Saturday, February 10, 2007

From Delhi to Kanpur

I was returning to Kanpur from Delhi after taking part in the finals of a quiz contest. The quiz contest didn't go very well, and I didn't like the questions either. But that's not the topic here. The return journey from Delhi to Kanpur was yet another indictment of Northern Railways. I spent most of the journey hunched up on the upper berth. The harrowing experience and the free time I had resulted in the following piece of doggerel:

It's early in the day
when I climb the train
There's water in the walkway
thanks to the rain

There's no room in the aisle
People keep coming in
I can't see how they fail
to see that S6 is not S10

Their luggage leaves no room
They don't seem to mind
As they crush each other in the gloom
I wonder if they're blind

A child begins to wail
His father gives him a sweet
He throws it into the aisle
where it's crushed under many feet

Someone goes to the loo
The toilet's sprung a leak
Now there's urine too
in the place where we walk

I thank my fortune
My berth is an upper
but I've spoken too soon
Someone's kicked away my slipper

I'm stuck for good
I can't come down
The water below has bits of food
It looks muddy brown

As I huddle on my berth
people without tickets come and sit
If there's a hell on earth
this damned place is it

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Very true....had a personal experience with you of the same !!

Anonymous said...

Not so grim always , though .

Anonymous said...

excellent...sums up my feelings when I think of a typical train journey. I still get nightmares of my last trip when the person opposite me refused to stop smoking and a little but very energetic child kept wailing non-stop for 24 hours or so.

Anonymous said...

It seems people appreciate posts just because they have been posted. I fail to see why you call it a 'piece of verse' and not a 'piece of rhyming dogshit'.

tejaswi said...

I see no need to defend myself. As I see it, I have complete rights to post whatever I feel like, and call it whatever I want. If you don't like it, please heed the less politer version of the words "get lost" and stop reading. It's still a free world out here, regardless of what people like you say.

Anonymous said...

But I woulk like to point out a subtle spelling mistake you made.

It is "berth", not "birth".

On the whole, a very nice verse.

Anonymous said...

Nice doggerel! In the third line of the second stanza, it should be "feel" and not "fail"-- it's not an examination. Minor errors like these exacerbate your "banality" (as in composition of verses)-- which is reflected pretty keenly in your doggerel!

Anonymous said...

Oops! I guess I made a minor error. I think it should be feel. Anyways, I still feel yours is a "doggerel".

tejaswi said...

There! - I changed the post. Now the text calls it doggerel instead of verse. I hope all the anonymous commenters are happy now.
I don't see why you are looking for literary value in the piece anyway. I do not claim there is any.