Once upon a time,
Huffing and puffing I ran,
Chasing the Tuk-Tuk,
Heart beating Dhak-Dhak,
To catch the Chuk-Chuk. .

Late as Usual,
I ran,
To Catch A Train,
A Train to Nowhere.

Seated by the window,
I peered out into the world,
As the Train fled into the wilderness.

Network gone,
WiFi none,
Time forever,
Sitting alone,
I looked around.

Smiling faces,
Kind eyes,
Open hearts,
Each one a storyteller,
Of their own lives and struggles.

Listening and sharing,
Sleeping and reading,
The train chugged on,
Weight of our lives and dreams,
Pushing and pulling it,
Across rivers and mountains.

Times flew by,
And I boarded a train again.
Colourful and ambitious.
Faster, neater, and elegant.

Seated by the window,
I peered out into the darkness,
As the train fled into the wilderness.

Mobile in hand,
Network strong,
WiFi on,
I looked around.

Faces down,
Facebook on,
Ears plugged,
Data streams filling the void,
Empty hearts,
With tempting technology.

Feeling the void,
Closing the camera,
Looking with my own eyes,
Saw the mirrors all around.

Huffing and puffing,
Racing against time,
Losing the breath,
Losing the moment,
In a train to somewhere.

I wish to go back in time.
Board a train,
A Train to Nowhere,
A Train to Here-n-Now.

A Train journey after forever! And whatte colourful train.
This journey brings back memories of long days I spent traveling from Cochin to Delhi during my civil services exam preparation days. Bags full of books and notes, holding Atlas in hand and peering out into the vastness of this great land, and listening to stories from people from all walks of life and parts of India as we spent over two days together. Time was plenty, topics were abundant, wifi was absent, radio was on….even train journeys seems to have changed with time. Every seat with a charging point, seamless network, neat compartments. But something seems amiss. This post is dedicated to that.

Bon voyage to me!