The sun had gone down giving twilight its way…the birds were flying back post a tire-some day. I was returning home after an overdose of
play, tired and tottered in my own thoughts, I chose to take the shorter and
more obscure route to home this time.
Trudging down the railway tracks filled me with a weird
sense of joy and after all trains and its entire paraphernalia form a part of a
child’s memories atleast back here in India. But there was one thing that I
have always hated in life…so much so that till date I have never come to terms
with it….An eerie silence and an unnatural loneliness.
Nevertheless, the thought that the station lay ahead, made
me take the road less travelled.
On my way I saw a dog walking on the tracks along side
me…Not minding it at all and considering it as a company I chose to walk with
even more aplomb…..and suddenly the signal on the post ahead changed….this
re-arranged the railway tracks and the dog’s leg got stuck between the two. To
our (mine and the dog’s) dismay the change in the signal was for a train to
pass and within no time both of us saw a train approaching us with full vigour.
The dog was helplessly pushing itself trying to get its feet out and when it
failed consistently, it submitted itself to me. Now the creature was helplessly
looking at me and something in the nature told the dog that I was the bigger
and the smarter creature around and so I could save it. I tried everything
under me to help him take his feet out…even shouted for help but nothing would
change the fate that had already been written for the dog…The train came closer
and closer and the dog was looking at me for mercy….I tried the last time to no
result and then had to move back to save myself…..The train blew the thing away
into pieces!!!!!
The train had passed but the sound of the horn still
reverberated in my ears and the smoke was still visible even from a
considerable distance.
I did not have the guts to look back and was startled in
fact bemused and stunned at the way the things unfolded before me….Although it
was a dog but had been my companion even for a couple of minutes and after all
I had seen a death….and the fact that hit me even more harder was how we human
beings become a victim to our own desires and how at times we are as helpless
as other creatures around.
I mustered some courage and held my posture back and started
walking…this time faster to reach the station so as to counter the thoughts
with people around. But I could hear faint footsteps walking alongside me. I
dare not look anywhere but straight and walked even faster…..The sound of the
footsteps became even stronger and I had no choice but to look towards my
right……It was the same dog who had been walking along side me……
I was surprised to see the dog again especially after having
seen it being brittled into pieces in front of my own eyes.
In all this confusion I never realized that I had myself
been walking on the tracks this time and when I did realize, the signal on the
post had already changed to make way for another passing-by train, thereby
re-arranging the tracks and locking my feet this time.
The train was nearing me with all its speed and I was doing
everything under the sun to pull the feet out….The dog was looking at me and I
was numb now….knowing that death was certain…I didn’t know what to do….The
train was within a few metres now….and the dog moved back…..I closed my
eyes….and it was complete darkness thereof……The last thing I could remember was
how the train thrust itself upon me.
I opened my eyes and it was still dark…..I wanted to know
whether it was hell or heaven……None: was the realization. I was still in my own
world….on my own bed.
Never realized why this weird dream happened to me…..first
the dog undergoing a sequence of events only to realize that I too will undergo
the events in the same fashion…may be to highlight the value of life and the
way we spend it.
Nevertheless it was a chilly winter night and I preferred to
think less and continue my tryst with my sleep.
P.S: The above
mentioned account bears resemblance to a piece that I had read somewhere and happened to me a few
days back in my dream….So today while deciding what to blog on, I took this as
a matter. Writing everything according to what I had read somewhere loooong
back (forgotten where) and it was in my subconscious mind and so re-appeared as
a night-mare a couple of days back.