Summary of the Poem:
This is the concluding poem of the sequence which bears the title “Jejuri” and which consists of thirty - one sections. This section, the last in the sequence, consists of six parts, each having a heading. The first part has the heading: “The Indicator”; the second part has the heading “The Station Dog”; the third part has the heading “The Tea Stall”; the fourth part has the heading “The Station Master”; the fifth part has the heading “Vows”; and the sixth part has the heading “The Setting Sun”. Taken together, or even taken separately and individually, these six parts of the poem build up the picture of a railway station which does not seem to be in use and which does not seem to be functioning except in a most inefficient and ineffective manner. The total impression produced by this poem is one of complete neglect of a railway station. In fact, the total effect is one of meaningless, absurdity, and futility in relation to a railway station.
The first part of the poem depicts an indicator which indicates nothing and which presents a faded look. The indicator, which has a clock to indicate the time, is no longer functioning. A passenger would not be able to know from this indicator when the next train is due; and the numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) on the clock are so faded and dim that, if a passenger were to total them, they would amount to zero.
There is a dog living on the station. This dog is suffering from a severe skin disease; but he is the very spirit of the whole place. The dog seems to have been doing some penance here for the last three hundred years while the trains have been arriving and departing. The dog opens his right eye when you go near him, and he opens his eyes only to find out if the person standing before him is a man or a demon or a demi - god (or half a god). If the railway time - table were to offer to take this dog to heaven, he would refuse on the ground that the day, when he should make his exit from this world, has not yet come.
A young man, who is in charge of the tea - stall at the railway station, is new to his job; and he seems to have taken a vow of silence because, instead of answering a question which a passenger might ask him, he throws away dish - water which falls upon the passenger's face. The young man continues washing dishes and cups in the kitchen sink.
The booking clerk too does not speak much. He would only give the required ticket to a passenger and, for any other information; he would direct the passenger to his superior (namely the station master). The station master, like several gods in the temple at Jejuri, has two heads. He does not believe in any time - table except the one which was published long ago at the time when the railway line was first laid here (to connect Jejuri with Pune or Bombay). He keeps looking anxiously at the sun which is about to set. He seems to think that the sunset is a part of some secret ritual; and he, therefore, does not want that anything should go wrong with the impending sunset.
A passenger, in this case the protagonist (or the poet himself), begins to feel desperate because he has waited long enough and because no train has yet arrived to take him away from Jejuri. He has become so desperate that he vows to do anything in case a train arrives or in case he gets some information as to when a train would arrive. The trouble is that no one gives him any information about the time of the arrival of a train. The reason for this is that nobody, not even the booking clerk or the station master, knows the time of the arrival of a train. The protagonist is willing to slaughter a goat as a sacrifice, to smash a coconut on the railway track as a ceremony, to bathe the station master in milk, to give a gold toy train to the booking clerk, or to do anything else if someone were to tell him when a train would arrive.
The sun has now travelled down to a point which is fairly close to the horizon. In other words, the sun is about to set. The sun looks quite big at this time, as big as a wheel. The wheel - like sun reminds us of the wheels of the bus which had brought the pilgrims (including the protagonist) to Jejuri.
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
The Protagonist's Proposed Departure by a Railway Train:
The Railway Station is the concluding poem of the whole sequence which bears the title of “Jejuri”. The sequence begins with a poem which is entitled The Bus. The second poem in the sequence is entitled The Priest; the third poem is entitled Heart of Ruin. And thus the sequence continues, ending with The Railway Station. The protagonist (who may be Arun Kolatkar himself) had arrived at the temple of Khandoba early in the morning by a State Transport bus; and, after having gone round the whole place and having even visited the hills into which the five demons killed by Khandoba had been transformed, is now ready to go back home. For some reason or the other he has decided to go back by a railway train instead of by a bus. But, on arriving at the railway station, he finds himself in a very difficult situation. He is faced with a problem which he is unable to solve.
The Futility of the Railway Station; and the Protagonist's Desperation:
This poem gives us a picture, a graphic picture, of the desolate scene which the railway station presents. The indicator at the railway station indicates nothing. The booking clerk merely gives a passenger the required ticket but gives no information to him about the time of the arrival of the train which the passenger has to catch. The station master is two - headed, like many of the gods in the temple at Jejuri; but even he supplies no information. This station master has no printed time - table. Nor does he believe in any time - table, except the one which was published at the time when the railway track was originally laid here. There is a dog at the railway station. This dog has a mangy body, and he could even be regarded as the spirit of the place. The station tea - stall is looked after by a young fellow who is new to his job and who, instead of answering a question asked by the protagonist, throws away dish - water which falls on the protagonist's face. The protagonist is now feeling desperate because of his predicament.
A Satire on a Neglected Railway Station:
This poem depicts a railway station which is the very embodiment of futility, ineffectiveness, and absurdity. This is not a railway station but a travesty of a railway station. And the poem is not only a satire on this railway station but a most depressing account of desolation and despair.
