Train travel

Day 29 OctPoWriMo

Prompt: Railroad tracks

Form: Free verse

The squalid, squat, sanguine structure
once busy and bustling, is now bleak
the surreality of the empty room envelopes me in desolation
waiting rooms used to be overflowing with people
now the vacant benches wait forlornly
pigeons parade on people-less platforms
no hawkers and no vendors screech
no jostling crowds, no luggage strewn around carelessly
the quiet, the emptiness cling icily to my soul.

Then the clangour and clamour of the chugging train
tooting twice tiredly
as it moves on the worn out waiting tracks that are
patient, prone and parallel
coolies are neither there nor required
as the few passengers have just a small carry bag each.

Masked I board the sanitized, slightly decrepit compartment
reminiscent of my childhood ramshackle trains
no air-conditioning, no rush, just a handful of passengers
surely not a childhood memory
as buildings and fields whiz past backwards
my hair is a messy bird’s nest in the breeze
I can feel my eyes smarting from grit
I am a ten year old asking my mom excitedly
” how far is nani’s* home?”
but there are no siblings, no packed lunch and eatables mom would carry
for the annual, long 36 hours journey
no easy banter with co-passengers
no running up and down the coach
no chattering away into the wee hours of night
ensconced in the coveted upper berth.

The barren stations stand stoically
the speeding lampposts have lost their lustre
I sit pensively, my book neglected, the song in my earphone playing unheard
hoping and praying nothing would go wrong
railway journeys are not the same anymore.

*Nani- maternal grandmother