Tsukudu Speaks

The year is 2010. It’s a cool summer evening and I’m still small enough that my mother is carrying me on her back.  She is climbing up a flight of stairs alongside my late aunt who had come to visit us in Grasmere.  I lift my gaze to the south and a bright light emerges from a little hole and is quickly revealed to be attached to a long yellow and grey metal snake that makes the tracks ahead of it hiss.  “TRAIN NUMBER 9005 TO JOZI, TRAIN NUMBER 9005 TO JOZI, PLEASE HAVE YOUR TICKET READY” the fuzzy voice from the PA speaker says. My aunt says goodbye to my mother and she quickly makes her way to the platform and disappears into the yellow snake. As my mother complains about how I’m too old to be carried on her back and subsequently lets me down; I watch the snake disappear towards Mid-Ennerdale and into the night sky until its bright light is no more. This is my earliest memory of the Metrorail. Love it or hate it, the Metrorail is an iconic part of South Africa’s working...