As i took Duronto from Howrah

As i took Duronto from Howrah


When i boarded Duronto from Howrah, the concern went back to the accommodation prospect if ever i return to Kolkata. Prior to boarding at Howrah the lady manning the enquiry counter wrote the seat i had been allotted and the platform from which Duronto was supposed to depart. Moved to platform no. 19 and there came a jan shatabdi heading to the same direction i intended to reach.

The adjoining platform saw the arrival of a train from Digha and wishing to depart to the same place after a while. This arrival of Digha train led to a surge of humanity on the platform and only after half an hour the place resonated with a trickle few. By this time the Jan Shatabdi had left and it was quarter to 2 and still no signs of Duronto which was supposed to leave at 2.25. Made some frenetic queries and it only led to the same-old revelation that Duronto is destined to come on platform 19. Seeing the surge on platforms 17 and 18, after a while i left to view the board showing arrivals and departures and here the new revelation was the train would come at 2.50 and its arrival/departure platform had still not been displayed. Two queries to different porters coming on the heels of congregation that had collected on platforms 17 and 18, the haze was lifted and the train finally arrived and left from platform 17. Before it left i did not lose the opportunity to look at the chart to make it amply sure that i had been allotted seat no 39 in C10.

Seat number 39 in C10 was a sandwiched proposition where on either side one could sit and i had to attend to all the urgency of being sandwiched fit and handle with care the tea and food kit. THere were two gentlemen on either side; one father and another son. The father asked me to take the aisle seat; i forwarded the request that i would change to a window seat if ever the father-son want to have communication with no third person in between. THe window seat he was not wiling to dispense with thereby resulting in the same sandwiched submission that i discovered soon after the train admission. For the entire duration of journey lasting over seven hours, the father used to communicate, prod and subjugate his son on how the snacks, tea and non veg meals had to be taken. In between he made not more than seven to eight calls - during the entire journey he did not receive even one - informing his associates and relations who don't issue fiats that the train had departed more than half an hour late and thus would be reaching the destination when fewer would be awake. At 3:02pm, the train had left Howrah and soon after its departure he began to inform his peers about the late running of train and how he hoped to bide time with a Bangla paper he was carrying as his aim.

His suggestions more than suggestive to his son seated next to a window and to his wife and daughter seated ahead of us were quite unparallel. Unparallel was his intervention on how the samosa and sandwich could be tried and for a better result it could be peppered with ketchup. When the tea came, he was disposed to the idea of how milk and sugar could be used to the hilt to get the mishto touch and he even physically demonstrated the art of getting the sweetest tea on earth. Since most in the adjoining seats were locked in their litmus test to reach the destination of their fest, few had the temerity to get into argumentative bit with him. Post snacks when i asked for extra sandwich, nothing to do with my sandwich stake, point blank refusal was all i had to stare. So at Kharagpur i got down and took the veg paneer puff for Rs 20 from a food joint. There i met one personnel working in a private food joint - this joint runs chains across stations of the country with some personnel in Nizamuddin at their abrasive best - who not long time ago was in Bangalore station. Been told about his past Bangalore positioning and now Kharagpur awakening, i could place him but he could not.

Seen the rebuttal on sandwich request i was upset but later realised that they carry limited stock and at one stage had refused to entertain a request from a family man on one extra rice. Little before 5 the train left Kharagpur. Amidst the father-son conversations which rarely touched on weather and weekly anticipation, the father on occasions used to flash his camera and take some pictures and up was his movement whenever he had to escort someone to bathroom to roll out their anger vent. When the night meals were brought in, the son had to wait for a while before he could lay hands to his non veg share. It was well after i had finished my meal round, his meals came. The father was irritated at this point that the son had not cared to open the non veg preparation and still fumbling with veg creations. He prodded protested and was about to be on his feet when the son finally opened the chicken and for the period he continued having it i can say with 100 per cent surety that it would be next to impossible for him to turn a vegetarian even by a bit. For railways or for any food joints on stations, premium on vegetarian meals is a tall order and it is up to an individual to make a choice. From the beginning one needs to cultivate the outlook where one can live with veg intake with a bang.

AS the train inched towards Odisha destination, when nights had seen the clock strike well past 10, i was more concerned about the lodge i would get for an affordable sum. THe lodge was secured after scouting for close to an hour and the tariff - they zero in on the seasonal rush to acclimatise themselves and the tourists that rates are up and there are no dearth of people bound to splurge - determined by extraneous rabbits.