To Nowhere And Back Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

I recall still that station, Signal Road,
The name etched firmly in the memory
Plate in my mind's remote but reserved node,
Like a childhood's oft-heard bedtime story.

I can't forget this journey's pleasant miss,
A distance of forty miles to arrive
With a train change much like a flying kiss,
A kiss that we did miss— a bunch so naïve!

Notso stirred there save hot summer-time breeze,
No one there to leave, for few ever came,
But what gave to the station their odd name,
The arid local trees stood there in ease.

We heard someone clearing his throat in pain:
The sole hand there to whom no task was small,
Man of all seasons; ‘Gone', you've missed the train,
‘Missed by long chalk', nodded the signal tall.

A few trains that stopped were like fair blessings,
Kind soul, he took us to a place to rest,
Ma and us— six too excited siblings—
Our host was a Neem tree, we her rare guests.

Huge shelter that it was sang a cool song,
Made sweeter by offered fruits, tamarinds,
And a small stream haply running along—
For company were noontime's hissing winds.

Adventure of ours, like bullock cart ride,
With the sweet and sour tamarind's raw bliss,
And yea, help rendered by our friend and guide,
All helped make the train seem not a huge miss.

And by returning bullock-cart slow train
We made returned journey with happy smiles,
The local birds singing evening refrain,
Call mishap or venture of forty miles.

But life's an uncharted, trackless venture,
I feel after three-scores and more years past,
And some may though a longer shadow cast,
Some turn out to be joyous adventure.
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We could have taken a direct bus for these forty miles. But to us children, a train journey was more exciting. And to our mother perhaps it was cheaper by a few annas (a Rupee then had sixteen annas) .
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Reminiscing | 04.09.08 |