The train finally moved at 4:15 AM, 6:30 hrs. later than the scheduled time. Announcements of incremental delays due to 'operational reasons' came infrequently. It was left to guess what were those 'operational reasons' as each answer from the persons who mattered added to the confusion. It was a long wait with 2 unwell members for a family of 3 and, many others. As we boarded, we lost no time to hit the bed. We had 3 sleepers in one side of a block of 8.
Woke up little later when 4 co-passengers of that block boarded the train. One berth went vacant. An elderly lady was in charge of that family of 4 and was instructing what the rest 3 would do. Her son, appeared to be an off-duty, young army man, was following the orders and meticulously made bed for all four. The elderly lady and her husband had the side berths. The son and the bahu had two berths in the middle. The lady's loud voice and the son's mild reply in affirmative slowly, slowly started fading ...
The morning came late. We had to get down at 10:00 AM. These co-passengers were making a longer journey. The elderly lady ordered the son to arrange tea. The vendor served dip-tea. The bahu in ghunghat was unaware of how to handle dip-tea setup. The son helped her under a watchful pair of eyes from the side berth. The elderly lady suggested something as snacks for all. The bahu didn't seem to utter any word but the son understood. More options available in the pantry car which was only two coaches' away. A radiant glow and she started walking towards the pantry car barefoot. The son got an error message and stopped her. The sandals were far underneath the lower berth. The son struggled to take them out and then she moved on. The son was tying lace of his shoes when the elderly lady murmured, "Baap par gayi (went by her father)!" to which came the mild reply but this time in negative, "Itni chhoti na soch, Ma (Don't think it that low, Mother)."
The son and bahu were away. The elderly lady spoke a few things to her husband who quietly listened. Then the lady went to give her back some rest and started watching the nature through train window. The elderly man got down from his seat and set two pillows to her back and made room so that she could stretch her legs and relax. The son and bahu came back soon with snacks of individual choices and all of them started having it.
It was time for us to deboard. The accent in which the family spoke made me remember the movie with dialogues such as, "Gold toh gold hota hai ... chhora lave ya chhori." Didn't know why but felt there was a plot in this story that was begging for unmaking through a larger plot of "Bharat - Ek Prem Gatha."
Category: Semi-fiction, Embedded-reality
