The Flamingo Legs

“Clink clank “, the sound of the metallic shovel hitting the mounds of coal was the familiar sound with which Kabir grew up. After his father, who died of his excess love for spirits, Kabir took up this job of loading coal in the train carriages. The job provided him both money, and shelter in the railway yard.

Kabir took up the work when he was barely eleven and never realized how eight years passed. A young man now, strong muscular body and dark skin almost camouflaged in the backdrop of heaps of coal everywhere.  Only, once a month, he would go to the town, watch a movie and eat food in the wayside eatery. This is all, the luxury, he knew.  Like a homing pigeon, he would come back to his world of coal, dust and sounds of train engines and blaring horns by night. The next day work was as usual till his next visit to town. He had no friends except Kana, a skinny boy who too worked with him in the yard but was lucky to have parents and a sister as well as home to sleep.

Kabir never felt his work to be monotonous. Like an Ox harnessed to an oil press he went about his job of loading the coal without any distractions. But the naughty imp in life wants to always create a ripple of restlessness in a person and watch the fun. Kabir was the next victim.

On a Monday morning he started his work quite early even before other workers came to the yard. He took the first shovel of coal and put it in the basket, which once filled would be emptied in the carriage. Then second , third …. fifth but his hand stopped suddenly and eyes darted towards a figure crossing the tracks. He saw slender shapely legs in pink leggings which  reminded him of a slender flamingo legs ,with a sling bag across the shapely shoulder with a pink scarf tied on her slender wrist crossing the coal yard. But  he could not see the beautiful face. The flamingo legs suddenly disappeared behind a stationary train. “ Clank” , he threw the shovel down and ran behind the train which lazily moved out of the station leaving Kabir highly disappointed.

He came back to his work but both rhythm and zest were missing. His eyes darted again and again to the tracks where he saw the flamingo legs. Next day, he got up early to began his work and at the same time hoping for the flamingo legs to appear. Hours passed by and suddenly came the flamingo legs wearing light lemon colour dress and the sling bag. At lightning speed , kabir threw his shovel and ran towards her but once again she somehow dodged him.

Disappointed but not dejected, Kabir decided to wait in the stationary train. Next morning, he had his bath, scrubbed himself to remove every trace of coal dust and put on his best dress, applied a little oil to his rough hair, combed neatly and wore his cheap sandals. He crossed the tracks and got into the stationary train.  He chose a comfortable seat facing the door so as to not to miss his beloved flamingo legs enter the compartment.

Time ticked away.  Kabir who was not used to sit idle long hours, dozed off. Suddenly he felt the vibrations of the wheels and when he opened his eyes, he found the train halted too. He saw there were no other people in the compartment. He got down the train and found the station bit awkward. Passengers and employees in the station looked quite different. Clean shaven heads, no ear lobes, two antennas on the head and a tail with microchip dangling. Gender discrimination was difficult except for the bright lipstick which some bald heads wore, made him realize they might be women. Their walk, expressionless eyes, and language,  was beyond Kabir’s comprehension.

He slowly walked towards the exit and thank god! No one demanded him a ticket.  He moved towards the street. The road was wide and mostly empty. Occasionally a peculiar looking car would pass and the sky had a buzz of flying machines. “The people here prefer travelling in space than driving on normal road”, thought Kabir.

He was unable to guess the time. In the railway yard the siren helped and he never had a wrist watch. He guessed it must be afternoon. He was hungry. He walked along the street. Felt his pocket and relaxed that he had a little money. He went to the nearest eatery. The food appeared strange too. Big brown pieces looked like bread, some multi colour lentil soup; green peppers looked like ladies finger and tomatoes almost as big as turnips and of course some kind of brownish drink. Kabir was too hungry to analyse the food. He ordered the food by pointing finger at the dishes and a bald waiter expertly passed them to him. Kabir didn’t know how to pay. He had no plastic card and there was no cash transaction.  He returned the food back on the counter and left the place. He found a water fountain and quenched his thirst but remained hungry.

“May be flamingo legs got into another compartment. May be she stays here. I have to first look for her or else go back by evening to my coal yard by the same train,” thought Kabir. “I wonder why flamingo legs is in this strange place of bald heads, glass eyes and tails?” Murmuring Kabir started walking up and down the streets. The houses looked like capsules, stacked one on another, and in the name of greenery ,small shrub like plants and little grass  grew here and there. No playgrounds, no parks  for children to play. Even pet dogs and cats appeared strange and walked without a lease and controlled by remote held by bald owners. Everything looked like a scene from sci-fi movie.

Walking through a street, he saw a stack of newspapers and out of curiosity, he picked up one and lo! What did he notice “the date”,  13^th  December, 2029. Kabir was bewildered and wondered if he was visiting some futuristic town.  The paper also looked as if made up of plastic. The print appeared in three dimensions.

“Enough of this adventure! Let me go back”, he thought . He hurried to the station and saw his train still standing there. Without wasting his time he ran towards a compartment. But a metallic hand caught him and before he could gather his wits, a funny voice demanded ticket. Kabir tried to explain but the funny metallic hand was not prepared to listen.

The train started slowly moving and Kabir didn’t want to miss the last train. He struggled hard and pushed the metallic hand and ran towards the compartment. “Whack!” A baton hit him from behind and he fell on his face hitting the seat and lost his consciousness.

“Wake up ! You lazy bones. You don’t even have the sense where  are you sleeping? Why do you have to sleep in this abandoned train compartment? Were you drunk or drugged. It’s been almost a week, there has been no trace of you”, shouted Kana, Kabir’s only friend. Kabir woke up and wondered that it was only yesterday he had been to the strange town chasing flamingo legs. “Was it a dream? But then what was that all he saw in the odd town? Who would believe his story?” thought Kabir.

He got up and gingerly looked around. The newspaper was near his seat and anxiously he picked up to see the date but unfortunately in the scuffle with metallic hand , the paper was torn and all he was left with a round hard bump on his head but who would believe how he got it. Where did the flamingo legs disappear? Kabir promised himself never to ever run after any distractions rather mind his work and enjoy his monthly sojourn in the town and three hours in the fantasy world of movies.

Back to his railway yard, with his shovel working deftly,  suddenly  Kabir ‘s eyes again caught hold of a bald head , with tail and a microchip dangling … but Kabir pretended as if he saw nothing. “ One can’t be always lucky in misadventures”, he thought and the clink clank  monotonous sound echoed faraway in  the lonely railway yard.