Welcome My Grandchild Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

I got up that morning
with a beaming smile
for I could see my grandchild
jumping down from the Brindavan Express
at twenty five minutes past eight.

I was busy on that day
buying biscuits, chocolates, cherries and fried nuts
as she could have now a little firm teeth.
Toys, pipes, electronic cars
I bought in the evening.
My wife had been decorating the house
for a week as our kiddie was coming.

At Six I was at the Central Station,
exhausting reading of all the eveningers.
When there was half-an-hour
for the train to roll in with a satiating smile,
I went out to buy a pair of ‘idlies’,
for our little queen would be very hungry
after a travel of fifteen hours.

I ran back into the station
and gazed at the glimmering electronic board.
My God, the train had arrived!
I ploughed through the crowd
with a bird’s eye to view our little mother.
But I failed to see her carrying a small bag
to ease my daughter on the platform.

I rushed home to see her
as a man running after fortune.
When my two-wheeler entered my house,
my grandchild came out yelling, “ Thatha (Grandpa) ’.
The bad train had come five minutes earlier
to prevent me from hauling her up at the station..