The Ahmedabad Express

In Monsoon it’s better to take the

train, they said. Flying can be…

‘difficult.’ Kalyan junction six-fifty

a.m., watched by the, ‘Australians.’

First class: glass in the windows

ceiling fans passing for aircon

ditioning. Nine hours of Railway

India hospitality. Sit back enjoy

the view - inside and out. Rain

Soaked paddy fields green as the

Irish flag pass by, breakfast served

by cotton clad ghosts in flip-flops.

Hard-boiled eggs, juice and yoghurt

followed by boiled-milked tea make

Me suspicious of the meal I ate as

Indian businessmen palm eggs and

secrete bread rolls. Fingers crossed

I chat to colleagues and read reports.

Slow progress doesn’t stop time

Passing quickly. Lunch (as we pass

shallow lakes with clay Geneshes

dissolving to recycle life) arrives

silently in paper bags and plastic

cups. I cherry-pick the contents

and drink Pepsi-Cola puzzled by

the lack of my fellow traveller’s

Appetites. An hour later my half

full lunch bag sits surreptitiously

‘forgotten’ on table by the window

and we disembark at Vadodara

with fellow passengers toting paper

bags of life to be placed in outstretched

hands politely lining the platform and

I spy my bag behind glass........