Take a walk, catch a bus, board a metro rail, hire a taxi. Alternately, gaze and reflect while at walk; retrospect and apprehend in bus movement; align and introspect in metro rail; stare and enquire in a hired vehicle. How did one commute: through the actions and modes of transport; or within the modest changes in self-behavior patterns and emotions.
After the morning brush, everyone prepares to rush,
With strange faces and known traces, all become part of the gush.
This behaviour becomes a pattern,
A routine in Mumbai or Manhattan,
Of action and over reaction, translating into an urban slush.
This story is a celebratory, of the gestures that are transitory, that one tends to sport, across different modes of transport. Not many realize, but we all commit these acts in disguise
Among the few us, there is a certain likeable cuss,
Who will bumble to stumble, bothering the rest of us.
Nudging left or right
Peeping out of sight
All this doesn’t seem such a fuss, in a crowded bus.
Making a lot of noise, still manages to maintain its poise. Allowing for some mandatory shift, the behaviours tends to alter in a rift. Though one feels in a cage, there is enough space for all to engage.
Walking behind toe in toe, I was part of the humdrum flow.
Plugging in the radio, everything else turned to zero.
The surroundings clearly ignored
Just waiting now to deboard
A regular no-show, while zooming across in a metro.
Always punctual however boarding the same is a ritual. There isn’t much anticipation, but provides time for introspection. Although seemingly monotonic, it tends to provide for a personal harmonic.
Waving from a kilometre, in came roaring the mover and shaker,
Glancing at the meter, I already knew it would be a cheater
Sliding across the seat
While skipping a few heartbeat
An action-packed thriller, in the black yellow three-wheeler.
The notorious of the lot, but one that is most easy to spot. Riding with a predicament, it still allows for startling excitement. Eventually it is the driver’s attitude that ends up having a saying on the rider’s mood.
Looking at the moving window pane, we murmur in our brain,
To slay it in this fast lane, is just a way to entertain.
Whamming through the crowd.
Lot many hands disallowed.
Its insane, but hardly mundane, plying on a local train
Always displaying a distinct groove, while it is on the move. Though everyone appears random, they still tend to be in tandem. Speeding from one to the other station, each stage allows for a different sensation.
Next time you commute, there will be certain tendencies you attribute.
For any given route, there will never be an absolute.
Regular day to day motion,
Generates all kinds of emotion,
From start to end, look out for the gestures you tend to pursuit.
This story is an investigatory, not covering all transport category. Neither all gestures perceived, only certain idiosyncrasies and actions weaved. Only for one to relook, into the preconceived commuting handbook.
Comments