The Schoolboys

This happened during my return to Bhubaneshwar from Kharagpur . The train being delayed I had to wait at the railway junction for an hour and thanks to the schoolboys I wasn't bored :).....

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Dressed in colors of blue and white , a group of young school going lads were the only noticeable thing at Kharagpur Junction. Strictly adhering to the age old tradition , the Janshatabdi Express to Bhubaneshwar was an hour late which meant yet another grueling boring one hour wait.

The schoolboys stood , waving at the trains that went by , smiling at the hundreds of unknown passengers they saw. The most audacious of the lot dared to touch the train when it slowed down and his little heroism was praised by his chums They waited for trains to appear , and watched them till they disappeared into the distance , their voices in chorus louder than the blaring horn.

Seeing them I couldn’t help but compare the innocence of childhood and the vibrancy with the striking maturity and unwanted dullness that accompanies adolescence. Unknowingly this lot did things that even people with the cleanest hearts in the world would find difficult to ---- they made others smile., they made people realise the importance of simple pleasures in life , they were like an intermittent source of joy that gave people , even if for a few seconds , freedom from their daily troubles. The tired passengers waved back and smiled at them and they brought a grin even to the onlookers’ faces. I wanted to take a picture with them, but I was too embarrassed. Maybe that was the difference, they weren’t affected by the hundreds of eyes which looked at them, I always was.

They were like from a different world ( maybe because they seemed to live a hassle-free life). One of them came down at and sat next to me. I asked him his name. He said Shahid , his eyes still lingering on the new train that had arrived. He told me how they often came here after school to watch the trains. We talked for a while and he told me he had never traveled in a train ( and I felt it was like one of those stories about poor children with big dreams) , but he said he never wanted to be in a train … he just liked seeing them. I didn’t know how to react to that but I felt it was a brave thing he did to confront something every day and still not be tempted to have it, to experience it closely or to be a part of it. His favourite was the brand new train that he felt was painted everyday (it was the Duronto Express I believe as it is one of the few trains which has a unique bright green color and covers most of the parts of West Bengal).

I had almost lost track of time but for this gentleman next to me who asked me when the Gitanjali Express would be arriving. I told him I had no clue about it and I heard the announcement of the arrival of Janshatabdi express to BBSR. I took off and scrambled and hurried to reach my compartment. Once there , I watched the children , waving at me just like any other passenger on any other train . I envied their freedom, their non-chalance , their innocence and their ability to gain pleasure out of such small and simple things in life. All I could do was wave back to them and return to the world I belonged to .