On a Train Downtown

I saw you stumble on the way to your seat on the train downtown.

Your abashed giggle, your frantic look-see from pillar to post; your quick and agile steps towards your seat as you act like nothing happened, just momentarily.

I saw you doze your head on the train downtown.

A pencil in your hand and a notepad on your lap; an unfinished sketch of people you saw in your dream; you waking up minutes later and dozing back again in brief intervals of time.

I saw you open your lunch box on the train downtown.

A wistful moment of the sweet smile creeping on your face; the memories of your mother cooking your favourite food flooding back into your eyes- just the perfect relish of the most beautiful kind of love.

I saw you exchange sweet nothings on the telephone on the train downtown.

Your cheeks turning an ardent red; your smile- a ray of sunshine; your eyes glimmering in the haze of ardour; time tethers you to them and dwindles with every ceasing railway track.

I saw you lay your head on his shoulder on the train downtown.

Your grey hair; your fleeced sweaters; your intertwined hands; your dim and mellow smiles morphing into each other as you travel away thither, whilst life slips away by-and-by.

I saw you crying on the train downtown.

Your earphones plugged in; your head resting on the windowsill; your quivering lips; your dewy eyes, your cascading tears; the throbbing pain in your chest reverberating louder every agonizing minute.

I boarded the train downtown.

An epiphany that struck gratuitously:

How I almost didn’t notice the way you squint your eyes when you smile,

How I almost didn’t notice the way you tap your foot frenetically when you’re nervous,

How I almost didn’t notice the way you part with reality when you read,

How I almost didn’t notice the way the wisp of wind brushes against your hair,

How I almost didn’t notice the way you heave a heavy sigh before you cry,

How I almost didn’t notice your rustic humanness that stood the test of time.

You echo with each breath:

“Don’t throw your humanness away

For material miracles that contort and fade.

We’re bound by time;

We just need to find a way to live in fleeting moments,

Fill up each one of them with life-

Just a human being human.”

~ Riddhi Chakraborty

Notes: Deserved more than an ‘unfinished draft’ tag.