Frozen

She opted for the window seat because she took delight in watching the lush green fields and serene countryside. Each journey transported her to the childhood days, when she travelled with her family to faraway lands where they lived through the years.

Today, as the train chugged out of the railway station, she sat in anticipation. The visuals started to change. The passengers on the railway platform were soon becoming distant. The empty benches on the platform  passed by quickly and before long she could she the busy road next to the railway track.

The fields wouldn’t be far away now, she thought. While she was with this thought the visuals outside suddenly became oppressive.  The houses were barely a centimetre away from the railway track. No, she didn’t want to peep into anyone’s house or look at the intimate belongings. Try as she might, she couldn’t look away. For no reason, the close proximity unnerved her! She wanted to run away…

Thankfully, she was in a train; a super-fast train. The visuals kept changing. Though she still could not see the countryside or the fields but she felt relieved and her breathing slowly returned to normal. The metropolitan seemed never ending. Even the speedy pace couldn’t shrink the city. 

And then another visual she saw, remained frozen in her mind. Far away, there was a tall, attractive building – a testament of the opulence of the city. But, in its shadow were the slums – a testament of brutalities of metros. If this wasn’t enough to jolt her, in the shadow of the slums, were heaps and heaps of plastic dump…repulsive and nauseating…

She was in a speedy train, the visuals changed and yet she remained with the visual frozen in her mind!