy; or at least that’s what I thought. (The above photo can be downloaded in its original size from here.)
Another reason for going there was because although I met most of my strangers around townhalls so far, I haven’t met many in Circular Quay as yet. So, after coming here I decided to take a stroll towards the art gallery and onto the overseas passenger terminal. It’s a nice long walk and also a nice long sit depending on what you prefer right next to the spectacular view of the Harbour. And there I met my next encounter.
So here is Juna from Japan. From September last year she is living in Fiji as an international student for studying English. As we walked in the footpath next to the passenger’s terminal, I heard some live music.
“Do you like live music?” – my interrogation begins.
“Yes – of course” – with a (semi-)laugh she replied.
“Can you sing??”
“nooo” – her embarrassed reply.
And my jabbing went on “You need to sing… Japanese music…”
“Do you know any Japanese song?” – gathering herself quickly she charged.
Well, with my coarse tone of voice I am not quite sure if I should ever say yes to singing – Japanese or Chinese, or any other song for that matter – even if I knew how to sing in the first place!
So, my obvious response was – you guessed it – “No way!”
As I kept looking at her though my own eyes and also by the “eyes” of my camera – viewfinder – I noticed sometime cute!
“WOW! You have a dimple.” – my astute observation!
“Only one side” – she responded after the laugh.
“Do your granma used to do a pinch” … “like a thumb pinch?” – making the gesture of a pinch with my figures, and then trying to mimic the pinch by my own hand – I went on!
“noooo” – moving her face swiftly away from my hand she replied as she was blushing!
“It’s a fun thing” … “My granma used to give me thumb pinch.” – I added.
Awkwardly though, I have a dimple too and my granma loved to pinch it when I was a child – fun memories.
“There are lots of Japanese people in Sydney.” “Do you know that?” – I had to say something!
“Most of restaurants or shop in Sydney … Asian people working right. Staff is Asian.” – she added
When I heard the words “restaurant” and “staff”, I suddenly conjured both and replied:
“Yessss … Sushi 🍣 do you like sushi?”
After replying in affirmation, she added:
“Recently I had sushi” “Because in Fiji it’s hard to get sushi 🍣”
Now it was my turn:
“I wanna go to Fiji” … “Which time is the best time to go to Fiji?”
“Now” … “From September to March is rainy season so this period.”
“But it’s just too hot.” – she went on – “I don’t need jumper or warm cloths.”
Well, it might be yet another wonderful plan to trip to Fiji for a vacation however, my accompanying clock was not my best companion at those hours, so we had to wrap up shortly after.
