Grandpa

My earliest memories
Were of Grandpa sitting in his armchair
Next to him his whisky, neatly sipped
Handsome, cheerful, grey haired
Cuban cigar perched on lower left lip

He had eleven children
(My father was the seventh)
He had been through some hairy stories
During the great partition

One which I remember being told,
was In 1947, when he was manager
on the great Indian railway in Gujarat,
during the split of Pakistan from India

The Hindu-Muslim riots ripped communities apart
and on grandpa's watch
someone from one belief tied someone from another
to the train tracks to be murdered

The engine driver's life was at stake
unless he drove that train
and my grandfather raced to the scene
and took the engine driver's place

Sat in his seat, looked stoically ahead, braked
And refused to budge that train
He was threatened and pelted with stones
But he refused to budge that train

Finally reinforcements untied the hapless one
my grandfather saved a life that day
but being a most unassuming man
I heard this story from my aunt

When he died and was long gone
I'd view the world from his armchair
And I tell you, I can swear
I could smell his whisky and cigar