Finding Neverland

You were told that the train to Neverland - that land of contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness - started from Platform 9 3/4. You spent ages just looking for Platform 9 3/4. You went to that Platform 9 and the other Platform after it, the one with no number, which you figured would be Platform 10. But there was no Platform 10. At least there was no board assigning it the title 'Platform 10'. You stood around for quite a while, you walked the length and the breadth of the platform looking for some board, some paint on the wall, some graffiti, just some symbol which said that you were standing on Platform 10. You asked people around whether it was Platform 10, no one responded. They just shrugged their shoulders in a non-chalant way. Some looked at you and shuddered 'coz you had asked for the unthinkable - how can anyone in their right frame of mind be looking for Platform 10? You then asked people whether they knew where the station master sits, so that you can then enquire whether you are on Platform 10...but no one knew. Finally when you had spent hours and days looking for Platform 10, you saw a man in uniform. You assumed that should be the station master. You rushed to him to ask, Am I standing on Platform 10? He said, Use your brains fella. If the previous one is Platform 9, and the one before that is 8, then of course this is 10. That's when you realized, Of course, how foolish. All the last few days, you stood where you thought you wanted to be. But you could attain nothing, 'coz you were unsure of yourself. You went and asked all the wrong people whether what you thought was right, but of course, they refused to help. Everybody had their own problems and they could not bother less about a new fella with his own new set of questions.

You were happy that you were on Platform 10. Oh that's when you realized that the search did not end here. Where you actually wanted to be was Platform 9 3/4, and catch a train from there which took you to Neverland.

You stood from Platform 10, and gazed over to that Platform 9. From where you stood, you could clearly see a sign painted in red and blue and white which read platform 9. There was no other platform in between the two platforms, 9 and 10. Where is Platform 9 3/4, you wondered? That's when the idea struck you. Probably you can just run through the walls of Platform 9, just like Harry Potter and his friends did in J K Rowling's fantasy world. You took your luggage cart and rushed to the walls. As you were rushing to the walls, you had this entire fantasy illusion of how the walls would part and just let you in. Or maybe the walls would suddenly turn transparent and you could just walk into it. As your speed increased, you had this fabulous view of how you would get into Platform 9 3/4 successfully and how you would rave about it to all your friends and family. As your luggage cart almost touched the walls, you were shocked to see that the walls were not parting. It still seemed as solid as ever. Your cart bumped into the walls with a loud thud, your luggage fell over. People around began to laugh at you, on your seeming foolishness. You got up embarassed, shook the dust off your pants, collected your bags, arranged them again on the cart and began to walk back. You remembered in the book that Harry had to do it multiple times. You tried again. Sigh! With the same result.

As you tried again and again, and made yourself the butt of the others' jokes, you realized that this is not the same as JK Rowling's fantasy world. This was your own world and you had to make your own rules. So you jumped from that Platform 9, and walked 3/4th of the distance between Platform 9 and 10. You awaited the train. People around began shouting at you, began calling you names, began asking you to get back up on the platform. This way you would kill yourself, they were saying. Some sounded genuinely concerned. But you could not bother less, you had made up your mind. You had to catch the train from Platform 9 3/4 and this made complete sense.

You could hear the train coming. The screaming of the people around reached boombastic decibels. They were all calling for you to get out of the train's way. First the wind blew - that smoky, petrol-smelling wind that presages the arrival of the train - and then the twin lights pierced the darkness, and then there it was, gray and white, the train. As the lights neared, your eyes began to feel blinded, you clenched your eyes shut tight, for what seemed like almost a minute. The train began honking, the driver began screaming, but you still did not move. With luggage cart in tow, you stood there stoic, ready to face the consequences of your own actions. And then you could feel the thud. In what seemed like an eternity, you could feel the train snaking through your spine. The pain was too much to bear, and you opened your eyes to a new world.

As you opened your eyes, you noticed that you were no longer on the train tracks. You were within the train, and there was a pretty hostess treating you to goodies. There was lots of food. It was the land of plenty. Milk and honey was flowing freely everywhere. You asked the hostess whether this was the train to Neverland. She nodded with that smug smile of someone who knew it all, and was often faced with the same question. You ate some, drank some, slept some, seemed to enjoy the ride.

But as you rode more and more in the train, you began to feel lonely. You wanted to make some friends. You had left your family and friends in the land of that Platform 9, 10 and 9 3/4. You took up the friendship of the first guy who came and introduced himself to you. He promised you wealth, goodness, friendship, loyalty and in short, the works, for ages to come. You were new in the train, you knew nobody. You took up his offer of friendship. Those were some happy days. You ate together, drank together, went to all fun places in the train together, flirted with the hostesses together. You thought that this was to last for all times. But then sadly his destination was not Neverland, and he got down before the destination.

You were heartbroken, you cried for days with no end. You took up on chocolate and booze. Sadly those two never satisfied your loneliness pangs. There were still some more acquaintances who offered you their friendship, but this time you made it sure to ask them their destination before they started on the journey with you. You noticed that most of them were getting down before Neverland and hence you chose not to get too close with them.

Along the journey you met some people who were planning to get down at Neverland as well. They were also looking for contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness. Neverland was that promised land. You struck a bond with these guys. You became friends. You did all fun things together. Other people in the train were getting jealous of your friendship. It was excellent company throughout the journey towards Neverland. All that you could wait for, was Neverland now.

But Neverland never came. You had been on the train for months together now, but there was no trace of Neverland. Your friends began getting dissatisfied. Some of them began bonding with other people on the train who were getting off at stops that were approaching in the next few days. They found that their promised land of contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness was with this new companion of theirs. They got down with their new found accomplices at stops before Neverland. And really it was not their fault. Neverland was not be seen at all. And whenever you asked the hostesses where Neverland was, they had no answer. You had the patience to wait until Neverland approached. Not everyone else had the same level of Patience.

That was when you realized that your land of contentment, fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness was probably where you caught the train from.

You were distressed when that realization struck you. You had made months of journey on this train now. And it would take you as much time to get back. You began to panic as this realization struck you. And as you were already panicking through this one thought, another thought struck you. You had not seen a train going back in the reverse direction in all your months of journey towards Neverland. So how do you get back from Neverland? Do you stay put in the train until Neverland comes, no matter how long it takes? Or do you get down and begin looking for alternate approaches to get back to where you think Neverland actually is?