“The train must be late today, come and have your breakfast”, Raju’s mother shouted at him.
“No, I wont, first let the train pass”, Raju shouted back as he sat on a small rock and looked in the direction where the tracks curved.
“The trains would be coming any moment”, he told himself.
He waited patiently as if he was well used to it. It took sometime before he heard faint sounds of an incoming train, he then saw thick black smoke at the far end of the curve. “Ma, Skyline Express is coming”.
The rich greenery on either side of the incoming train reminded one of a cobra wadding through grass. Very soon the train passed by his house and Raju waved at the train. The train passed him but he still stood waving at the diminishing train. It was soon out of his sight and he walked back, “Ma, where is my breakfast?”.
Raju lived in Ponmala, a small hilly village on the western coast through which runs the Skyline Express. Though the scheduled time for Skyline to pass Ponmala is seven thirty, it is generally late by about ten to fifteen minutes. It was a habit for the five-year-old Raju to wave and see off the passing express every morning. On days when the express is cancelled or runs late by several hours, his mother would scold him and even try to force feed him, but his father would always rescue him.
“You’re spoiling the child”, Raju’s mother would say, to which his father would reply, “If he wants Skyline first, let him have it”. Raju would soon run away to wait at the tracks.
It was a fine summer morning and Raju was waiting for the express as usual when two ambassador cars and five empty trucks came speeding into Ponmala. The men jumped out from the cars shouting, “Listen, a catastrophe has struck us, Skyline has derailed in Thennad and people are dying, come immediately and join the relief operations; please get into the trucks quickly”. There was a big commotion and people were asking, “How did it happen?; and that too at Thennad, just two km south of Ponmala’. Had the mishap been postponed for a minute, the disaster would have occurred at Ponmala. Raju’s father got into a truck but Raju insisted on accompanying him. After much persuasion, his father convinced him by promising to take him to the spot, the next day.
It was late night when people returned from relief work. Raju’s father described the incident at dinner, “Twelve people died and more than an hundred wounded. Ah yes; I’ve promised to take our son to the spot tomorrow”.
“Poor child, he’s been crying the whole day for having been left behind; please don’t forget to take him tomorrow”, Raju’s mother replied looking pitifully at the sleeping Raju.
The next day Raju’s father took him in a bicycle down the Thennad Cart Road to the accident spot. At the spot Raju saw the coaches lying scattered. The engine which was the first to dash pass him, lay upside down. The cranes had just arrived and the recovery of engines was just planed. There were engineers and officers everywhere. One man who seemed to be a senior officer was giving instructions to a couple of officers. “I think only one coach can be retrieved, the rest has to be condemned, but of course, the engine has to be retrieved at all costs”.
Raju was silent all the while, he stared at the engine for sometime, then at the scattered coaches, when his father pulled him, “Its enough, come let’s go”. They got into the bicycle and rode back to Ponmala.
They reached their house just when the village drummer was doing his rounds. “Listen, listen, listen; men and women listen; our headman has an important announcement to make, gather immediately at the community hall, immediately, immediately”.
The community hall was soon overcrowded. The headman arrived and soon started talking, “You all know of the Skyline Express tragedy at Thennad; well I got a message from the district collector saying that Skyline Express would resume services from tomorrow. That means the express would pass us the day after tomorrow. It has been decided that this train would pass Thennad and Ponmalla at a very slow speed of about 10 km/ph or even lesser, as a symbolic gesture. You are all welcome to offer refreshments and entertain passengers during this stretch. We’ll boost the morale of the passengers”.
The day came and in another half an hour, Skyline Express was to pass Thennad and Ponmala. Thennad didn’t seem to have recovered from the shock as only a few people had gathered to welcome the express. But the scene was different in Ponmala. The sounds of the trumpets and drums were evident to show the mood of the people. Both sides of the track were decorated, and large cans of tea and buttermilk were moving around. Finally the moment drew close. The headman glanced at his watch and said, “The train will be here in another five minutes”. No sooner had he said this, people saw thick black smoke at the track curve.
“Skyline is coming”, “Ponmala welcomes Skyline Express” ─ shouts filled the air, together with deafening drums and blaring trumpets. People ran with the train while some shook hands with the passengers. Raju’s father jumped into the engine cabin and garlanded the driver. Soon the train passed off but the drums and shouting continued. Suddenly something seemed to strike Raju’s father ─ “But where is Raju?”
“No I didn’t see him; I was busy distributing tea”, replied his neighbor. Just then an old lady who walked with a stick, slowly passed them, when Raju’s father enquired, “Grandma, did you see my son?”. The old woman stopped, adjusted her spectacles and looked at him for a while, “Your son; ah Raju, yes I saw him. I saw him running down the Thennad Cart Road”.
Raju’s father immediately knew where he would find Raju. He took his bicycle and reached the accident spot, there was no one around now; only the coaches lay as before. The recovery work was wound up yesterday afternoon after retrieving the engine and one coach. The remaining coaches were expected to be cleared up sometime later. He looked for a while, then parked his bicycle and walked closer to the coaches when he spotted Raju sitting beside a fallen coach. His eyes were filled and tears rolled down his cheeks. He reached Raju and called him in a low voice, “Mother is waiting for you, now don’t cry”.
He carried Raju back to his bicycle when Raju wiped his eyes and waved at the scattered coaches, “Skyline can never come again”, he said between sobs.
They rode back home and as they neared Ponmala, they heard the sounds of trumpets and drums. The celebrations were not yet over.
