From A Ladies Coupe: Sambalpur Junction* To New Delhi Poem by Jayshree Misra Tripathi

From a Ladies Coupe: Sambalpur Junction* to New Delhi
* Jharsuguda

The station master waved the green flag,
mother's copious tears, father's eyes moist
as I bid them goodbye. Utkal Express began
its long dusty journey, nine hundred miles
in thirty hours on Indian Railways,1974.

I met Mumtaz in the Ladies Coupe.
We opened our bedrolls, shared sandwiches;
stared out as the landscape changed,
drowsy, secure inside, with long hours ahead
we spoke, we laughed, we read.

Stations came and went;
we called out for kullhad chai,
took turns to keep vigil in the corridor
on trips to the loo, alas, that foul odour,
the worst part of a rail journey by far!

A sudden jolt as wheels ground
to a halt, like chalk scraped on a blackboard
that gave you goose bumps at school, hush!
The emergency chain had been pulled;
voices clamoured to be let on board.

Outside, the stark ravines and distant hills
did little to assuage our fright;
Dacoits ascended, hollering away,
banging on closed shutters, laughing
in manic glee, we were petrified.

The Chambal Valley.
No, they had not galloped down on horses,
as their compatriots did in Hollywood movies
on the wild, wild west. They crept from behind
foliage, hidden from view till the chain was pulled.

We sat in fear in our 3rd class,3-tier Ladies Coupe.
Derisive laughter, shrill wolf whistles, stoked our fright.
'Arre, asli Mumtaz kahan hain? Humey dekkhna hai,
Kholo, kholo', names gleaned from the passenger lists
pasted on the carriage outside, fists battered the door.

The Ones Above heard our Prayers.
Scuffles receded, the train chugged on, ever so slowly.
Hours later we heard 1st Class passengers had been robbed,
by these justice-seekers, out in revenge for their oppression
for generations, their decades of deprivation.

The utter stillness of fear on a train journey remains.
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Published 'In Songs of Peregrinators: An Anthology of Poems on Travels' March 2022
Edited by Amarendra Khatua & Mandira Ghosh