Tracks of life

Almost a decade back, there used to be a track on which a lone train used to ply for close to three decades. He had very few stops and never had to give way for another train since the track was exclusively used by him. Given this luxury, he ran at speeds he wished and did whatever he pleased. But interesting enough not even once he got derailed and always remained faithful to the track.

One fine day a parallel track came into picture and a beautiful train started to run next to him. She was elegant, poised and much more sensible. He loved her company and enjoyed the trips together. With the additional track came the need for managing the network better and so came Station Masters who laid down the rules of running. Schedule suddenly became important and that was one major change for him and for her too. Though there were initial resistance to change they got used to it soon.

While the tracks mostly ran parallelly there were times when they had to cross their paths. They did that gracefully and soon were joined by two little tracks in a few years. Two smaller trains ran on these tracks and the railway network expanded adding further importance to schedule and time. All trains were running smooth. Except for a few hiccups here and there, by and large the network was quite good.

Everything was good except for that time of the year when he had to part ways with her and the two little trains for their annual maintenance and overhaul. This was when the trains returned to their garages leaving him high and dry. The three lines that run parallel to him were now empty. Though momentary, this emptiness was killing him.

He could neither go back to the days of pre-schedule nor ply with rules laid down. This suspended way of operation always took a toll on him. He was reminded of the very solitude that almost drove him crazy a decade back. His tolerance level was much lower now.

Nevertheless ply he did, looking forward to the day when the network restarted operations with the beautiful train and the little Chuggingtons back in action! Till then the choo-choo must go on...