All Aboard

By: Yash Shandilya – 

The stage resembles a railway platform. A yellow board with “Habibganj” written on it in black letters can be seen in a corner. Actors move around the set, pretending to be busy with their lives, frantically searching for a place to wait for their train. The noise of this crowd fills the theatre, and yet the habit of being in such places makes the audience deaf towards it. Amidst all the commotion on stage stands a man, looking down at his feet, occassionally conversing with other actors standing near him. The spotlight is not on him yet and so the audience pays no attention towards him. They wait expectantly for something to happen. For a beautiful actress to walk out from behind the curtains, or perhaps a train to arrive. Their patience is rewarded as they hear a loud screeching horn. No matter how familiar one might be with railway stations, that horn never fails to make people flinch and cover their ears so that is exactly what happens when the train arrives.

The spotlight now shines on the entrance of this train as it slowly crawls towards the center of stage. The door is closed. Actors become more frantic, but there’s no rush towards the gate. The audience is confused; shouldn’t everyone be scrambling to get inside the train before it departs? Their questions are soon answered as an announcement is made. “Train number 12062 running from Habibganj to Jabalpur has arrived on platform number 1 and will depart in 15 minutes.” So this is the starting platform of the train, and there’s no need to hurry. The spotlight now shines on the man who had been waiting for the train to arrive. “What makes him different from all the other passengers?”, the audience wonders.

This man is walking towards the entrance at a brisk pace, with a look of determination in his eyes. He carries a small bag on his shoulders and a larger bag in his hands. Other actors, presumably his family members, follow him. The kids are running to catch up to him. He reaches the gate and pushes to open it, but it doesn’t budge. He then pulls on it, still nothing happens. He appears worried now. The train is still moving slowly. The man runs with it, all the while pushing and pulling to no avail. His family members are shouting at him to slow down, but he doesn’t care. He shouts and bangs on the door. “OPEN THE DOOR!”, he says. Now other actors have stopped moving. They have stopped to observe the man who is struggling for the sake of everyone who wants to get on the train. They are enthralled by his performance, as much as the audience is. The banging on door continues. The man stops for a second as realization hits him. The doors won’t open until the train has completely stopped. A worrisome look crosses his face, but soon he brightens up. He appears to have an idea. He runs a bit further towards an emergency exit window. Even the barred window is bolted from the inside. He reaches in with his hand, slides the bolt and pulls the window open. The audience is stunned by this display of excellent performance of the actor.

All of this has happened in a span of a few seconds and the train still hasn’t come to a stop. But the triumphant hero has already achieved his goal. He throws his bags inside through the window and the train finally halts to a stop. His family reaches him, but his work is not yet done. He picks up the kids and one by one, he manages to get them inside the train through the window. Now the activity on stage has stopped completely. No one moves as they behold the smile of this man who has completed his task so proficiently. He tells his children to open the door from the inside and gets in the train. Even other actors have become a part of the audience now. A moment of silence is broken by a wild cheering from the audience who couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed. The struggle, the bravery, the determination….. and the idiocy of this man.

In the drama that is my city’s railway station, this act has made its mark on my memory. As one of the audience members, I saw the complete act unfold in front of my eyes as I watched it, worried but intrigued. And to this day I wonder, was this man patient enough to stay in his mother’s womb for 9 months? Chances are, he got out pretty early and has been in a hurry to get places ever since.

Read More articles by Yash Shandilya at https://sticksandstones11.wordpress.com/