Life is a journey - travel it well. Easier said than done. Travel is not one of the most passionate things yours truly cherishes or relishes. However, if one must travel, train journeys are found to be better compared to other modes. Of late, a substantial portion of the existence being on trains brought back memories of the poem written by Robert Stevenson which we used to recite as children and reads as under:
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
In many a journey, we do find young parents dealing with a moody kid wailing for attention. The best course was to just divert their attention to the landscape that is flying past them. Slightly older kids would argue that it was the train that was moving and not the landscape forgetting that they were in the midst of an emotional crisis.
In another encounter, yours truly found a bunch of youngsters who were playing a present day game called "hand cricket" wherein the fingers used to fly at will but the arithmetic needed the calculator on the mobile. The dreary routine of travel was broken as in the case of the emotional child when yours truly volunteered to keep scores. The cautious players initially cross checked with the gadget and found that the new scorekeeper could be trusted. After one T20 was completed, the scorekeeper was given a certificate of appreciation for being able to add single digits upto 6 to the existing score. Thanking my stars as well as graciously accepting their felicitations, yours truly wished at least one of the mathematics teachers in the ten years of schooling and five years of college could have even made a fleeting reference to the mathematical ingenuity of this statistician. Unfortunately, they would only accept a Srinivasa Ramanujam as a disciple granting dismal scores for the "effortless (pun intended) performance".
On another occasion, yours truly alighted at a station where the train halted for a crossing. Immediately, a simian propped himself to the doorway to remind his descendant that it was improper to alight at stations in between. The other two doorways of the compartment were also taken up by similar teachers who scornfully thrust a peanut or two into their mouths as well as used up some mineral water to the boot. The other train passed without much notice while this train intended to move. Paying obeisance to the Lord Hanuman and mentally apologizing for breaking the rules, yours truly boarded the next compartment only to see them effortlessly move out from the moving train. A truly moving lesson!
Some lessons are not learnt well. Yesterday, I was encountered with a similar scenario where the train ground to a halt. Nonchalantly, I walked to the door forgetting all the lessons learnt and alighted from the train. This time, an infant clung to me from the rear teaching me to balance myself without hurting her. On alighting, she waved a good bye as she was apparently not happy with the hustle and bustle with lot of restrictions within the compartment. The parents were anxiously inquiring my final destination but there was no letting go. Minutes later, it was time to board the train as the signal had turned amber. The infant protested my attempt to board the train. Paying little heed the train was boarded only to be punished for the defiance with a loud bawl with co- passengers counselling that infants should not be carried and alighted at interim stations. Apparently, the simian brothers of the earlier journey were giving me some karmic lessons for not having kept the word!!!
Yours truly now reminisced this oft quoted passage:
Life is like a train journey, with its stations, with changes of routes and with accidents!!!
We board this train when we are born and our parents are the ones who get our ticket!
We believe they will always travel with us. As time goes by, other passengers will board the train many of whom will be significant in and for the journey- our siblings, teachers, friends, spouse, children, mentors, mentees and many more
At some stations our parents and many others alight leaving us to continue our journey to our mysterious station. Many go unnoticed that even their seat vacancy is unnoticed. Some are replaced by others but there are a few whose vacuum lasts for the rest of the journey!!!
This train ride will also be a roller coaster of joys, sorrows, greetings, farewells, adieus, fantasies, expectations and disappointments!!!
A good journey is helping, loving, having a good relationship with all co passengers and making sure that we give our best to make each other's journey comfortable and memorable!!!
What a train of thoughts!!!
