the metronome is ticking...

‘Tis half past midnight... And though this night is no different from all the other nights in this heaven of dust, I feel a kind of chill that has got nothing to do with the weather. I reach my room, put on the lights and crash on my side by the window. Amidst the gentle snores of my roommate, the episode replays in my head many times over.

The speeding train... the dull thud and sudden application of emergency brakes... the jamming of doors for 5 minutes and crowd running in the opposite direction, just like flies drawn to a pile of crap! Finally the doors open and we file out, carefully avoiding the leftover baggage (fear of bombs!).

Outside, it’s utter chaos. Saket station must  have  seen crowd like this many times. Only this time, the crowd was less interested in waiting for their train and more into peering over the rails beneath the wheels of the train. Police starts dispersing the crowd...

 Now, I would have chalked this down to some kind of a technical failure and moved on but for the dramatic enlightenment provided by an ageing fellow. It was a suicide attempt by a guy roughly my age! The way it was revealed by the elderly gentleman seemed to suggest his yearning for this kind of excitement.

Seeing death through the eyes of another person could not be a treat, that’s what I always used to think. But the fascination displayed by people to peer over the fallen one seemed disturbingly unbelievable. The train rocked to and fro, the blood and the body come into view... Further reading might be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

A yellow striped polo shirt and trousers seems to be covering what is left of a human body. One of the legs is severed from thigh down and is lying in between the tracks, wearing red slippers that must have been white moments ago. The midriff has been cut diagonally. Human body has an extra-ordinary amount of blood inside it, because three segments of the track have been completely reddened. The head is barely recognizable save for the tufts of hair and half the jaw that refused to let go.

They threw a white sheet over what was left of the body and carried it out on a stretcher, dripping dark red blood on the sparkling granite floor. Suddenly, the Androids and Windows popped out, clicking their life away. If all that was for a souvenir, tombstones must make them feel enchanted! Another train arrives and we climb aboard, trying to adjust with the latest development in our own sick fashion...

A sight like this can hardly be intriguing. For me, it was shivering, difficult breathing and nausea, in that order. And yet, people were gossiping about how it all happened and the circumstances that might have led to it. One journalist from reputed news daily (I will spit on it from now on!) claimed to have filmed the entire thing on his phone, but expressed disappointment about the video quality. Another person tried to gather attention by declaring to have interacted with three of the guys accompanying the deceased. One gentleman declared that the torso was breathing when it was being carried past him. Yet another fellow casually remarked that it would have been better for him to die now than to live!

Are we human? More precisely, were we ever? Because we sure as hell aren't right now! Discussing this with some of my friends, I got to hear that death is “fascinating”, which is what was drawing so much crowd near the bloody pile of entrails. How exactly?! And let’s see how fascinating you find death on your own deathbed...As for the question of death better than life for the said person; tell that to the parents of the fellow whose blood is washing the tracks of Saket. It takes lots of guts to take your own life. Ask the guy who jumped onto the running metro, should you ever meet him... Rest in peace, stranger! I hope you went to a better place, where people value lives and grieve on losing one.