Traveling by train from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar recently I had this interesting
experience, which only I am blessed to brag about, as others usually sleep
through these disturbances.
We were in our 2nd AC compartment on this longish
train destined for Trivandrum
carrying its multitude to be deposited in various parts of the country over the
next 2 nights and a fair bit of day thereafter.
The train gathered speed, if I may call it that, swaying and
clattering over the rails and the passengers were lulled to sleep. A certain
calm prevailed without the constant
opening and closing of the coach door and the air-con was doing its best
leaving the mosquitoes in a state of anguish.
As is my wont, I was fairly alert, dozing off now and then
but mostly awake as these trains tend to stop more than run. I had the
advantage of being in the lower berth which enabled me to peer into the night
through the scratched out portions of the shaded glass window looking for
station names etc. So passed the night until we came to the interesting part of
this account.
ACT 1
It was 1:30 AM when a youth entered the coach and came to
stop directly in front of my berth. I sat up. A certain part of mind said that
he has come to claim the upper berth which, if I forgot to mention, was lying vacant.
Without much ado he asked me “ Which berth number is this
upper berth Sir, do you know?”
I said “ that should be No.6”
He said “ Oh! Is
there anyone there you think”
I said “ I can’t be sure, but I believe it is unoccupied.
But, what is your berth no. Is it 6?”
He said “ Yes Sir, it
is 6.But, pointing to the bedroll, someone has kept something there. So, I
must have the wrong berth”, he concluded with a fairly large bag hanging from
his lean shoulder.
Apart from his ignorance on not knowing about the
perquisites that the Indian Rail offered
its guests in 2A and 3A, I could not but sympathize with him, at this late
hour, for his mind must be in turmoil thinking about bombs going off from
unknown packages left in public transport.
I said “ That is a bed
roll for you. Don’t you know?” He stopped for
gathering his wits and gave me enough room to push a question sideways. “ Which station is this?”
He said “ This is Bhadrak in Orissa”
I said “ How far is Bhubaneswar,
do you know?”
He said “Oh, it is
4-5 stations from here. It will be morning before you reach there. You can have
a good sleep before that”
I let out a wry laugh and said “ Why don’t you push your
luggage underneath and climb upstairs and get comfortable”
He said “ But Sir,
what shall I do with this? The damn
bed-roll again!!
I contemplated on his predicament and proceeded to show him my
arrangement. But it appeared he was not satisfied.
He continued to
badger “Are you sure it does not belong to someone else. What if they come back
and accuse me ?”.
Renowned scientists have gazed at oceans, played the violin or lay serenely
in bath tubs for getting their inspiration to solve knotty issues. In my case I
put up my little finger quickly and asked to be excused and hastened to the
bathroom while he looked on in despair. When I came back, I saw that he had taken
refuge in berth No.6,drawn the curtains and gone to sleep
ACT 2
When I could not lie down any longer, I looked through the
scratch and sensed that the sky had brightened somewhat heralding a new day. In
consideration of what the wise man in UB
had said previously, I hastened to the door and opened it to peer out more
clearly. To my luck a youngster came out of the bathroom toting a toothbrush in
his mouth and progressed towards the mirror, more to adjust his disheveled hair,
than to complete the process of brushing.
To him I thus addressed “ Do you know where we are?”
He said “ Glugaggaga”
refusing to spit out before speaking. Then
he put up his hand, in consideration of my bald head, and after completing his
toilet and looking outside to ascertain our location said
“ We are approaching Cuttack”
“ So how much longer for Bhubaneswar (BBS) ?” I asked.
“He looked at his watch, gave it a polish on his jeans and
said “It is now 05:45… the train is
running late…we should reach Cuttack
by 06:00 and BBS by 7:00 if all goes well”
I lingered at the door for a while looking at the country
side coming awake and came back to my berth.
The train stopped at Cuttack
and continued its dalliance with the station beyond its allotted 5 minutes.
Suddenly from the UB two legs jutted out and my neighbor
jumped down somewhat refreshed. He enquired with me about our whereabouts and
hearing my reply disappeared to the bathroom for a while, returned and quickly
retreated to his berth above to continue
his slumber.
Our train continued in its state of rest in Cuttack,
strictly following Newton’s
first law, and there was no external impressed force to change its state. I
continued to stare out at a bare platform with no excitement emanating from it whatsoever.
Even the vendors had gone to rest after crying hoarse traveling the length of
the train many times. Everybody was in a state of hopelessness it appeared.”
“ Sir! You said you wanted to get down in Bhubaneswar” my UB friend breaking the calm
“ Yes”
“ Better find out which station we have come to presently,
before it is too late”
“ We are still in Cuttack”
“ How can it be? You told me that long time ago. You have
been sleeping, I think” Adding insult to
injury
“ You want to come down and take a look and tell me?” I prodded
He left me at that and was soon snoring away.
Some people are lucky aren’t they? They say what they like
and then go to sleep as if nothing happened. And here I am staring at the
lonely platform waiting for the train to begin its journey towards my
destination. If only I was a Superman
ACT 3
Eventually the train moved out of Cuttack, stealthily, without much bother
about having lost time, dragging its load over points and crossings towards the
next station on its route. Possibly BBS, I hoped.
As I was thus ruminating about our ETA in BBS and so forth,
the TC appeared from somewhere and tapped on the berth above. Receiving no response,
he upped the request with a somewhat loud
“Ticket please”
UB got up in a hurry from deep slumber,
looked up the black coated official and blurted out
“ I told him that I did not want to use it…he only insisted
“ pointing at me
The TC smiled at me and I smiled back as we had already
known each other intimately due to an interesting exchange of words that we had
had with each other when he came upon us at the commencement of the journey. Examining
our E-ticket he had commented quietly that my wife was a female whereas the
ticket indicated “Mr” against her name. I had regretted the minor error but he pretended
to be nonplussed to see how such a major error could have come to be etc etc. I
asked him to let the matter go and he had complied nodding his head dejectedly Ala
Sanjeev Kr, in a major scene. He must have remembered Anna Hazare suddenly or
he must have had more alluring prospects waiting.
As we were reminiscing, the TC and I, UB was raving and
ranting
“ Please take it away. Here… I will roll it for you” and so
on he went .He got down in a hurry and was all set to touch the feet of TC to
seek his pardon. Thank God he did not touch his own wallet!
“What are you talking about. I only asked for your ticket”
the TC gesticulated.
Shortly, UB calmed down as I patted his shoulder and he completed
the formality to the satisfaction of the TC.
After the departure of the TC, UB went up smiling at me coyly
saying ‘Sorry, Sir! I have never traveled by a 2nd or 3rd AC class before. It is only after my recent
promotion……
And then there was relative calm until we eased into BBS and
as we left the train I could see UB snoring, clutching his pillow, rightfully
his, for the rest of his journey.
