Railway Mix ups Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

 

Railway Mix ups

Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

There are a number of humorous incidents, associated with railways, witnessed by me in my life. One such incident is related to station ,where two trains were moving in the same direction for some time and with confusing boards, but to different destinations. An old man reached station to see off his daughter-in-law and her two grandchildren, who were moving to another station. When he reached the platform one train with the board Ajmer-Udaipur-Ajmer was standing on platform no. 1 while the other train with the similar board was standing on the other train. As the old man after buying the tickets, including a platform ticket for himself, as he belonged to that generation that had an odd belief that they should not give loss to Railways by not buying the platform ticket, reached the platform he came across an old acquaintance and was soon engrossed in the conversation with him. After some time one of the train gave whistle for departure, so he quickly handed over tickets to his daughter-in-law and helped them board the train as it started moving after giving the mandatory second whistle. After that old man came back to his home and after a hearty lunch soon started snoring in the sound sleep.

After some time daughter-in-law, who was educated, realised that they have got on wrong train as the houses of Zinc colony passed before them instead of iconic cement factory plant of the town. Just across them a convict with handcuffs was sitting accompanied by two constables, who were taking him for trial to the court. He comprehended the situation at once that this lady and her two children have got on wrong train. He told her not to worry and told her that he belongs to the next station. So she can easily get off at the next station and walk on a kutcha path that will lead her to a road from where she will get the minibus easily. Following the instructions of a convict, as she had no other option but to believe the convict. As train came to a halt at the next station she got off easily as other passengers also helped her to get down along with her luggage and of course her two children. She walked on half a mile on the kutcha path leading her to a metalled road. At one point children felt thirsty, so from the villagers working in the farm she took some water and quenched her thirst as well as her kids thirst. Soon they got the minibus that brought them back to the town from where they had started the journey. Daughter-in-law thought not to disturb her parents-in-law so she decided to take a bus that was about to go to her destination. So she took the bus and sat comfortably along with her children in the bus.

Meanwhile before going for sleep after lunch old man had already informed brother of his daughter-in-law that she was coming along with two children. Her brother went to receive her at the station but to his surprise and horror he could not find any of them in the train and train after waiting for some time went ahead. Now her brother got apprehensive that perhaps some body had thrown them off from the moving train in greed of getting some jewels, though they were artificial, and some money in her purse. So he contacted the railway police who at once sent the message to all the station masters on the route. Her brother also contacted old man that he could not find them on the train specified by him. Old man roared bach the he, himself had seen them board the train and he came back from the station only after train had left the station. Then it occurred to old man also that perhaps they had got on the wrong train, so he also went at once to report the matter to the railway police and they too sent immediate wireless message to the station masters of the stations. Soon the station master of the next station soon replied that he had seen a lady with two kids getting off from the train but they soon disappeared from the platform. Meanwhile as the hectic search was going on both by Railway police and Civil police, somebody saw her along with her kids coming towards the house on a cycle rickshaw. Her brother contacted old man again to say that she had reached safely along with the children. But those were days of landline phones only, as mobile phones had not become so common. So when the phone rang old man was at railway station thinking about filing a report of lost people at the police station. So at house old man’s wife received the message and sent one of the neighbour to inform that they had reached the destination safely. This brought this incident to a close.