A Night @ Rly Stn

He was a 22 year old. He had come over to Agra to meet his boss Mr. Kannan from Head Office. Last two days have been very hectic - going from one customer to another with the boss. Tonight the boss had called for a dinner with other two local Agra boys - Yogish and Kansal. A round of whiskey preceded the dinner. He had more than his share of drinks and was nicely sozzled.

Yogish came with him to the Railway Station; the train was to leave Agra at 10.00 pm. They managed just in time. He was carrying his luggage bag and a small desk-top projector, which the company had provided to 8 of its best salesmen all across the country for a special project (he was one of them). He didn’t even have a reservation, Yogish somehow managed to find a seat for him in a very crowded general compartment. His 2 pieces of luggage were kept on the space provided above the seats.

He was feeling nauseating as Yogish bid to him farewell and left. The alcohol made him feel very uneasy inside the compartment where people were stuffed like packed sardines in a can. It felt slightly better as the train started moving and a wave of fresh breeze touched his sloshed face.

The train again stopped at a nearby station and the same feeling of stuffiness was coming back. Few people got out of the compartment to get some fresh air and to stretch themselves up. He too got down and sat on a bench just opposite to his compartment. The fresh air was cool and very soothing to his face which had heated up due to the experiences of last few hours.

He was woken up by a chowkidar. “Hey, why are you sleeping here on this bench?” the chowkidar roared. He opened his eyes and mumbled, “am just going to hop into the train as it’d move.” The chowkidar seemed surprised “Which train?” he asked.

When he fully understood the implication of that question, it seemed to him as if someone had pulled the carpet under his feet. The spirit at once evaporated and with it were gone all it’s effects! He was now fully conscious, awake but awfully shaken. The chowkidar took him to the Station Master and reported the incident. The old station Master started a lecture on how the boys today feel no responsibility towards themselves, their family and society.

As the Station Master was ranting, the boy seemed very scared; now for the first time thinking about the implications of his action. How would he face his family, his friends and the company! How would he manage to compensate for the loss of the projector, which would roughly be worth his ten month salary! He had no answers.

He slowly gained control on his intellectual faculties and took lot of pain in explaining to the Station Master how difficult it was to work as a sales person in a private firm and how hard he had been working for last few days and how he had been keeping his sleep away in order to impress his boss with his hard work. All this led to the minor lapse of falling asleep as he sat on the platform bench, waiting for his train to move.

The old Station Master had a distant relative who had given up on government jobs after trying for god-knows-how-many-years. He started asking about the potential in private firms and if the boy could help in anyway. The boy asked the station master to send his resume and promised he’d surely do something about it. He also handed over his card to him. After that the behaviour of the Station Master changed completely towards him. He said that though it was almost impossible to find luggage in such cases, he would try his best calling up the next big station Tundla and asking the staff to look for the luggage.

The Station Master asked for specifics – which bogie, what seat number and was aghast to note that the boy had none. Of the many general compartments, he could only tell him that this was one closer towards the engine and that he had two pieces of luggage - a red bag and a brown leather-case.

As he looked into the Station Master’s face after the latter’s call to Tundla Station, he knew that retrieving the luggage seemed almost impossible. Next few hours they both caught up with some sleep. Early next morning, the boy boarded another train to Tundla. There was no news from there still.

At Tundla station, he walked to the relevant department and started narrating his story to the first person he saw. That person with a mischievous smile said, “Oh so you are that person!” He further added, “with great difficulty, we spotted your luggage yesterday night, it’s lying safe with us”. As the boy followed that person to collect it, he wondered, “anywhere in the world, would there be anyone else, happier than me at this moment?” He smiled and knew he didn’t have to answer this rhetorical question.

(An autobiographical account)