Shaheed Express
I am in some kind of dream bonanza nowadays.
Yesterday it was Everest, today it was a train journey up North.
I am traveling by Shaheed express to somewhere in Punjab. Quite a lot of college staff is there along and maybe it is some kind of conference. I see the Principal of the college on an upper berth and Oral Medicine head in the same booth. We all are traveling by normal 3 tier coach with open windows and grill. I wake up in the morning and the view outside the window is amazing with a red horizon, the sun about to rise, lush green fields and sparkling water bodies zipping past.
I get off at Amritsar and go for a stroll along the platform as it being a major station I expect the train to stay for awhile. I step out of the station and go up to a point from where I get a good view of the rural countryside. I slowly walk back to the train. The train has left!
I look around for it frantically and then I see the station board and realise its Amritsar Cantonment railway station and not the main one. I am not carrying any money and am still in my night suite and wearing slippers.
Looking at my panic and puzzlement a few bystanders ask me what's wrong. They guide me to a guy on a 100cc bike who they say will help me catch the train at the next station. I get on the bike and we go train chasing. The guy is dusky, lean and tall, with long unruly hair, wearing dark shades and a brown jacket and jeans. He doesn't speak a word to me. While I am riding pillion with him I wonder who he is, why I got on the bike without even speaking to him or taking his introduction and what if he kidnaps me.
We reach near the station and he gets a call on his cell. He stops the bike to answer the call in chaste Punjabi and as he is talking on the cell I proceed towards the platform without thanking or even talking to him.
This is Calcutta now, and its a huge station with lots of people and tongas everywhere. The way to the platform is confusing as there are two paths. One going up a slope and one going straight into the station. I go straight for a while before I see trains standing on the upper level. There is no way to climb up due to the space being occupied by tongas parked on the side.
I somehow manage to go back and hurry up to the upper level. As I enter platform 1 I see the last carriage of my train move away.
So I missed two trains on a single night!
After this the dream becomes hazy and I get the impression that I stay back in Calcutta and start a new life. But I am not sure whether that is something I think about doing or actually end up doing.
Few take home messages from this dream were my desire to go home, to travel and my innate belief in the goodness of common folk up north.
Yesterday it was Everest, today it was a train journey up North.
I am traveling by Shaheed express to somewhere in Punjab. Quite a lot of college staff is there along and maybe it is some kind of conference. I see the Principal of the college on an upper berth and Oral Medicine head in the same booth. We all are traveling by normal 3 tier coach with open windows and grill. I wake up in the morning and the view outside the window is amazing with a red horizon, the sun about to rise, lush green fields and sparkling water bodies zipping past.
I get off at Amritsar and go for a stroll along the platform as it being a major station I expect the train to stay for awhile. I step out of the station and go up to a point from where I get a good view of the rural countryside. I slowly walk back to the train. The train has left!
I look around for it frantically and then I see the station board and realise its Amritsar Cantonment railway station and not the main one. I am not carrying any money and am still in my night suite and wearing slippers.
Looking at my panic and puzzlement a few bystanders ask me what's wrong. They guide me to a guy on a 100cc bike who they say will help me catch the train at the next station. I get on the bike and we go train chasing. The guy is dusky, lean and tall, with long unruly hair, wearing dark shades and a brown jacket and jeans. He doesn't speak a word to me. While I am riding pillion with him I wonder who he is, why I got on the bike without even speaking to him or taking his introduction and what if he kidnaps me.
We reach near the station and he gets a call on his cell. He stops the bike to answer the call in chaste Punjabi and as he is talking on the cell I proceed towards the platform without thanking or even talking to him.
This is Calcutta now, and its a huge station with lots of people and tongas everywhere. The way to the platform is confusing as there are two paths. One going up a slope and one going straight into the station. I go straight for a while before I see trains standing on the upper level. There is no way to climb up due to the space being occupied by tongas parked on the side.
I somehow manage to go back and hurry up to the upper level. As I enter platform 1 I see the last carriage of my train move away.
So I missed two trains on a single night!
After this the dream becomes hazy and I get the impression that I stay back in Calcutta and start a new life. But I am not sure whether that is something I think about doing or actually end up doing.
Few take home messages from this dream were my desire to go home, to travel and my innate belief in the goodness of common folk up north.
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