Ode to the One Eyed Monster

Beauty has no universally accepted standard and or definition.
And sometimes one can’t help but fall in love with something seemingly has not a single beauty bone in its body.
It was monstrous and fierce looking but I could not help falling in love with the moment I saw it for the first time.
My feeling towards it was not an isolated one and all my siblings had the same feeling towards it.
We had our very special name for it too.
During school holiday times, we often visit up the country.
Father was in civil service, so he had plenty of Rail passes to go with his position.
On most occasions, we take a connecting train to the Fort Railway station to catch the upcountry bound Night mail train.
By the time when we get there, the rain is already there and being loaded with stuffs for the departure.
First thing first and we go locating the reserved compartment to dump our stuff and then run to the front of the train to see, what would be hauling us tonight through the wet and cold nights to top of the hill country.
As always, the big red colour one eyed monster was there to greet us.
We come back happy knowing that we would be safe and sound with it in front.
Later, as we grew much bigger and inquisitive, we got to know that this monster was given a bit of a push to help it negotiate to winding climb up peaceful by and another oldie a steam engine after the Rambukkana railway station.
But our love for the monster never diminished.
Sadly, I read somewhere recently, that only one of these monsters is still standing and all others have been replaced by the Blue colour Canadian ones.

Photo credit to Mr Akila Ariyapperuma