Tuesday 14 July 2020

Zakir Diary - Thadhiginathom: Part 11

A new world! A new dawn!

Cities that are home to a majority of the world’s population, are miniature nations in themselves. Its inhabitants adopt a multifaceted culture without the need for a unique identity. Cities are entities that are in constant restless motion forming hierarchies not based on caste and creed, but based solely on wealth and lack thereof. Anyone can succeed here if only they possessed perseverance of effort and innovation in thought. The ability to determine ‘this person can accomplish this task by this means’ and to implement it is an important and unique feature of any city.

In the predawn hour, the ‘Yercaud Express’ expelled me – who did not have an address for it to note down - from its long stiff body with a jerk and a yawn. I was the last one to get off – with a quivering heart. The noise of trolleys being pulled on uneven paths screamed like broken loudspeakers making passengers run asunder. Porters in red uniforms hurried with heavy loads won in barter. The owners of the loads followed them – intently observing and pretending to chat – like cats following their kitten. The stench from the fish and shrimps in large sacks engulfed the area and lingered in the nostrils even after exiting the railway station – as if it had become embedded on the brain. Though this city rush was new to me, a sense of calm came over me knowing that I had left my village behind.

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