GYANESWARI EXPRESS- A short story by Sanjoy

That was the last year of my job in SAIL, a public sector undertaking of Government of India. I thought of making use of the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) for the last time in my career. My wife had never flown before, nor traveled by the 1st AC of Indian Railways. Thinking that this would be her best chance to afford that double luxury, she told me categorically that she would go to Almoraha (a hill station some 350 km from Delhi located in Uttaranchal) only if I took her via Kolkata. The idea was we could then travel part of the distance by train (obviously by 1st AC), and then fly from Calcutta to Delhi. I told her: �I hate Calcutta because I have seen it inside out and it has no charm left for me.� But she insisted this was her last chance to travel by 1st AC in a super fast train; and that this was her last wish before we started leading a senior citizen�s retired life. She further insisted that she would never go by the super slow Utkal Kalinga Express which took around 30 hours to reach Delhi from Rourkela.
Without much further ado, our plans were finalized. I applied for the LTC and received an advance of Rs.45000. My brother and my wife�s brother in law were told about our travel plans. The train and air tickets were delivered well in advance. My younger brother, who lived in Delhi, chalked out the details of our onward journey: how we would drive from Delhi to Almora by his newly acquired Swift deluxe car.
An astrologer was consulted. He told me that I was passing through a bad phase of my life, but going north should not pose any problem. He prescribed a ring with moon stone and told me that if I wore that ring worn on my right ring finger, nothing could stop me from achieving my goals. It would annul the evil influence of the constellation that governed my fortune. I coughed up a neat 1,650 rupees for the ring and the astrologer�s fees.
My wife had started packing a week in advance with gifts for her in-laws, sister, and my brother, and his wife and children. All the gifts were wrapped in colourful, glossy papers. The digital camera and its cells were carefully checked for exciting shots in the hill station.
Finally the news paper hawker was told to stop giving paper for 10 days.
After light snacks in the evening of the fateful day, we left for the station at 8:15 pm.
For the past one year or so, I had been advising my friends and relatives never to travel by this train (no. 2101), Gyaneswari Express because it never reaches Howrah on time (the scheduled time of arrival at Howrah being 4 am). Most of the officers who traveled by this train invariably missed their �connecting� morning flights at 8 am or 9 am, but recently people had started telling me that this was the best train on this route. Though there were other trains with a safer margin, my wife insisted on traveling by a train whose number started with the digit 2. I had first ascribed her insistence to her belief in numerology. But then I was told that �2� indicated that the train was �super-fast�.
In people in developed countries like Japan got to hear of this they might give a wry smile. For the time it takes to travel a distance of 413 kilometers by this super fast train is no less than 7 hours. In India the average speed of express trains is 50 kms per hour and 60 for super-fast trains. The actual running time and peak speed are the same for both; the only difference being that the express trains have a greater number of scheduled stoppages. This reduces their average speed; and the lesser number of stoppages for the �super-fast� ensure that the super fast trains have a higher average speed.
We waited for the train at the furthest end of the platform, as we were told that the AC compartment was supposed to be on the rear. When the train arrived, we saw that our compartment was actually at the other end. With the scheduled stoppage time of 5 minutes, I almost had a heart attack trying to run from one end of the train to the other. My better half being clever enough entered the nearest compartment, which happened to be a non-AC bogey, and made her way through the vestibules of inter connected compartments. No sooner had we occupied our berths, the train started moving. We heaved a sigh of relief and checked our luggage. The train picked up speed quite fast.

The TTE checked our tickets and told us that our berths were in the cabin c. I removed my shoes and stretched on the berth.
After about half an hour run the train slowed down and stood still in the middle of the jungle. There had been reports about Mao activists causing serious damage to railway tracks in that part of the world, hijacking trains, even blowing up train engines. I had read about these and was now quite worried. There were many other possibilities of why the train must have stopped in the middle of a jungle. All these quickly crossed my mind. But I never breathed a single word to my wife. She was after all realizing her life�s last dream. In these times of worry and anxiety I was very happy for my decision to put on that magic ring. After all, at least until now, things had been moving as planned..
After half an hour or so, since the train had refused to budge, I asked the guard. He told me casually that a cow had been run over, and it would take some time to clear the track. By now I had started doubting about our reaching Kolkata in time for the flight. My wife who was disturbed by my movements and conversations sternly advised me to lie down quietly, and not disturb her.
When I opened my eyes it was 4:30 am and the train had just started to move at a speed of appox10 km per hour. At this rate we would never be able to reach Calcutta before noon. There was no way we catch the 9 am flight because the train had to cover another 350 kilometers. Suddenly my wife started vomiting. She told me that she had had enough of super fast AC train journey, and would like to get down at the next stoppage.
We did get off the train at the next stop at 6 am, and caught a super slow passenger train from Chakradharpur back to Rourkela. Exactly after twelve hours we were back at home, sweet home. A dozen phone calls were made to inform friends and relatives about our misadventure.
The next day I joined back my duties. I was told the advance amount had to be returned in one installment, and the cancellation and other expenditure are to be borne by me: a clean loss of Rupees 9850 for a journey of 75 kilometers and back. What a way to finish off my long carrier in a super fast train!!
As I was writing this piece, my wife asked me- �Have you downloaded your hill station photographs to your computer?�
I smiled at her and looked at the magic ring .

B/188 Sector 18
Rourkela
769003

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