Barrackpore to Howrah (on Prashant's wedding eve) ... 
Published for my friend Julia and Alexander, from Bulgaria .....
The invitation card for a wedding ceremony from a good friend with whom my interactions had been limited due the levies of time and circumstances was received in the month of January itself. The name of the said friend is Prashant Jha. It was planned that I shall be traveling with Anik and Supriti to attend the wedding. The thought of meeting them (Anik and Supriti), who would be traveling from Singapore to Kolkata and then with me to Purulia to attend the wedding, had kept me excited all along. Anik and Supriti are a part of the MIGHTYWINGS, the select group of people who has earned my affection and respect, they are friends who were there in need and hence they are friends indeed, moreover the mental frequency of who seem to resonate with mine. The MightyWings are the people with whom I am attuned with all my pros and cons and they are the people with whom I shall keep in touch till death.
I was pleasantly surprised indeed when Anik had made all the arrangements of the tickets to and from the destinations.
Several weeks earlier I had applied for leave at my office for February 14th, 15th and 16th 2007. There were complications at the office which had caused more tension than relief and hence this trip will be a soothing balm to my already over driven senses.
As the day was approaching I felt an excitement building up in me … finally it reached its crescendo on the night of February 13th 2007 to the effect that I found it difficult to sleep but finally the biological factors made me drift into the oblivion that I call sleep and kept me there till noon of the next day. still intoxicated with the excitement, I didn't notice how time flew till the evening. All I remember is I went out to the market to withdraw some money from the nearby ATM and in the evening, and I found my self talking to the rickshaw pullers at the rickshaw stand which was just out side the gates of our housing complex.
This is one of the many versions of the giant tricycles. I do not know the lady in the picture as this one has been borrowed from the web for the sake of this account.
The moment I had got to the stand the one whose turn was to take the fare pulled out his rickshaw and I said, "Wait, I have to talk to you guys." Every one gathered around me, with the anticipation of some thing important which would also include beating up some one on my behalf. It is easier to hire muscle power in sub urban areas like the one I live in for as little as $ 50. But I had to book a transport for my rather early journey.
"I will have to catch a train at 03:55 hrs, so tell me who wants to go and how much will it cost?".
"Only Kalu will go at that hour", said one of them. Kalu had been known to us for as long we had been in the housing complex but the hale and bold, coal black rickshaw puller had managed to incur my father's displeasure over a minor matter but he had been quite normal with me.
"Where is Kalu now?" I asked.
"Maybe he is at home…"
"Well if he is not there, tell me who will go and how much will you charge?"
The rates had to be much much more at that hour and earlier in the evening, I had boarded Kalu's rickshaw to go to the market. Kalu had told me that I should confirm the rates (fare) before looking forward to any commitment or arrangement.
"I will go babu", said one of them. Now the word " Babu" is similar to the word Sir in my language.
I managed to hide my amazement and further continue, " Well, David, please be at the gate around 03:30 am, I will be at the gate on dot at 03:00 hrs."
Having made that arrangement I went home. Mentally calculating my journey. I had to take a train form Barrackpore to Sealdah and from there I will hail a cab to Howrah station. From Howrah I will be traveling in RupashiBangla Express to Purulia. Where Prashant Jha lived. This was indeed a long journey but the most difficult part of the same would be my reaching Howrah in time to catch RupashiBangla Express which leaves at 06:00 hrs.
My Father had been brought up in the city of Kolkata which houses the two railway stations of Sealdah and Howrah and he told me that if I get a cab from Sealdah for Howrah, I should reach within twenty minutes. I calculated the journey yet again. At 03:55 I will be at Barrackpore station it will take roughly thirty five to forty minutes to reach Sealdah. So Around :04:30 am I will be at Sealdah and from there a cab to Howrah so latest by 05:00 am, I will be at Howrah station and the train leaves at 06:00 am, I will be well ahead of Anik and Supriti who were supposed to meet me there... yay!!!
Time must have lost its pace, the minutes seemed like hours and the hours eternity. I literally killed time watching TV after I had packed for the journey. I started to grow impatient from 10:00 PM onwards. But I never knew that even a greater doze of impatience is waiting for me in the hours to come.
A satellite picture of our CMDA Housing Complex.
I prepared tea exactly at 03:00 hrs (morning of February 15, 2007). I had dressed up well before then. Finally around 03:20 hrs I woke my father up to say I was leaving and finally around 03:25 hrs, I left my home and started to walk towards the main gate of the housing complex. I had been thinking that what if David, the rickshaw puller won't show up? What if, I could not make it to the station in time? etc, etc. I was happy to find David at the gate, he had been there since 03:00 hrs. He took me to the station. While we were on the roads, the stray dogs in the street started to bark at us, it was there time and we were the intruders so we were not in a position to complain. When we reached the station it was sight worth looking at. There was not a sole in sight except for some vegetable vendors who were to catch the first train, few stray dogs and few policemen on the platform. The station was eerily silent. As I started to climb up the foot bridge, I found David locking his rickshaw and he followed me up. I said, "Hey! What's up?"
He said," Dada (an affectionate term used to address men in the age group of 20 to 40, which literally means Elder Brother") it is our rule to see the passenger off at this hour. This is a very bad time. Many anti socials are around. With an expensive cell phone and dressed like a gentleman you may easily attract attention of those who might be looking for an prey."
His words were true to the letter. Me even with a high Tae Kwon Do belt was no exception as the years of zero practice and not a very good health had rusted my ability of self defense. But these guys ( rickshaw pullers) were experts in street fighting. But a robbery at that hour with few policemen and stray dogs in the vicinity was highly improbable if not impossible.
Any ways, nothing of that sort happened, but where was the train, it was almost 04:10 but my train wasn't arriving.
"Barrackpore, Titagargh, Khardah, Sodhpur, Agarpara, Belghoria, Dum Dum, Bidhan Nagar, then Sealdah....", I found myself repeating the names of the consecutive stations between Barrackpore and Sealdah in anxiety.
Finally, the train arrived at 04:29 hrs, but this was not the train that I was hoping to catch. It was an express train named "Lal Gola" Express. I had a little solace as " Lal Gola" is supposed to be a galloping train which means it will stop at the major stations only, hence, still there was time in my hand.
I boarded the train, I found my self in the sleeper class. A railway employee on the train yelled, "Hey! Hey! buddy, are you a railway staff?"
-"No", I thought of saying yes but he might have asked me for an identification.
"Please get down, this is a reserved compartment..."
I had no wish to plead or argue with him. This guy was doing his job. When I am traveling sleeper class, I too would not like people without reservation getting up my compartment since that would in turn restrict the possibility of theft or any untoward incident during the journey. So I got down without complaining.
I stood on the platform expecting delay and contemplating the event of missing the RupashiBangla express from Howrah, when I realized that the train had not left yet. 'Let us try if this train has a general compartment,' I thought and started to walk towards the end of the train. There was one and it was packed. Mostly with people from lower income group. When I boarded, I found all eyes were on me. I was infact the best dressed person there. After a few painful minutes, the train started to move at a snail's pace, there was no place to sit and with a kit bag and glassware for the wedding gift of Prashant, I found it very uncomfortable to even stand. As luck would have it the train had been stopping at every station rather galloping them away and more over it stood still for minutes in between too. This added extra burden to my already anxious mind. After what seemed like an eternity, the train came to a grinding halt at Dum Dum station. Dum Dum being a railway junction, made the trains to stand for long times. After waiting for a few minutes, I realized that it had been 05:15 am already!
I had to do some thing now! I was still two stations away from Sealdah. I got down hoping to get a cab from Dum Dum to Howrah directly, but to my disappointment the taxi stand just out side the station was empty with the exception of few street bums who were sleeping and few stray dogs. The dogs of Dum Dum station are accustomed to strangers at odd hours so none of them showed any aggression towards me unlike the dogs of Barrackpore. I found a porter, I asked him," Bhaiya, taxi khan se milega? (Big Brother from where I can get a taxi?)" Most of the porters in Dum Dum station were Hindi speaking and so was the porter I met, hearing his mother tongue in which I was quite fluent and almost sounded like a land's man to him plus the urgency in my voice made him show the way towards the main road, which was a staggering 200 meters away.
As I puffed and panted my way towards the main road and then towards a cab (Taxi), a middle aged man eagerly stepped forward with his hands stretched forward offering to take the burden of my luggage off me. I realized at that instant that this definitely is a taxi driver, who found a passenger right in the morning after his morning Puja (Worship, prayers)
"Kidhar ko Jana hai, sahab? (Where do you want to go)", he asked, already taking the kit bag from me.
"Howrah station, zara jaldi lena bhaiya. (Howrah Station, please make it quick.)", I replied.
"Ek aur sawari ley loon? Aaap ko guarantee sey dus minet meh pahuncha doonga? (Can I take another passenger, I guarantee that I will reach you in ten minutes)"
They always do that, they seem to have an uncanny ability to deduce haplessness and the gravity of the situation that passenger would face in thse circumstances. I looked at the watch, 05:25 am the time was running out and I had no choice!!
"Theek hai! Par Jaldi kijiye, train ka time ho raha hai,.... kitna lenge? (All right! But please hurry, it is almost time for my train.... how much will you charge?)"
"Eighty (Rupees)", he replied.
I agreed, and God bless the man who tunrned up to be another passenger for Howrah station. The Taxi I had boarded was an ambassador car and was very old but there is a saying that old is gold! So was the taxi, the driver was speeding well beyond the limit. I was still apprehensive, the driver had been taking a lot of twist and turns and I was totally new to the area, I had no idea when will I reach Howrah station. Soon after a turn, I realized that we were on the Howrah Bridge, within a minute we will reach the station. Just then my cell phone rang. It was an SMS (mobile text message from Supriti). It said, "Dada, We have reached the station and we are waiting for you at plat form number 17 near the 'Gita Press' book store".
"Good! I am on the way", I text back. I realized that Supriti's mobile connection was on international roaming, and the text message would have cost her its worth weight in gold. But communication was important.
Howrah Station.
I got down from taxi and eagerly paid the taxi driver a sum of eighty rupees and hailed a porter. Now I must admit that porter have developed a sense of recognizing people who are in a hurry or in desperate need of assistance, To carry a Kit bag and a Gift set he demanded fifty rupees! This was exorbitant! I managed to bargain him down to Rupees 30.The platform number 17 was really quite far we had to take a foot bridge and finally I reached. Paid the porter and looked around. No Supriti, No Anik. I looked at the watch, 05:40am!!
Inside the Indian AC chair car
The train was already there and I was infact standing close to an AC compartment. The words "CC" on the train indicated that this was a chair car and we were traveling by chair car. So I looked up the reservation chart pasted on the train. Here too, No Anik and No Supriti and of course No me!!
What the hell? May be there is another compartment at the other end of the train. So I started to walk, I was startled to find that the train had only one AC compartment, that too the one that I had already looked up. Did I get into the wrong platform? Anik, Supriti where are you?
As if on queue the phone rang, it was a missed call from Supriti's mobile. even though a call with Supriti at International roaming would have cost her diamonds, I called her back with the thought that I had reached the wrong platform, "Where are you guys?"
"At plat form number seventeen..."
"Ok, we will meet near the AC compartment which is near to the foot bridge steps."
"Ok!!"
I walked towards the rendezvous and there I spotted them. I saw them after ONE long year!! This occasion required a celebration with a BIG hug!! After the initial pleasantries, I said, "Our names are not there in the reservation chart". "It must be the old list, carrying the names of the passengers who had come from Purulia", Anik said.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Infact most of my tensions and anxiety had vanished with the very sight of the couple as we proceeded to the reservation chart, we found that the new one had been already put up and our names were there.
Photo of Anik and Supriti in train.
We boarded the train, arranged our luggage and I made a call to my father. Stating that everything is ok and we are sitting in the train already. Anik too extended his greeting to my father and gave him the details of our journey. Within a few minutes, the train started. Finally I had made it to Howrah station!! The rest of the journey and the wedding is another story and a very blissful one but now the same is beyond the scope of this account.
During the journey I sent a text message to Julia, a friend of mine from Bulgaria telling her that I am on my way to a wedding ceremony. She replied with great affection wishing the couple well and she also wished that I too meet someone interesting. Well, Sorry Julia, I failed to meet someone interesting but your wishes are a precious treasure, always cherished in my heart.
All rights reserved © Sudip K Ghosh aka *~Anecentric