The Impulsive Traveller

As soon as the bleak morning sun streamed through the thick window curtains, my eyes flickered and opened to the sound of the chugging and pulling train. Heavy-headed from the long night's sleep, I pulled up myself and drew back the curtains to see that which took my breath away. I was speeding across a beautiful, serene river, the rising red disc of the sun's rays perpendicularly reflected on the placid waves, forming a kaleidoscope of  mirages and tiny drops of light. I could see in the horizon, a single shaft of a boat on which a fisherman was tugging along his line in hope for a good catch at the wee hour of the morning. The river was foliaged and fringed on the two sides by tall coconut tree bowing towards the river in all their humility, made the landscape so enduring. As I write this piece, I realize that the train journey from Mumbai to Kochi has sixty four such rivers, big or small that are dotted with the tropical v...