in the teain

v2 

‐-‐------

on the train

I'm in the MRT,

hanging on to the handrail,

looking around,

thinking how it might be 

if I was actually cool enough 

to do what I see myself doing 

in my head. 

 

It involves loud music in Tamil, 

cuckoo cuckoo, annakili annakili, and valliamai perandi*, 

a bit of folk,  a bit of rap, and a bit of oppari, 

and me channeling Dhee and Arivu, 

jiving, 

my hands all "whassup, dude" in my face

smooth sliding from one end of the carriage to the other

in tune with the tune in my head,

only,

I know all the camera phones will be trained on me,  and the video uploaded everywhere

well before I'm done.

I see the headlines on social media first and the national papers next - 

"Ministry staff goes crazy, aked to step down and seek help",

"Government to review work load and mental wellness of civil servants", 

everyone everywhere weighing in "the incident", 

interviews which sigh

"She loved her subject but was always a little wild"

when all I was, was, 

happy, inspired and spontaneous, 

and I stop

and write this poem instead. 

*from lyrics to a trending song "Enjoy Enjaami" by Dhee ft Arivu, which at the point of writing this poem has 80 million views on YouTube. 

----

‐------

I'm in the train 

hanging on to the handrail 

thinking 

how it might be 

if I was actually cool enough 

to do what I see myself doing what I'm thinking 

it involves loud music in Tamil, cuckoo cuckoo, annakili, valliamai perandi right.. a bit of folk and a bit of rap and a bit of oppari 

and me doing the moves. chanenling dhee and arica, the swinging the jazzing the hands moving in front of my face- what's up dude- in tune to the song and jiving to the shocked looks of the passengers 

only 

I know I will be videotaped and the video uploaded everywhere before I finish my cool moves 

and some will laugh and some shake their heads and most will point their cameras at me - so thrilled they have one crazy video to upload to get them fame 

and I stop. I see the headlines. moe staff goes a bit crazy. asked to step down for a while to seek help 

a review into work load and mental load of civil servants and everyone everywhere weighing in with them views on what my dance could suggest. 

a sigh. she was so good. loved her subject her teachers. but always a little wild you know.

when all I was was, happy, inspired and spontaneous. 

and I stop and write this poem instead. 

----

thrilled they have a video to upload on ,

bringing them fame for them being in the moment with one crazy lady

with all these kind folk just watching me mouth agape. 

i see some laugh, some shake their heads, some wide open eyes. 

mostly I see camera phones pointed right me- this video will be uploaded

everywhere before I'm done