Here's one from the archive....
LAST TRAIN
The carnival is
over. The giant Ferris wheel stands still, swaying gently in the breeze – a
silent sentinel, a mute witness to Life’s ups and downs. The weary horses on
the carousel, too, bobbing to the movements of some hidden symphony seem a
trifle forlorn, missing the little children who filled the place with their
laughter and the sheer joy of living. The last popcorn has been popped, the
last cotton candy has been spun, and the crowds have long gone home. And on the
green lawns, the white Styrofoam cups stir gently in the breeze.
I am on the last
train home – 0050 Churchgate-Virar, travelling with the flotsam and jetsam of
society, the debris that life chooses to ignore. Sitting beside me, the sad
little transvestite studies his/her pathetic fingernails. Two surly prostitutes
divide the day’s takings with their guardian of virtue, one eye on the money,
the other looking out for new business opportunities. Three yuppies, sit in the
corner below the sign that reads “Only Me” herbal tablets – where
performance counts. They
clutch their laptops like lifelines in the restless sea of humanity, exhausted
from the day’s work, looking forward to tomorrow where no sunrise or sunset
exists. The gay banjara plays out a soulful tune in the hope that he could
invoke some magic genie that could whisk him off to a better world. The tired
eunuchs sitting at the door look at him with a disdainful air. Everyone working
hard for the money, everyone seeking and never finding. And despite trials and
tribulations, everyone living life with their own peculiar brand of heroism and
yet never recognising it in themselves. Tomorrow is another day, one day closer
to death ...or life. And on the compartment floor, the dust and the litter
swirl in a whirlpool of frenzy, going nowhere, affecting nothing.
In the closing
lines of Tennessee Williams’ play, Sweet Bird of Youth, the sad protagonist, Chance
Wayne proclaims - I don’t ask you for your pity, but just for your
understanding – not even that – no. Just for the recognition of me in you, and
the enemy, time, in us all.
We need to
recognise that we are all in this journey together, be it the prostitutes or
the yuppies and together we will continue to ride the last train until we reach
our destinations. In the end, none of us can defeat Father Time or his avatar,
the Grim Reaper. Simple truth: adopt a non-judgmental attitude.
