NO ONE AT THE GATE

Train travel in Mumbai has been restricted to essential services. Even lawyers and their staff are not allowed to board local trains. Yet, trains are overcrowded because no one is obeying the rules and hardly anyone is being caught. This poem is Raju Z. Moray's take on the issue.

—–

Hordes bulging trains

Are on a sticky wicket

Because most of them

Travel without a ticket!

Checking happens when

You ask for a ticket or pass

But if you just board boldly

You can travel by any class!

The rush hour thousands

Jostling to avoid being late

Break all laws and barriers

As there's no one at the gate!

All the rules and the SOPs

Are only for the law-abiding

They agitate and they fret

While the ticketless are riding!