Two Station Masters Poem by santhana louis

TWO STATION MASTERS

My friend is a station-master
at Hill Groove in
Nilgiri mountain section
33 years of railway service
fully spent in this sleepy station
hardly, two trains a day
in summer, say, one more

no goods traffic
nor frequent crossings
no revenue instead - ‘Safety' award
for ‘nil' accident record,
closed for rains and landslide,
station is locked up at 6 pm sharp

his gross earnings is forty thousand
for two or three man- hours spent
hill allowance, free warm clothing
no boss to obey, no risk to bother
happiest worker
does'nt want any change, either

look at his counter-part
positioned in a busiest double line,
handling 30-45 trains, within
a tight span of 8 hours
whole night, in full vigil
with all round tension
at times, an irate passenger
supervision of all kind
sucked out and exhausted
leaves for his home,
for the same pay - packet

is it an anomaly
or equity, parity, one cadre- one pay
equal pay for equal work
………………………..I have no answer.

Louis Santhana