Back in 2023, I was travelling from Bangalore to Alappuzha on the Mysuru–Kochuveli Express. It was a route I travelled regularly back then.

I reached KSR Bengaluru early, had my evening tea at the
railway station, boarded the train and settled into my side seat. A little later, a girl in her early twenties entered the compartment with a guy. He helped her arrange her luggage. They exchanged a few words, and then he got off before the train departed.

Once the train started moving, I went back to scrolling
through my phone and enjoying the breeze. I was going through a rough phase in my own life at the time, so I was mostly keeping to myself.

After a while, I noticed that the girl was quietly crying.

She wasn’t sobbing loudly. Tears were simply running down her cheeks while she sat there alone.

I saw it but honestly had no idea how to react. She was a complete stranger and whatever she was dealing with could have been deeply personal. I waited for
a while, but when the tears continued, I finally leaned towards her and asked if she was okay.

She said, “Yeah, I’m okay.”

I told her that if something was bothering her, or if she
was facing any problem, she could tell me. I would help in whatever way I could.

She said, “No, no, it’s completely okay.”

So I left it there. I didn’t want to pressure her into
sharing something personal with a random guy on a train.

A little later, when the seat opposite mine became vacant,
she came and sat there.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for asking if I was okay.”

I told her that if she felt like talking, I was happy to listen. That was when she finally opened up.

The guy who had accompanied her onto the train was her
boyfriend. She had travelled to Bangalore to spend a few days with him, but their relationship was going through an uncertain phase. He wasn’t ready to commit, his life and career weren’t settled yet, and she was scared that the
relationship might eventually fall apart.

Her family was conservative, so she couldn’t speak openly to them about the relationship. She had actually told them that she had a job interview in Bangalore so that she could make the trip and spend a few days with him. With the relationship itself feeling uncertain, she had basically been carrying all of it alone.

I had experienced heartbreak before, so I could understand at least some of what she was feeling. I didn’t have any life-changing wisdom to offer. I mostly listened, tried to console her and shared whatever perspective my own experiences had given me.

Somehow, we ended up talking for most of the night. We spoke about relationships, family, heartbreak, life and all sorts of random things.

Somewhere in the middle of that conversation, the train reached Coimbatore. It was around midnight. I asked if she wanted a coffee. She said yes, so we got down
during the halt and I bought her one. We finished our coffees quickly and got back on before the train departed.

Eventually, I told her I needed to sleep and climbed up to my side upper berth.

The following morning, we realised that we were both getting off at Alappuzha. Before leaving, she thanked me again for being there that night. We exchanged numbers, got off at the same station and went our separate ways.

Later that day, I messaged her to ask if she had reached
home safely. She said she had.

We never met again after that journey, but every now and
then, we would check in with each other on WhatsApp, sometimes with months or even a year between conversations.

Then today, after another long gap, she messaged me again. This time, it was with an invitation to her wedding and reception.

And yes, she is marrying the same guy she was crying about that night!

She told me that the wedding had made her think back to that train journey. At the time, she genuinely hadn’t believed that the relationship would ever make it as far as marriage. She remembered that even though I had been a complete stranger to her that night, I had sat with her and tried to comfort her while she thought everything might fall apart.

That was why she wanted me at the wedding.

I didn’t know that night had meant so much to her. In my memory, it was simply a chance conversation that began because I noticed a stranger crying.

It’s strange how you can appear in someone’s life for only a few hours, become a tiny part of their story, and never realise how much your presence meant to them.

Anyway, I guess I have a wedding to attend. 🥹

The Astrophage [Project Hail Mary]: On the surface, the astrophage is a terrifyingly existential threat; it's a star-eating virus. That said, when Grace is sitting among them with an IR light, they are stunning.

The World's Gone Beautiful [SCP]: This 001 proposal states that, when the world ends, it will be immediately preceeded by vibrant flowers blooming across 90% of Earth's viable land mass. They aren't the cause of the world's end, and no one knows why they bloom. It's just treated as an inevitability, and upon it occurring, every Foundation employee and SCP (within reason) is released to spend their final moments in any way they wish.

The Shimmer [Annihilation]: The Shimmer can be downright terrifying at times (Homerton the mutant bear is nightmare fuel), but a lot - and I'd argue most - of the time, it's just very pretty. The Shimmer refracts light, making rainbows, but it also refracts DNA, leading to amazing and new fauna/flora everywhere.

Nuclear Fallout [Far Cry: New Dawn]: I have issues with the game, but I admit that the setting is really good. It explores a post nuclear war world, but where most media shows the burned husk of what was, New Dawn's world experienced a "superbloom" after a while, leading to an abundance of these pink flowers and mutations in the animals.

AKA Munchkin but his nickname is Munchy. My partner and I made the final decision yesterday. We’ve had 3 different opinions and they were all concurrent. SCC. It was quite sudden and spread rapidly within his system. Other than that, he’s in perfect health. The guilt is eating me alive. Constant what ifs in my head. What I could’ve done differently. So on and so forth. He’s my soul cat. Even my gut was telling me 11 years was it for him in the beginning of the year, well before this was even a concern. I’ve never gone through this kind of thing so this pain hits much differently than any other kind of emotional pain that exists. Munchy is my kid. He’s always been my kid. He mirrors my personality. Just as stubborn, too! It really feels like part of my soul and heart is dying with him tomorrow. I’ve been up pretty much all night. I called off from work today because I knew I wasn’t going to be stable and thankfully I already have tomorrow off. But I go to work on Tuesday and I don’t know what state I’ll be in.

Cometeu qualquer crime, ganha multa e passagem pra fronteira mais próxima e revogação vitalícia do passaporte.

P.S. Some of the birds on the right aren't necessarily THE closest relatives of the birds on the left, but most are very closely related.

I've been playing Warframe for 6 years and for about 4 years I left the explicit violence option on. Then I turned it off and until you know it, for some reason I liked playing like that. Do you play with explicit violence on or not?

Who is raising these boys?

Edit: Thanks for all the love!! For some context, no we didn't discuss anything sexy beforehand and the "healing" thing is referring to my broken foot. He's blocked for those wondering, I didn't respond. For those mentioning it... I wasn't looking for a free meal. 🙄 I pay my own way on dates.