Enlightening Pilgrimage of Indian Heritage

A Wish That Came Through

(From the Travelogues of Mathew D. Kunnappilly)

Twice to Gaya

Our reservation to Gaya was on Saturday, September 23rd. Vincent had driven us to the railway station. He had taken his two-year-old son with him. We were at the station early enough. Since I do not read or understand Hindi, I was depending on him. He said that the train will leave on scheduled time, at 6.20 PM, from platform # 2.

When we reached on platform # 2, there the train to Allahabad was waiting. The departure time of that train was also at 6.20PM. So I asked Vincent how two trains could leave at the same time from the same platform? He replied that when the Allahabad train pulls out, the Gaya train would pull up. I still had some doubt. Therefore, I asked him which way was to Allahabad? He said, to the left. Then I asked which way was to Gaya? To the right, he replied. I still had my own doubts. But Vincent was living in Lucknow since age 8. And travel to different places quite often. He knows the language and I do not. How can I even imply that he could be wrong?

The boy was asking for candy and he had taken him to a near by stall when I heard some announcement over the PA. I could not understand even the English version of it. There for I sent Subash (no longer I was going to trust the suite cases with him alone) to Vincent to inquire about that announcement. Vincent told Subash that he hid not pay any attention and do not know.

At 6.20 PM the whistle had blown and the Allahabad train started moving. At the same moment the train that was waiting on the other side, platform # 3, also started moving. Both were moving in the opposite directions. I pointed this out to Vincent. He ran to that side and inquired about it. That was the train to Gaya. By the time we found that out, the train had left the station.

Of course, I was upset. But what can I do?

Vincent immediately went to the ticket counter and returned the tickets. We got 50% of the fare back. He made the reservation for the next day and got RAC (Reservation Against Cancellation) # 17 &18. There is a very good chance to get these confirmed by next day, the Clark had told Vincent.

With that hope, we went home.

The next day, Sunday, September 24, there was a wedding. Vincent is the nephew of the doctor I mentioned. Another nephew was getting married. The bride and the bridegroom were doctors. That was going to be a big wedding. Since the day I reached Lucknow, one after another, everyone was inviting me to that wedding. Of course, that was out of curtsy. I am not related to any one and I did not know anyone other than Vincent and his wife. The reason I tried my best to leave Lucknow before 24th was to avoid going to this wedding. Now I am stuck. The wedding was at 4 PM and the reception was at 7.30PM. Finally, I agreed to attend the wedding ceremony at the Cathedral Church.

Vincent was the best man at the wedding. I told him that I would call a taxi to go to the station. But he insisted on taking us after the ceremony and before reception.

This time I asked him to drop us at the door and he did. From that day onwards I decided not to depend on anyone 100%. That day also the train was leaving from platform # 3 at 6.20 PM, the same time Allahabad train leaves from platform # 2.

What had happened the previous day was that Vincent misread the Hindi numeral. He is about 30 years old and is living in Lucknow since age 8. He went through all English medium schools. He can read, write, speak, and understand English very well. But he can only speak and understand Hindi. I sensed this few times. One time I asked him what was written on a board. He said that he couldn’t read it because some letters are missing and the writing is faded. At Srawasti I asked him about a board and he said that that looked like in Hindi but was in Sanskrit. (Did he know Sanskrit?) Finally, one day he admitted to me that he does not read or write Hindi well. I said " You are living among these people since age 8 and running a business depending on them. But, you refuse to learn their language. I am surprised that they have not chased you out, yet." He promised me to learn Hindi. (More about this English craze latter)

Our tickets were confirmed with one problem. We both had our seats in two different compartments, Subashe’s in S-6 and mine in S-7, and we had one ticket with both our names. Since Subash does not speak Hindi or English well, I kept the ticket.

Our train left at 6.20 PM.

When the conductor came I told him of our problem and asked him to make some adjustments and put us together in one compartment. He said he would come back to me after checking all the tickets. But he never did.

In this train one cannot go through inside to the next compartment. You have to get out and go to the next one. Three times I tried to go and see if he was all right, but could not. The problem was, there was a compartment for the military personnel’s, between our two compartments. Even before I could reach S-6 the train would start moving. Finally, I decided to face the problem, if any, whatever that may be, in the morning at Gaya.

Then I went to sleep.

Our train reached Gaya at 6.30 AM. I could read the sign in English through the window. It said "Gaya South" About 75 % of the passengers got down there. Subash came to my window and said, "We are at Gaya". I said, "This is Gaya South. Our ticket says Gaya Junction. That may be the next station. You get in", and he did. Soon the train started moving. Then I saw, in the middle of that building a sign "Gaya Junction" Soon there was another sign "Gaya North". In other wards, Gaya North, Gaya Junction, and Gaya south were all one and the same station. By this time the train had picked up speed, and we could not gather our luggage and jump out.

"What are we going to do?" Subash asked me. "Not much we can do at this point. We have two options. One, pull the chain and stop the train. We may end up paying a fine and going to jail for pulling the chain without an emergency. They may let us off the hook, and let us go without fine or jail sentence because we do not speak Hindi. They may kick us out here. But the train certainly is not going to go backward to drop us off at Gaya. We are miles and miles away from the station and in a farm field. What are we going to do? Our second option is to stay calm and get off at the next station, pay the ticket fare and the fine for traveling without tickets, get on a bus and go back to Gaya" We opted for the second option.

The train stopped at Bandhua station and we got off. This was a very small station. Mail and Express trains would not stop here.

I went to see the stationmaster. He asked me something in Hindi, and I executed the one and only Hindi phrase I know, "Hindi Nahi Malume".

"What do you want?" he asked. I explained to him my predicament and showed him our tickets to Gaya. He told me to go through the gate and turn right, walk ¼ kilometers and I will see the bus stop were I could take a bus to Gaya. I asked him if there is any fine and ticket fare I had to pay. He smiled and waved me to be off. I thanked him and got out of the room. At that moment I hear a train whistle. I turned and asked him if there is a train going to Gaya at that time. He came out of the room.

It was a good’s train. The stationmaster waved to the driver to stop (Goods train do not stop there) and the train stopped. He talked to the engine driver. Then asked us to get in the engine room and he left. The driver asked me to sit on his chair (the only chair) and asked Subash to stand at the side. He steered the train standing.

I had never seen inside of train engine room before, let alone traveling in it. If it was not for my mistake, and for the goodness of that stationmaster and the engine driver, this could never have happened. Every one in the world would have to say, one day, that "He died without ever seeing inside of a train engine room or traveling in it" Now, it is different.

We got back to Gaya by 9.30 AM. Had some breakfast at the station canteen. There was a sign inside the room " NO POLITICS, PLEASE" This is Lalu Prasad Yadav’s country, mind you.

Next problem was finding a fairly nice place to stay. After three trials, in the fourth place I found a fairly clean room with European commode. We checked in.

After cleaning up and changing cloths we set out to explore Gaya in an auto rickshaw arranged by the manager of the lodge.

Next – At Gaya