A Voice in the Dark | Shubhodeep Pal

Recently, I went to Calcutta to attend a marriage. The journey by rail took about a day and a half. It was tedious yet enlightening in a bizarre sort of a way. I tried to capture this experience through a few haikus. Hope you enjoy them!!! Any travel/observance haikus that you might have written are welcome. I. THE JOURNEY A blur of colours —camouflaged with my weird soul— glimpsed in black and white II. A.C. 2 TIER The insomniac train charges old, tired landscapes— rails warp in the sun III. OUTER SIGNAL The weary train chugs out at last: one latecomer does a final sprint IV. NOCTURNAL VISIONS On platform no. 10 rabid dogs accentuate their puerile choler V. THE TINTED GLASS The yellow-green land— unwillingly soused in heat burns to thin red dust VI. IDIOSYNCRACIES The branded morons plunging into compartments without rhyme or rea’on. VII. THE CLOCK STOPS At night, the violent serenity murders rude, callous wakefulness.

APPROACHES Life is a dreadful disappointment if you don’t keep your appointments RECREATION Drops of sun melt and descend like fiery dew: I relax in water REFUSAL I wait in a queue stare at her questioningly She says, No thank you MISCALCULATIONS The needle goes in the errant slot, fumbles: the thread of time breaks and rolls away FUTURE The dim light shining bizarrely over the car about to be stolen ODDITY The red wall with the gaping void in the centre, and light shining through