A Day at the Railway Platform

I was on a visit to another city along with one of my colleagues. We had some business to conduct over there, which was accomplished by the weekend. To return to our city, we had to catch an early morning train on Monday. On Sunday night we were informed by a well wisher that there was a general strike on the next day in the entire city so we should leave our hotel as early as possible in the morning. We were a bit worried to hear this development as we were new to that place. However, we decided to leave the hotel before sun rise. We reached at the Railway station by Taxi at around 5.00 a.m.

Everything was seemingly normal at the Railway platform with usual hustle and bustle to catch the trains. Barely half an hour had passed when to our shock it was announced at the Public Address system that due to strike all local inbound and outbound trains were canceled. We were still hopeful that ours was a long distance important train so that might not get affected. We were getting anxious as the departure time of our train was nearing. Before one and half hour of the departure, we heard the announcement that our trains had also been canceled for that day.

Informal inquiries revealed that ours being the most important of trains might depart in the late afternoon or late evening. We discussed the situation between ourselves and decided to stay at the platform because we never knew when the train would actually depart. We also thought that it was not a sane decision to go back to our hotel.

We seated ourselves in the chairs meant for waiting passengers. It was a set of three rot iron chairs; the chair next to us was vacant. A gentleman soon joined us on the next seat. He told us that he had to visit another major city of the State and was to reach at the next station to catch a connecting train, but due to cancellation he could not do so. He felt very disturbed and helpless. He left after spending some 10-15 minutes with us. Meanwhile, we refreshed ourselves with a cup of tea and had some snacks for the breakfast.

A frail and old looking man joined us after that. He was holding a Newspaper. Without asking he explained us the detailed reasons for the strike and he showed us the photographs of the agitated people in the Newspaper. He started cursing the political leaders of the day for the mess and called their names. We had no choice but to listen to him as he was looking a bit frustrated with the present system of the administration. We took a sigh of relief, when he left the seat and moved elsewhere.

Our joy was short lived; we were joined by seemingly a good looking, middle aged, smart woman who was wearing good clothes. She was carrying a book in her hand along with her bag. She started kissing the photograph on the cover page of the book, which made us feel a bit apprehensive about her. Thereafter, she started doing bizarre gestures so as to divert our attention towards her. She started muttering some words/sentences in English and Hindi, which did not sound clear to us. As our attention got diverted to her, she started laughing hysterically making us feel scared. We felt that she was apparently mentally unstable and it was better to ignore her. We kept thinking whether there was any way to avoid her silly gestures, we could not think of any idea at that time. We could not gather the courage to shout at her, because it might have precipitated the situation. She left for 10-15 minutes and then again came and sat besides us, making us feel uncomfortable. She asked me for my water bottle, which I refused. She left after half an hour. We took a deep breadth and thanked God.

The next was a nice looking middle aged man, who joined us in the empty chair. He asked about me and my friend. When we told him that we live in a Metropolitan city, he retorted - "My only daughter is also employed in a Multi National Company in your city and she stays alone in the city." He was also a sufferer like us because all his plans to move to the other city through train had gone hay wire due to strike. He told as that he wanted to hire a taxi to go to his destined place but even any cabs were not plying as the city had come to a stand still. He being a native of that place told us that situation might improve by the late evening. He noticed a beautiful photograph on my mobile phone screen and asked - "Is it your wife's photo?" I just gave him a smile and said - "No, it is not, it is a Hollywood actress "Angelina Jolie".

He countered me - "Why do not you put up your wife's photo on the screen that would look better". I was flummoxed as I had no satisfactory answer to his query. I said - "I keep changing theme photographs on my mobile and I'll surely consider your suggestion". He also advised that we should move and walk on the platform turn by turn to kill our time as continuous state of sitting brings negative thoughts in mind. Till then we had spent 6-7 hours on the platform and it was around noon. The two or three trains on the different platforms had since been shunted out to their respective yards. There were only barren railway tracks to look at. We decided not to have our lunch. He meanwhile asked us - "Why do not you take your lunch?" We replied - "We'll have some snacks at regular intervals so that we could kill our time". He took leave of us and thanked us for our company with the promise that he would catch us later.

Thereafter, a tall lanky man joined us. He too was seemingly very worried and tense. On probing, he told us - "I had to get down at the previous station, as my train was terminated over there." He added - "I had to walk 8-10 kilometers to reach here as no vehicle was plying on the road". On reaching here that situation here also was not much better. His plans of catching a connecting train also came to naught. He told us that rioting was going on in the entire city and many groups of people were shouting slogans. He left after narrating his woes.

The next was an old man who joined us. He told us - "I am here on the station since 5.00 a.m. to know the exact timing of departure of a train, through which my daughter and grand daughter has to travel. As soon as I come to know about it, I'll inform my daughter to come to station." Incidentally, his daughter had to travel in the same train for which we had been waiting. When we told him there are chances that train might leave late in the evening, his face shone like a bulb. He felt very happy to know the favorable information.

It was late in the afternoon and a train chugged into the platform in front of us. The train raised hope that services might resume late in the evening. After 15 minutes or so an announcement was made on the public address system about the resumption of train services in the late evening. We checked the position and were told that there was a bright chance of our train leaving by 6.00 p.m. in the evening. We were much relieved to know it. Still there were 3-4 hours to go, we had to spend that much time on the platform.

We were next joined by uniformed military personnel. He also was a sufferer. He told us - "My train is also delayed by ten hours or so and my problem is that I have to board a connecting train from my next destination". He added - "It appears that I'll miss my connecting train and will have to another one day for journey". He looked very depressed but either we or he had no option but to face the unpleasant situation. In between, we kept enjoying our cup of tea/coffee at regular intervals.

By late evening we were all but dead tired and exhausted. We had spent about 13 hours sitting on the same chair on the platform. Finally, to our joy announcement about departure of our train was made. We rushed to the platform. As soon as the train arrived on the platform we just jumped into the train to take our seats. It was an arduous experience to wait for so many hours on the railway platform. However, when we boarded the train, we forgot all about it. The day will ever remain etched in our memory.