ting ton ting
YaatrigaN kripaya dhyan deejiye, 2591/92 Gorakhpur-Bangloar Superfast Express todi hi der mein platform number 5 par aarahi hain.
May I have your attention please, 2591/92 Gorakpur-Bangalore Superfast Express is arriving shortly on platform number 5.
Thank You!
A slight pandemonium is created by the announcement. It has also brought cheer on the faces of the passengers-to-be. They get up from wherever they were sitting and start packing whatever they have unfolded for a brief wait at the platform; though more often than not the 'brief' extends to a few hours.
A few brave ones stand at the tip of the platform, bend down and wait for a glimpse of the diesel engine. Luggages are lifted, coolies line up, parents shout at their children to stay along with them, pick-pocketers get ready for their duty, the whistle is heard from a distance, the announcements increase and finally you are also ready; train journeys are always special..
By special, I don't necessarily mean 'not boring'. Sometimes they are. Once it so happened to me that I had to wait for 12 hours to board my train and finally the train got delayed by 19 and a half hours. But it also gave the me the opportunity to sleep on the platform, throw water at your fellow passengers out of frustration(it was also summer then), take a walk in one of the busiest streets of Kanpur with a 20kg bag on your shoulders just to kill time, get out of the train onto an open field while it stood like a rock for hours without getting the green signal..
It will be timely if I tell you this golden tip which my friend gave me, while waiting for a train at the Lucknow junction:
'When you are waiting for a train, it won't come. When are checking out the timetable, it won't come. When you are swearing at it with the fellow passengers-to be, it won't. When you are blaming the govt, the driver, the TTE, it won't come. Surrender your fate to the almighty, and here comes the train.'
Believe it or not(well, I believe), it was true that day!
Well, well, Opprtunity?!, someone might remark. Well, if everything happened in the world as I wanted it to, first thing, I would have to close this blogspot as I would have nothing to write. It is uncertainty that gives us the opportunity to discover new things and new things are most often interesting.
Uncertainty is what makes life living..
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
v nice varun....the reader is on his toes..and yes @ kanpur station uncertainities r common..!
ReplyDeleteI must say, this is a classical write up describing the plight of southward bound travellers from kanpur. Ur realistic depiction of the scene, when the train arrives, makes me relive my own experiences at our historical rly station. Nevertheless, it(the historic ...) helps u realise an even more general picture of a concept which Dr. Heisenberg might have spent gruelling hours in his lab for..."The Uncertainty" ;)
ReplyDeletegr8 job overall!
i also had Heisenberg in mind while writing this up..
ReplyDeleteVery good style of writing and a universal theme....I enjoyed reading it! Hope u write more like this
ReplyDelete