An old woman in bright
blue tattered saree, with lots of small shimmering props knitted all
over, was squatting on four sheets of newspaper besides her eight
year old grandson. The anguish of years spent worthless, suffering
and ceaseless destitution was evident in her eyes. The boy, with
disheveled soiled hair, unaware of his fate, looked anxiously at
every person that passed by, staring at some for long and transiently
at others. Nearby, on a cemented bench, a man in plush black coat,
wearing glossy black shoes was reading newspaper. The headline read,
‘Coalgate scam exposed, uproar in both Houses’. While I pondered
about Indian reality and contribution of politicians to social and
economic gap in Indian Society at Platform 9 of New Delhi Railway
Station, the C5 coach of Ludhiana-Delhi Shatabadi halted in front. I
was on my journey to Ludhiana, a major city located in centre of
Punjab.
After waiting for nearly
two hours, I was to finally get on-board. A sense of cheerfulness and
delight dawned on my face. I looked at the irctc sms to get my seat
number. My satisfaction suddenly made its way into skepticism. There
was no seat number mentioned in the sms. I pulled out paper ticket
from my bag. WL5. For few seconds I stood still, open-mouthed,
wondering what I just saw was in actual. There was no time to waste.
I rushed as fast as I could making my way through the congested
platform, seeping through crevices in crowd of people on foot
over-bridge to reach status query kiosk at Platform 1. While my body
worked hard to get to the destination, the mind found itself clogged
with thoughts. Lots of thoughts seemed to be simultaneously running
as mind jumped from one to other in split-seconds. I condemned the
person in me for being so careless. I was anxious what if ticket was
not confirmed. Mind could hardly conclude anything till I reached and
hurriedly entered PNR number on touch screen. CONFIRM C8 54. A sense
of relief flowed through the soul. But, there were still eight
platforms to cross before I could rest. I hurried. I ran. I panicked.
I watched the train moving while I ran on the over-bridge…
Saturday, October 13,
2012
On-board,
From Ludhiana to Delhi
