Train journeys have given me many moments of joy, poise, scenery, conversations, and priceless window seat scenery views over three decades of an otherwise mundane existence.
For a long time until my adolescence, I wanted to be a train engine driver. Every time I watch the train robbery scene in Sholay, I want to be in that last goods train compartment, quietly relishing the disappearing scenery on a twilight evening, and preferably not warding off dacoits.
I have a dislike for closed air-conditioned compartments, even the warmest summer can't deter me from the constant enhancement the second class window seat provides. Every passing second in motion is but a fleeting vision to the eye. This constant feeling keeps me riveted for hours during every train journey I take.
Presently, train journey bits #1 is my most read poem on hellopoetry.com, garnering 14000+ views till date. The poem is a glue-collage picture book of various scenes I encountered on the return journey from Kerala to Pune in December 2014.
train journey bits #1
by Snehith Kumbla
what forests are those we pass,
blazing along the railway tracks,
a tree bloom of still cranes,
stream black of rubbish bane,
stench of dead city rubble,
factories of rusted cast metal,
distant cotton twilight skies,
sun slide across a bunch of wires,
passing tunnels echo
lonely platforms, frantic gecko,
looming hillside,
crackle dry wood fire,
a god barred in lock&key,
blink glimpse of the sea
one rush of vision,
pebble fling at frisson,
metal-crunch rhythm,
grind music sublime,
spark, grunt, grate,
we arrive, we dissipate...
***
(Article by Snehith Kumbla)
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