Mom was shaking me awake.
“Get up! Get up, Rahul! We have a train to catch. Get ready quickly.” I
slowly yawned, opened my eyes and stretched.
I wanted to pull back the comforter and go back to sleep but Mom
continued her tirade from the kitchen –“ Leave the comforter aside! GET
UP!” You can never argue or get away
with Mom. She has eyes that can see
through walls.
I reluctantly got up, went into the bathroom, and slowly
brushed my teeth. I could hear Mom moving
around in the bedroom; she was laying out clothes for me to wear. She then came into the bathroom, filled up
water in the bucket and hustled me towards the shower. “Come on, have a quick bath. We need to leave within the next 20 minutes.”
The warm water woke me up a little. I
asked her, “What time is the train, Amma?”
She replied, “The Shatabdi Express leaves at 6:30. We have to be at the Railway station at least
by 6:15. Ok, stop playing with that
mug. Let’s get you towelled and into
those clothes.”
Mom helped me get dressed quickly, ran a comb through my
hair and handed me a glass of milk. “Rahul,
please drink up the milk quickly. I will
book the taxi.” While she was fidgeting
with her phone, I slowly drank my cup of milk, grimacing when I felt a thread
of cream on my tongue. “Amma, yuck! Why
did you put the cream?” Mom replied,
“Sorry, I don’t have time to filter it now.
Leave that bit and drink up the rest.” After making some unpleasant
sounds, I gulped it down quickly.
The taxi driver mumbled something and tried to make his way
through the unprecedented early morning traffic. He said, “Ma’am, why didn’t you book the taxi
earlier? You are cutting it too
close.” He veered suddenly to avoid an
auto that barged into his lane. He was
angry and screamed at the auto driver.
He used some words that I had not heard before.
Mom sat tensed and said, “I hope the train leaves from
Platform 1. We will then have a little
time.” After a few minutes of dangerous
driving, we finally spotted the lights of the City Station. I exclaimed loudly,
“Amma, look! The Train Station!” The taxi driver parked right outside the
entrance and Mom hurriedly paid
him. She quickly glanced at the
information board to check the platform from which our train was leaving and
let out a pained scream, “Oh no, the train is leaving from Platform 3. We need to run. Rahul, quick, hold my hand. ” Mom pulled the suitcase with her right hand
while she held on to mine with her left hand.
I could hear the announcements being made about the coming and going of
various trains. But we had no time to
waste.
We half-ran, half-pushed our way through the throng of
people on Platform 1 to reach the sub-way that would take us to Platform 3. We
had to climb down a series of steps. I
was panting now and kept saying, “Amma wait. Amma wait.” Mom, also out of breath, continued, “No Rahul,
not now. We cannot stop. We have only 5
minutes; we need to hurry.” I held on
tightly to Teddy lest he fell off my hand.
Mom pushed her way past the people who were coming right in our
path. I could feel several hands and
arms brushing against my shoulders and head. Thankfully, we saw the arrow that pointed to
Platform 3 and rushed up the steps. I
was completely out of breath, but Mom would not stop. I could hear my heart pounding loudly and it
seemed ready to explode. Finally, we
reached the platform and saw our train.
Without waiting to check the compartment number, Mom pushed me up the
nearest open doorway of the train, climbed in herself and finally relaxed for
the first time that morning. She slumped against the coach wall and tried to
catch her breath. And right then, the
train started moving. I exclaimed loudly, “Amma, we made it! We made it.” She
hugged me, let out a huge sigh and smiled broadly.
She then asked a fellow passenger, “Excuse me Sir, which
compartment is this? We have to get to A2.”
The seated man said, “This is S1. The previous coach is A3. So the one before
that should be A2.” Mom thanked him profusely and we moved towards the end of
the compartment. “Amma, how will we go
to our compartment?” Mom said, “Rahul,
all the compartments are connected through a vestibule. We will just have to walk over the connecting
metal board to go the next compartment.”
The train had picked up speed now and we were being pushed side-ways as
we slowly made our way. We approached
the end of the coach and I saw the small, slightly dark connecting passage that
was rattling and heaving on the rails. I also noticed a gap between the two
connecting boards and though the gap, I could see the tracks below. And as the train turned rightwards, the
connecting plates got pushed away from each other. I screamed, “NO Amma, don’t go over that. We will fall down!” Mom tried to reassure me and said, “Rahul,
don’t worry. This is safe, we will not
fall down.” I was still whimpering when
she quickly carried me and stepped on to the vestibule. In the hustle, I somehow dropped Teddy. I saw him falling towards the opening between
the connecting plates. I thrashed, I
kicked and screamed, “Amma, NO, NOooo..my poor Teddy! NO, don’t let him fall…”
And then I felt my Mom gently shaking me and saying, “Rahul,
wake up. Rahul, get up. We have a train to catch!”
