A Slice of Life

A Guest Blog Post by Jo. Click on Image below to visit the author’s blog.

Right at this moment, the voice in my head asks me to go and sleep for a while.

The train journey I had last night was tiresome. Travelling at night without a confirmed reservation ticket can make you feel really tired.

I love travelling, but in the day time. Every journey is an experience. Every trip has something in store for us to learn, experience or to remind us about many things including the luxuries we have. Sometimes it is funny to hear the gypsy kids singing ” Pal_desee pal_desee jaanaa nagee” without any attention to the words, but in the very next moment it would leave you with a few thoughts. Have those kids eaten today? Is the person with the kids really their parent or a beggar mafia head who makes money using these kids? What are we really doing for the poor ones around us? Do we really care?

Sometimes these musicians would take you completely away. They are a big relief in some of the boring train juorneys. It is really wonderful to see how they run their fingers on the Harmonium keys and play music quite effortlessly. They play amazing fillers between the words. That too instantly.

Gypsy musicians with their kids, some singing and little ones crying out loud…
A group of cheerful youngsters…
An old couple not looking at each other and staring outside the window, bored…
A young couple playfully chatting with each other…
Two kids playing in the compartment and a bored man trying to play with them…
A young man trying to have attention of the beautiful girl in the next cabin and she is pretending not to notice him…
A person who bribes the TTE to have a ‘reserved’ seat at the station…
A noise that you hear that makes you doubt if it was someone who just had his skull smashed in the rails…
A bomb blast…

A train journey is a slice of life.