A cat has nine lives, I have many more – 3

The story I will narrate now is about my experience with death on a train. It happened in 1975 when I was traveling with my family from Nashik to Kolkata during summer. The train was the Mumbai-Howrah Mail via Nagpur and the duration of the journey was 33 hours. It left Nashik Rosd at around 11.30pm and reached Howrah at around 8.30am on the day after next. In those days, there was a limited catering service of the Indian Railways for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Usually, its patrons were single travelers because the families carried their own food and adequate stock of water. Flasks and water bottles were in demand because bottled water had not yet entered the scene.

On that memorable journey, my quest for water left me literally hanging. Our train was approaching Nagpur. The stock of water was exhausted and the train stopped at a station. I saw a water filling point opposite our compartment. I took the flask, got down, ran towards the water tap and filled the flask. By that time, the train had begun to move and I ran but my compartment had passed me. In desperation, I got up on the nearest footboard and clutched the handles. My palms were wet with perspiration and it was difficult to remain in that position for a long time. I was prepared for a worst-case scenario but was relieved when the train gradually stopped. I did not know the reason – should get down or should I not? It was then that I noticed a group of men running in my direction. They were fellow passengers who saw the plight of my wife when I missed the train. They had pulled the chain to stop the train and gave me a new lease of life.


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