They don't sell platform tickets anymore...did you know that?
well..now you do!
This always happens...you want to go home and then when you are finally in that God forsaken train heading back you wish you could run off and flee.
i keep saying that i don't know any longer where home is.
the dratted train takes roughly 24 hours to cover a distance that another train takes 17 odd ones. why?
this completely baffles me!
and besides those irritating bed bug infested 24 hours the ever friendly attendants tell us that the train is 2 hours late!
"MAADAAM jaast 2 hours laate...it is raining naa..."
what do you say to that?
the people in the adjacent berth stare.
they stare when i eat.
when i sleep.
when i read.
when i wipe my face.
when i stare outside the window.
and i can't even slap a gscash on them.
the scenery outside is drenched in rain. the windows in our exclusive ac compartment get clouded over as skies grow darker outside.in some odd small station we have reached before the rain has. and then it catches up. a goat runs under the post office for cover.
there are some kids in the compartment too, just opposite my seat. a whole family in fact. they collectively gasp and mumble and giggle every time my friend and i use an explicit four letter word. and that seems to happen every 5 minutes.
what to do?
the journey is so mindblowingly uneventful!
the tea is bad..the coffee worse. and lets not even discuss the food!
a day old and cold kfc chicken seems brilliant in comparison.so we chew on that.
i finish off a whole book.
i finish off the battery in my mp3 player.
i have heard and reheard 52 songs.
did you know that the children in the villages still stand and wave at the passing trains?
obscure pandals and out dated lights. but you know that there is something to celebrate.
the train lurches to the final halt. the great bengali race must instantly gather all their luggage and family members..exactly in that order and jump off the train. i wish they had done that when the train was in full speed...
my bag is so HEAVY...
disgruntled and marginally relieved i walk out of the over crowded station and head home while half my head and heart lies elsewhere...
after all i did not pay for these "jerks"!!!
