Around 16:00 hrs
India needs just 4 runs to complete a historic win and Sachin is on 99 and on strike! Me and my sister are watching the match with bated breath and mom shouts, “we are getting late for the train, get up and get going”. Now my sister’s turn to shout “ya ya right after the match, it’s almost over”. And finally that moment, a little paddle sweep by the little master and the ball races past the fine leg for a boundary. What a moment! What a victory! All the more sweet cos sachin was there till the end to see us through. Sachin raises his bat with elation and yuvi lifts him. Me and my sister religiously get up and give a standing ovation (a ritual in our house after a sachin’s ton!). Mom repeats, now with a slightly retired tone “We will miss the train! It will depart at 6!” Now I go, “ya we will leave, let the interview of sachin get over”. Mom drops her bag with a ‘totally given up’ look. Finally we leave for the railway station at around 16:20 hrs. We were leaving to BEML Nagar near KGF, the place where my uncle stayed with his family.
17:30 hrs
We reach Majestic bus stand and although the Bangalore city railway station is right across the road, it’s a good 10 minutes walk. Getting onto the over bridge and reaching the underpass to cross the road. We scampered through to the ticket counters to find serpentine queues in front of all the counters. The clock is ticking, its 17:45 hrs! Three of us stand in three different queues with a purpose of giving ourselves the best chance to get to a counter as early as possible. I reach the counter first and ask for 3 tickets to BEML Nagar, the cashier at the counter insists for exact change, Rs 42. I try to fish for a 2 rupee coin in my wallet and luckily find one. I collect the ticket and get my mom and sister out of their queues respectively.
17:55 hrs
I run to the enquiry counter to find the platform number of our train, but only find another long queue in front. With just 5 minutes left for departure, I couldn’t afford to stand in the queue for enquiry. I run to a sweeper and ask him “In which platform does the train to BEML Nagar stand?” He replied “BEML Nagar?” Luckily I remembered another major station on the way that my uncle had mentioned, so I asked “Train to Bangarpet?” To which I got my required answer, Platform number 5.
We got onto the train at 17:56 hrs, 4 mins before departure. Phew, what a relief! Found time to get my mom a cup of coffee too, from the platform vending machine.
18:00 hrs
Train started from the station exactly at the slated time, a rather surprising feat for Indian Railways! A middle aged couple sitting in the opposite berth and an old man, who for some reason never wanted to open the window shutter, were the fellow travelers in our compartment initially. So it was three of us and an old man in our berth and the couple in the opposite berth that filled our compartment, other than the stinking smell of the toilets of course! We were cursing the old man for not opening those damn windows! Come next station, and two oversized gentleman seated themselves in the opposite berth. The lady there was in no mood to take her luggage bag off the seat, so it was 4 fully grown adults and a big luggage bag that accommodated our opposite berth. I was under the impression that no one else would enter our compartment as it was filled with the maximum allotted eight people. Little did I know then, the unwritten rules of general compartment of an Indian Train. People kept on flocking our compartment and by the time the train left KR puram, there were 5 people in each of the berth of our compartment. Hold on, doesn’t end there, 5 more people on either sides, on the upper luggage berths on top of us. That’s when I noticed something displayed on the luggage berths, “Please do not keep heavy luggage!” Two things still never changed though, in our compartment. Old man, still didn’t open the window shutter, and the lady still did not take her luggage bag off the seat!
People sitting on the luggage berths, stretched their legs to opposite luggage berths forming a canopy of sorts over us. So, here I was, having taken a novel borrowed from my friend to read during the journey, now sitting in the dark canopy of human legs! As our journey progressed, one more thing started to become apparent. Almost the entire bogie or possibly the entire train was filled with Tamil speaking people. We three were probably the only Kannada ‘aliens’ in the whole bogie. All that we could see was people reading Tamil news papers or listening to Tamil songs in their mobile phones or fighting over the card game, in Tamil.
Our noses had probably got used to, and the brain had turned numb to the stench of toilet by then, but a new ‘fragrance’ started to linger. Someone sitting over us on the luggage berth had started to fart! The stench was becoming unbearable and the relentless old bugger next to the windows showed no signs of letting up. The only thing that kept me going and occupied in the whole journey was the sms conversation I was having with a friend.
20:30 hrs
The eternal journey finally came to an end when the train screeched to halt in BEML nagar. The Indian railways repeated the feat by reaching the destination on the dot! I reflected on a thought as I was descending the train. No way was I going back to Bangalore by train, which was our plan earlier!!
India needs just 4 runs to complete a historic win and Sachin is on 99 and on strike! Me and my sister are watching the match with bated breath and mom shouts, “we are getting late for the train, get up and get going”. Now my sister’s turn to shout “ya ya right after the match, it’s almost over”. And finally that moment, a little paddle sweep by the little master and the ball races past the fine leg for a boundary. What a moment! What a victory! All the more sweet cos sachin was there till the end to see us through. Sachin raises his bat with elation and yuvi lifts him. Me and my sister religiously get up and give a standing ovation (a ritual in our house after a sachin’s ton!). Mom repeats, now with a slightly retired tone “We will miss the train! It will depart at 6!” Now I go, “ya we will leave, let the interview of sachin get over”. Mom drops her bag with a ‘totally given up’ look. Finally we leave for the railway station at around 16:20 hrs. We were leaving to BEML Nagar near KGF, the place where my uncle stayed with his family.
17:30 hrs
We reach Majestic bus stand and although the Bangalore city railway station is right across the road, it’s a good 10 minutes walk. Getting onto the over bridge and reaching the underpass to cross the road. We scampered through to the ticket counters to find serpentine queues in front of all the counters. The clock is ticking, its 17:45 hrs! Three of us stand in three different queues with a purpose of giving ourselves the best chance to get to a counter as early as possible. I reach the counter first and ask for 3 tickets to BEML Nagar, the cashier at the counter insists for exact change, Rs 42. I try to fish for a 2 rupee coin in my wallet and luckily find one. I collect the ticket and get my mom and sister out of their queues respectively.
17:55 hrs
I run to the enquiry counter to find the platform number of our train, but only find another long queue in front. With just 5 minutes left for departure, I couldn’t afford to stand in the queue for enquiry. I run to a sweeper and ask him “In which platform does the train to BEML Nagar stand?” He replied “BEML Nagar?” Luckily I remembered another major station on the way that my uncle had mentioned, so I asked “Train to Bangarpet?” To which I got my required answer, Platform number 5.
We got onto the train at 17:56 hrs, 4 mins before departure. Phew, what a relief! Found time to get my mom a cup of coffee too, from the platform vending machine.
18:00 hrs
Train started from the station exactly at the slated time, a rather surprising feat for Indian Railways! A middle aged couple sitting in the opposite berth and an old man, who for some reason never wanted to open the window shutter, were the fellow travelers in our compartment initially. So it was three of us and an old man in our berth and the couple in the opposite berth that filled our compartment, other than the stinking smell of the toilets of course! We were cursing the old man for not opening those damn windows! Come next station, and two oversized gentleman seated themselves in the opposite berth. The lady there was in no mood to take her luggage bag off the seat, so it was 4 fully grown adults and a big luggage bag that accommodated our opposite berth. I was under the impression that no one else would enter our compartment as it was filled with the maximum allotted eight people. Little did I know then, the unwritten rules of general compartment of an Indian Train. People kept on flocking our compartment and by the time the train left KR puram, there were 5 people in each of the berth of our compartment. Hold on, doesn’t end there, 5 more people on either sides, on the upper luggage berths on top of us. That’s when I noticed something displayed on the luggage berths, “Please do not keep heavy luggage!” Two things still never changed though, in our compartment. Old man, still didn’t open the window shutter, and the lady still did not take her luggage bag off the seat!
People sitting on the luggage berths, stretched their legs to opposite luggage berths forming a canopy of sorts over us. So, here I was, having taken a novel borrowed from my friend to read during the journey, now sitting in the dark canopy of human legs! As our journey progressed, one more thing started to become apparent. Almost the entire bogie or possibly the entire train was filled with Tamil speaking people. We three were probably the only Kannada ‘aliens’ in the whole bogie. All that we could see was people reading Tamil news papers or listening to Tamil songs in their mobile phones or fighting over the card game, in Tamil.
Our noses had probably got used to, and the brain had turned numb to the stench of toilet by then, but a new ‘fragrance’ started to linger. Someone sitting over us on the luggage berth had started to fart! The stench was becoming unbearable and the relentless old bugger next to the windows showed no signs of letting up. The only thing that kept me going and occupied in the whole journey was the sms conversation I was having with a friend.
20:30 hrs
The eternal journey finally came to an end when the train screeched to halt in BEML nagar. The Indian railways repeated the feat by reaching the destination on the dot! I reflected on a thought as I was descending the train. No way was I going back to Bangalore by train, which was our plan earlier!!
