A Journey By Train

It was monsoon time. Every other day, the sky would turn gloomy and give a signal to the heavy showers in the next ten minutes. Mimi was traveling to her grandpa’s house located at one unknown corner of the countryside. The day was her uncle’s wedding and she was being accompanied by her parents. Well, for Mimi, it was the first local train journey in her 9 years of life. Definitely the morning was exciting. They took a hand-pulled rickshaw and reached the nearest station. Her father placed a 100 rupee note at the ticket counter and asked for 3 ‘return’ tickets. Mimi was awestruck! Why on earth is her father asking for a ‘return’ ticket when they have not even started the journey! She poked her mom thinking papa had made a grave mistake. Mom confirmed things were fine.

The wait at the station was pretty long as they had reached an hour earlier. And this was the testing time! Mimi had never seen a station before. She could see people and only people. There were stalls where the warmth of the earthen oven could be felt with an archaic kettle on the top, and people waiting for the tea to be poured into small cups and served. There were fat and stout glass jars with interesting and colorful biscuits inside. And well, the same stalls had cakes, potato chips and mango juice waiting to be sold! Mimi was amazed! She wanted to buy almost everything. Anyway, time went tick, tick, tick and finally, the whistle was heard. The three boarded the train along with numerous others, all busy heading towards their different destinations.

Mimi rushed to the nearest window seat and it was thrilling. The window was wide and with the moving train, Mimi left everything else behind! They were all moving away from her; the trees, the sky, the ponds, and the huts! So were they to going somewhere? She wondered! Every five minutes, the hawkers came with a variety of interesting things to distract Mimi away from the window. The little one wanted to buy so many things which she didn’t have but her mom and dad thought everything was useless! How unfair! Mimi again looked out of the window and it was another station. The train stopped. Some got down and some boarded. She could see a small tea stall with a frail boy sitting and drumming a bench. In between, he is pouring hot tea into small earthen cups and offering to each stranger walking into his tea stall. Mimi was amazed! How lucky this boy was! He was just like the grown-ups! No one to tell him what to do! Thick jars with equally thick biscuits, fumes of smoke emanating from the kettle, packets of cigarette arranged in the pattern of a meticulous staircase, people trickling into the shop with numerous demands, and the little boy managing things all alone with no worries to do his homework! What a life!

And the train started moving. Inside the train, everything was equally interesting. There were hawkers all around, magically appearing with a boxful of exciting things. Mimi wanted to try out some of them. But her parents didn’t agree. Hence, she helplessly gazed and felt herself the most unfortunate creature on earth! And then there was the most exciting moment. A man with a harmonium was singing from one corner of the train to the other! For the little one, this was indeed the first-ever experience where a singer would walk with a harmonium and perform. She was mesmerized! Mother took out a big coin from her purse and dropped it into the cloth bag hanging from the singer’s neck. Mimi instantly enquired, “Maa, you didn’t buy me a single thing I asked for. And now you are giving money to him without being asked!” Her mom asked her to put her fingers on her lips. The little one’s question remained unanswered and that was enough to cause a revolution! She looked out of the window to check whether the sky and the trees and the ponds and the fields were all in place. But no, they weren’t! All were moving far away! Mimi kept looking at them. She desperately wanted to count the trees. But everything moved so fast, she failed to keep count. Enjoyment was immense. She never knew that her mother earth was so utterly beautiful! The train moved on and Mimi couldn’t keep her eyes open. She was dozing off when her mother pulled her close. The whistling sound of the train, the noise of the crowd, the light breeze stealing in through the window, seemed never-ending. The journey was endless. Mimi was sound asleep.