Strangers who have become so familiar now
No names tagged to each of them
Not even sharing a smile with most of them
many occupying the same seat or space or handle bar
doing the same thing every single day
listening to music, reading a book, sleeping, staring
I have wondered what their lives are like
what they do for a living… how they live, their family, kids
fights they had, their griefs, happiness, love life
What they were thinking before they boarded
where will they go when they unboard
I too am a stranger to them
they would also be thinking the same about me
I need to break that, make a change…
tomorrow I will switch where I stand
I will make sure I will alternate between music, book, staring and sleeping
Not for anything else but just to let them know I exist
movement and change is part if existence
even if it is just a repetition;
never fall in consecutive days is the goal
Tomorrow…. but today needs to end…
there are long hours in the night that I need to pass with no stops in between
sleeping probably or waking up in dreamy darkness
how long is it to reach my stop….?
to get down and disappear into another crowd of total strangers
all walking back after a day’s work and some walking to a night’s work
And one familiar face is all you need to break this bliss of insignificance
I love my commutes; making no friends
I love that I am in my own world
and between them and me there is just a space
a space that dissolves into time every single day
not once but twice…. one hour both ways
my own time of strange bliss
the romance in being unknown

-Vinod-

Categories: Poetry

Tags: 365 Poems, Commuter, Commuting, Poetry