A Gruesome Train Journey

Hello everyone,

I give you two questions to relate to :

1) Are you sick of the government policies, politics and decision making, or basically the system we live in?

2) Are you sick of the complaining people; people who tend not to fight problems, rather just complain.

I want to tell you about a major jump; of my support to the 2nd question to my support to the 1st question. I am sick of government policies nowadays. Moreover, this transformation was unexpectedly drastic. In a moment, in a train!

It was a usual train journey today. Like many, I used to think that, the train journey is the most time dilating, discomforting, uninteresting and unworthy of all of the life experiences. Can't the government bring something like bullet train any sooner? Like everyone says, you see I add no exception.

Today, when I acquired my seat, facing me, was a lad. It seemed he would just have graduated if not undergraduate. I thought it would be exceptionally boring today since the lad was not even opening his eyes - so lost while listening to music, earphones on.

I sat calmly for a few minutes, tried to resist being haunted by my boss, and my wife. But I ended up stirring him, pointing to the ticket collector.

I tried a deep voice, "Get your tickets ready."

But he acted deeper. He quickly showed the ticket and his meditation resumed, now with eyes wide open.

I had to ask now, lifting my eyebrows "Hey lad, where to?"

He looked sideways feeling unsure who was I talking to but finally took off his earphone.

This way the conversation began.

I made it like if silence spreads I will put another question, sometimes disconnected from the ongoing talk.

Our talk went on from lame introductory questions to career counseling to societal ethics to rising onion prices now.

Oh! now we were talking about the ruling party's policies. We began questioning it.

It was only here that the lad went fluent. His confidence drew my rationale. Not one word from me for 10 minutes. I didn't know he will go on to relate his whole life to the ruling party's agenda.

At last, he began telling about his family. His family had only him and his father who was a farmer. His father was a cheerful and brave man, his ideal and his best friend. But he ended unexpectedly. He was traveling to attend his father's funeral. He emphasized on his father was one of the 59 farmers in the news headline who committed suicide. His grin was very unnatural now.

I was frightened.

He came close to me, held my hand and looked straight into my eyes. He whispered, "I am also going to die. You will be the last person I see."

I trembled deep into my heart.

I withdrew my hand and ran away, ran till I could not see him.

It has been three years to the incident but still, I feel the fright at the core. I was told that the lad went crazy after his father's death. His relatives came and retrieved him at the station.

But his questions, I am still finding answers to. I don't want two persons to die - The farmers who feed us and the soldiers who protect us. They don't still have a great survival rate in our country.