I Fearing To Board An Indian Train With A Telegram In My Hand Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

I fear to board an Indian train,
As God knows
Whether I shall reach my destination
Or some train accident will overtake me
En route,
My family telephoning me
And I lying dead somewhere.


I fearing to board the train
Lightless, guardless,
Without the ticket checkers,
The pickpockets sitting on the seats
As the rogues
Doing some dirty talks
With suspense
Creating fear in passengers.

The train chugging,
Without ticket loafers seated on the seats,
But those with tickets
Standing on foot,
Going a long distance,
The toilets stinking,
Smelling foul.

The train ticket examiners
If on a surprise checking,
Without ticket loafers and rogues,
Illiterates and uncultured fellows
Hiding in toilets
To avoid the check-up
And to cough up the hushed money.

Sometimes the security staff too
Instead of helping,
Take the money
And alight on the midway stations
To be checked by other colleagues
And to be charged again
And as thus cheating the genuine too in trouble.

Some ticket examiners wanting to be famous
Go on fining mindlessly
As for to be dry honest not,
But to show himself,
His power
And to be promoted
Through the departmental promotion.

I fear to board an Indian train
With a telegram in hand
Going somewhere,
Maybe it I shall get
Or it will give,
An Indian train to be chain-pulled
At midway halt.

Sitting in the bogey,
I keep praying to God
As for avoid any untoward incident,
Event or happening,
As the bogies may derail
As for the tracks blown up by extremists
Or Naxalites.

The station masters may be they
Sleeping
In their awkward halts
Or the signal men
Giving not the signal rightly
So the trains may enter
Marking the other stationery trains.

With the name of the Lord
Sit I in the bogey,
With the name of the Lord
Alight from the bogey,
Thanking God many a time
For the safe journey
So many times.