The Train Not Taken

  The railway clock struck 20:00

Venky missed the train.The train that was heading to Chennai from Madurai carrying Venky's fate. A fate which could have landed him a job at the MNC where he was supposed to attend an interview. It stretched along the rails like a rattling snake and disappeared right before his eyes among the commotion inside the railway station .He cursed himself wondering if this was a play of fate. Wasting no time , he started thinking of the alternatives to travel to Chennai.

And at this moment time stood still.

The Train to OO-la-la

                            How could time freeze? The shock tested Venky’s vanity. Before he could react , another train crawled towards him on the same tracks he missed his train.The train looked exactly the same as the one he missed except that its destination was labelled “OO-la-la". As the train stopped, the driver stepped out and came towards Venky. He looked like the tamil poet Thiruvalluvar with Palm Scriptures in his hand. Everything and everyone else stood still.

He gave a zen smile to Venky and spoke with a thick accent

“I am Barba, the God of OO-la-la, the utopian planet of a galaxy billions of light years away from Milky Way.

Do not worry you missed the train.

You are about to have a far more interesting journey that no human has ever had.

This is the Train to OO-la-la.

Would you wanna ride?”

Venky stood frozen. Probably he was in hallucination he thought.

“No you are not “ Barba replied to his thoughts.

Venky’s pupils expanded in surprise.

“Why are you choosing me?” he stumbled.

“You are the chosen one.”

Barba winked

“OK not really. You are one among the randomly chosen ones” Barba said.

Venky pleaded that he didn’t want any ride and things return to normal.

At this Barba threw his arms in the air and ran a teaser of life on planet Xuxina which Venky watched with his mouth wide opened.

“This is just a teaser. If you want to see the main picture come with me and join your fellow travelers from planets across the universe” Barba said.

Venky now gave up his conscious reasoning and followed Barba blindly. He did not mind that Barba could speak English , that he looked like a human , that he spoke to him as if he was a long time friend.

He got into the train to OO-la-la.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

Two little gentle beings were singing the song. Venki was seated in coach S5, seat no 50. Except the train no other sight inside the train was of earth. The two little beings were suspended in air. They had egg shaped heads and only heads and tiny hands. To his left was a being with one leg, one hand, one eye, one ear and no mouth. He didn’t seem to have lost them in an accident or through unnatural birth but that is how they are on his planet(his or her or ??). To his right was a big yellow colored spherical smiley which looked as if it came right out of a messenger software.

And these were just few of the different beings travelling on the train, the randomly chosen ones to visit OO-la-la. A small kid was also chosen among humans to travel to OO-la-la.It was jumping in ecstasy.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

  

The train took off,lifted itself up and shot into the sky.

Next Station

Barba took one of the leaves from the Palm Scriptures look alike and read:

“Gentle Beings,We are on The Planet of Sames.Lets step out”

Everyone on the Planet of Sames were the same, on all accounts the same. They looked like giant humans with the same height, same color, same voice .Their triteness evoked Venki’s curiosity. They resembled the Giants of the game Clash of Clans.

“Can we communicate with them?” Venki asked.

Barba called one of the sames and introduced him to Venki.

“Meet Mr.Same “

“Hi Same”

Same stood silent and gave a shy smile. He didn’t understand English.At this Same’s friend Same came by Same’s side and gazed at Venki and Barba.

Venki said hello to the second Same who also gave the same shy smile.

“Are there no girls here?” Venki asked Barba.

“No they neither reproduce nor grow nor die.They remain the same”

The Shy Sames took leave without any notice.

“The Sames are shy of humans . Their God, The Lord of Same, is my long time buddy. He introduced me to them , so they trust me and you”

As he was saying this , Same,Same and Same were laughing at a distance, probably of the same joke they laughed at before.

The train gave a loud whistle.

“We need to leave” Barba gestured at every passenger.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

Next Station

Barba took another leaf from the scriptures and read:

“We have come to The Planet of 3"

Venky proded Barba all along the journey with questions that arose in his mind in droves. He learned that in the planet of 3 , everything was 3, unlike the dualism on earth .There was Day,Night and 'The Third Division of a Day'. There was man, woman and 'The Third Gender'.There was Good,Bad and 'Third Construct'.There was Joy,Pain and 'The Third Emotion'.

They all looked like human beings with three pieces of each organ(three eyes,three ears,three legs,three hands) but with no limits on their physical growth. Venky saw a man as tall as a girafee, another as obese as an elephant (literally), another as hefty as possibly a dinosaur.

To procreate the three genders need to have sex together. The ‘Third Gender’ needs to get genes from both the other two sexes. It carries the child in its womb for 10 years during which the Third Gender hibernates. They get all their nutrients from air. Whenever they need nutrients, they make a deep breath and inhale air. Their digestive system combines the atoms in air to form new chemicals and supplies it across the body.

“Can we communicate with them” Venky proded Barba.

“Yes we can”

Barba called one of the beings of Planet 3 which was the size of Venky and introduced him/her/thethirdgender to Venky. They didn’t have names so Barba just gestured in signs.

“Hi “ said Venky.

The being stood expressionless.

“Is that how they say Hi?” Venky asked.

“They don’t say Hi” Barba replied. The beings left without saying Hi.

Venky and Barba roamed around the planet of 3 with fellow passengers.

The train gave a loud whistle.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

Next Station

Barba opened another leaf from his scriptures and read:

“We have come to the Planet of Black”

In the Planet of Black , there was no light. The entire planet remained pitch dark. And the beings in this planet had a body which is difficult to explain in human language. A dense piece of air could strike close to an analogy. These dense air beings loved human beings.

As Venky stepped out of the train and got into the pitch darkness , he felt the hug of thick layers of air. It was one of the beings of Planet Black. Venky's heart started beating harder in fear.

“Barba” he shouted

“Do not fear Venky . They do no harm to human beings.I will take you safely to the train when the whistle blows”

“I cant help it. Take me with you. Hold my hand”

“I cant see you either. Only when the whistle blows I will get the power to see you.Then I can grab you and take you to the train”

This brought more shivers to Venky. He wished he could return to planet earth at the very moment.

The train gave a loud whistle.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

Next Station

Barba unfolded another leaf from his scriptures and read:

“We have come to the Planet of Bad”

The Planet of Bad was bad. The beings on this planet had only the negative emotions of humans. Anger,Fear,Hate,Jealousy,Pain,Lust,Greed to name a few. There was blood everywhere on the planet. The planet could have been called the Bad Red Planet.People killed each other to pass time.Cannibalism was the order of the day. Their average life span was 24 years.

“Wont they kill us if we step in to their land?”

“They might” Barba replied.

“What?”

“We need to look at them without their knowledge. They are so clouded in their negative thoughts and emotions that they don’t notice anyone unless they are too close.”

"What if they notice us?Wont you save me?"

"Only few of my powers are active on alien planets. I cant .Sorry"

"Then why did we come here?"

"Death is just a play of life Venky.You shouldn’t be scared of it"

The kind gentle Barba now looked like an insane idiot to Venky.

"That is stupid!That is crazy! I need to go now!I need to see my planet earth!Take me out of this!"

"Don’t you want to see Oo-la-la, you will not get a chance once more.

And there are hundreds of planets to visit on the way"

"I need my life, Please take me back."

"Are you very sure?"

"Yes , yes very very sure"

“You can't travel in this train back. In the next station I will put you on another train back to earth”

“Thanks, thank you very much”

“You will regret Venky”

Venky after a long pause and gaze at Barba, replied “I need to go”.Venky and Barba remained inside the coach while the other passengers stepped out to visit the Planet of Bad. Barba sent his assistant along with them.Only few of them returned with the assistant when the whistle blew.

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la (clap-clap)

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la(clap-clap)”

  

At the next station , as promised , Venky switched trains and took his journey back to earth.His heart was heavy with memories. His only concern then was to travel back to his mother land, another speck in the vast universe.

In no time, Venky reached earth and then the railway station he boarded. 

The railway clock struck 20:00 hours.

The time stood still. As soon as Venky reached the same spot the last time he left for the train, time unwinded. Everything and everyone were back to normal , normal in the sense to planet Earth.

Venky speeded up to his home , ignoring his interview and wanting to see his mother’s face.

On his way he stumbled upon a small kid.

He had noticed that kid on the train to OO-la-la

He got down on his knees , grapped the kid and asked,

“Did you visit OO-lala”

The child gave a zen smile and sang:

"Here goes the train

Here goes the train 

Here goes the train to OO-la-la

Here goes the train

Here goes the train

Here goes the train to OO-la-la”