The shunting of the engine woke up
Muthu from his deep slumber. He peered cautiously out of the coal wagon at his
surroundings.
The
Freight Train stood at the siding yards of Karnal Junction and somewhere on the
Gwalior-Ranchi line. The engine was being replaced for the onward journey. It
was early morning; dawn had arrived two hours ago, and the early morning chill was in the air, with mist hanging in the yard. Birds called out to one another from
the nearby trees.
“The
next stop would be Habra!” Muthu thought.
Years
of travelling on the Freight Trains had turned Murtha into an expert on the
stops where the trains halt. Muthu was from Karnataka, but it made little
difference to the North Indians, for them, he was just another Madrasi. Muthu
was an Indian tramp, a wandering beggar who travelled from place to
place on the Indian Railway. They foraged and begged for food and clothing, and sometimes, if circumstances were harsh, they stole a little. There were
thousands like Muthu, carefree and happy-go-lucky wanderers all over India, and
the only thing these wanderers hated was working. They never liked to work for
a living, but they were the lucky ones, as many people pity them and afford them
food and sometimes old clothes. These tramps feared the railway police and
ticket-checkers, for if the tramps were caught by these two, then they were in
deep trouble as they would be locked up for some time, or worse, made to work in
the Railway yards until they escaped or were let off with a few good slaps and
a warning.
👥
Muthu, the wanderer, the tramp, reached his destination at last. But the question was. What was Muthu's destination?
To know about Muthu's destination, click on the link to the book.
'AMPUTATED MINDS- A STORY TO TELL'
https://notionpress.com/in/read/amputated-minds
