When Life came to a halt...

It was the same annual ritual to reach my home for Diwali just like the salmons do but minus the turbulent waters , eggs and of course giving up my life. Finishing up the work on Friday and starting early to catch my train ,I was on track and all set for the journey. I boarded the train and was very soon at my berth along with some other fellow salmons  :)

The soothing temperature in the coach and the gloomy environment  prompted all of us to hit the berth cum bed.I woke up the next morning and had my coffee in the second of the 4 states that I was about to cross. The train was running late and this was the topic which became the ice breaker . The gentleman in the next seat asked the much expected question 'kaun sa station aya?' followed by a confirmation 'late chal rahi hai' . The guy who also seemed to be from my specie added 'Indian railways me aur kya hoga'
Very soon the whole cabin was very much more alive . The guys who were sleeping in their berths came down just like chimps descending down from tree tops. The conversation which started from a silly , harmless question shifted to politics , frustrations , problems with the system , movies , gossips ,experiences.Everybody as a whole was disgusted with the system , their jobs, traffic jams , settling down in some city , rising prices to name a few. There were some novel ideas flowing around and I wondered why do we have all the debates in lok sabhas & rajya sabhas , why not have such moving assemblies in our country . I had also joined in the discourse meanwhile . It made me feel all the more disgusted with my life and my job . There was a sense of restlessness which crept in . I got away from the confabulation and preferred my music player's company.

The train came to an abrupt halt in the evening . I had not seen the sky for a long time and so I came out of the air conditioned racks . A full gaze in all directions confirmed that we were right in the middle of a dense forest .It was a typical dusky sky with birds returning back to their homes , the gentle & fresh wind blowing on my face just gave me the perfect relaxation . I was now sure what I was missing . Very soon half hour passed at the same spot . I saw a human figure coming out from what looked like a bunker . It was the railway gang-man , with red & green flags folded and rolled in his hand. The other hand had a torch and a tool kit. A closer look revealed a man in his 50's with grey beard and wrinkled face resembling a famine hit ground . I was greeted with a broad smile . Anybody would have asked the same question 'bhaiya kya hua?' .He replied with extreme politeness 'track pe kaam chal raha hai , bas ho hi gaya saab' . Now this was not expected , how could some one be so polite and answer to somebody to whom he is not answerable at all?. He told me patiently that most of the trains had to stop because of the maintenance work going on .

 His job was to ensure safe passing of the trains and he had been doing it from the past 15 years . The number totally knocked me off , 15 years !!  at the same place doing the same thing? with nothing around ?The nearest village where he lived was 10 kms. There was a sense of absolute pride
 when he described me about the track and some small interesting incidents. He had tirelessly dedicated  his  nights for the past 15 years making sure that the lacs of people in the trains reached their destinations on time. Interestingly he had never celebrated diwali and had very little idea about the 'not to be missed at all' gala festival.I was astounded to find out that he had no complaints or any kind of frustrations for being there in the no man's land.With nothing coming out of my mouth ,I pretended to be normal and  talked about some other casual things like the tunnels on the track , wild animals , accidents etc .

Very soon the light turned green and he asked me to get on the train. All the while ,the smile had not gone from his dry & eroded face. The train's horn tore through the eerie silence of the place which was now mixed with the chorus of crickets in background. As the train moved , I saw the man waving off the green flag which was acknowledged by the train's guard. As if flashed by lightning , I settled back in my seat . There was a discussion which was still continuing and the abrupt halt had added more spice to it. My fellow salmon was furiously cursing the Indian railways for being so lousy 'Stupid railway people , they stop at such places where there is no mobile network even , can you imagine that?how can somebody manage without network connectivity'

I had nothing to say , All I had was the gang-man's smile in my mind......