Take a Break, Board on a Train
If you are a lover of movies, you might have a number of such episodes like ‘The Train’,’ Berlin Express’, ‘Runway Train’, ‘Night Train to Munich’, ‘Strangers on Train’ etc. A movie that won the hearts of millions directed by Satyajit Ray, Oscar-awarded director of Indian Cinema for his epoch making film “Pather Panchali (Narratives of Road)”. One scene in this film is the inquisitive ideas and narrations of two siblings- Apu and Durga. ‘Pather Panchali’ depicts the childhood travails of the protagonist Apu and his elder sister Durga amidst the harsh village life of their poor family. Gone are the days. The main character of my story is a tech shabby guy, Patrick who wants to drink the beauty of the pleasure of mind and resilience after the hectic schedule of everyday life. The fascination of traveling especially by trains allows him to breathe fresh air and to take a recipe of new thought in the course of his traveling. He has seen the evolution of the train engine. Gone are the days when he witnessed filling the engine with coal to fuel the onboard journey. The rails used to cross the countryside, passing through meadows and deserts and sitting on the window side, he had the pleasure of his childhood’s imagination garnished with a lot of adventure and freedom to neat hundred dreams for the forthcoming days. The days passed away. From coal engine to diesel locomotive, he has enjoyed his youth sitting beside his parents with a new recipe of thoughts amidst the foodstuff carried during the journey by his sweet mom. He used to think “Life is like a train”. He observed life as train tracks. Like passengers riding the train, he had the choice to get on and off, explore new routes, choose new places to visit or stop and enjoy the happiness and sea of the sorrow of life amidst the eyes of the thousand on board co-passengers. Diesel locomotives, EMU followed by the new era of bullet trains have brought the revolution of the train journey along with the accomplishment of the different hidden wishes that were once thought to be impossible. But now with the help of modern gadgets with 5G network facilities, the train journey has become a pleasure to fulfill our wishes to get relief from the day’s hectic schedule. Before the journey, you can learn information about your coveted destination along with the place of pleasure and happiness. Using your digital platform, you can buy the tickets along with the choice of preferences regarding the choice of seat, Barth and other relevant issues. You have the choice to get on and off, explore the new routes and stop and enjoy the scenery for a little bit if you intend to do so. In the course of traveling, you have the pleasure of memories of diverse types. A gloomy face or cheerful one may increase your endocrine to ponder over the matter and even you can extend your warm welcome to enjoy the beauty of a smile amidst the pale & gloomy faces. Your window seat may become a large canvas to see the terrain, plains, pleatue or the large, lovely, dark and deep forests and it can increase your deep appetite for nature that you might have forgotten in the course of your hectic schedule of professional activities. The meal taken in the course of the journey may increase your appetite or it may enable you to ponder over the beauty of a hungry stomach due to some undefined reasons. The co-passengers and their pleasure may teach you the degree of tolerance which will help you in the long zigzag journey of life in the forthcoming days. The sweet memories that you collect may become a bouquet of memories to spend in your solitude or the ugly episodes can teach you a degree of tolerance and empathy in the days waited. The time comes when the journey will come to an end at your destination. When you leave the train, tightly hold the moments in your heart with gratitude. The co-passengers will also bid goodbye to you, and can share the number for contact and some of them will be cherished in your mind for the next encounters. You may not have the pleasure of company as you no longer follow the same routes in your next journey. The bouquet will be the admixture of the flowers of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, and hellos along with some hopes, challenges, setbacks, successes and failures. But this is the name of life. The people shared their hopes and dreams with you. The love, respect and gratitude extended by them will be imponderable assets in your life. Your power of observation of the people along with your judgments of your fellow passengers can help you to develop your self-confidence and self-esteem. All the time, you may not experience the optimistic and positive appetite but the worst one can enlighten you to continue your journey in the forthcoming days. The derailment may be old aged story but if it happens, it can train you to deal with hurt and pain and this unavoidable saga of life can strengthen your courage and resilience in the greater part of life. But every journey has its destination and you are not beyond it. You will need to disembark. At the end of the journey, you will realize that that the journey was more pleasant than the destination. People will bid goodbye to you and you will also do the same. Return to your daily schedule life with more hectic and more time consuming as you withdraw yourself for the time being to enjoy your leisure. At the end of the first day of work after resuming your duty, you will find the least tension and less suffering as you has seen more suffering and more tension with the eyes of your co-passengers in the course of your previous journey. A gentle south breeze from the window of mind now purifies you, you have turned into a new man garnished with the impregnation of a number of intangible values like empathy, compassion, and caring along with pure love. Before going to bed in the late hours, you will recite the lines from the great poet, Robert Frost,
“Woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And milers to before I sleep”. If you get down suddenly before your coveted destination in a station close to a deep & dark forest, you may become the wonder of wanderers to listen to the saga of life. Hope, your next train journey will bring the pleasure of happiness with a bouquet of new thoughts to add value to your life.
