Military Special Train To Trivandrum

Having completed its tenure in Nagaland, our battalion got de-inducted from the insurgency area and was waiting for the orders for next move. Since the battalion had seen a tough posting, we were expecting some good peace station. And what better we could have got than Trivandrum, which the Commanding Officer announced on getting the orders from the higher headquarters. Every one jumped with joy. Trivandrum was possibly the best peace station an Infantry unit could have got. As soon as the Commanding Officer broke the news of the move, the unit went into the mobilisation mode. In the Army, the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) are laid down for every activity. Each one knows his role. Generally, a wise CO goes into hiding in such circumstances to avoid any jitters. Our CO did the same thing. In no time the unit got packed up and was ready to move to Dimapur railway Station. The rolling stock (railway wagons) was ready. Whenever an Army unit moves, a full train is allotted to it with various classes of compartments, wagons and carriages to accommodate officers, JCO and other ranks in addition to arms, ammunition, vehicles and other equipment. There are also separate wagons having cook houses called military langar to cook hot food for the troops. It is a unique experience to travel in a Military Special -- the term used for such trains. Our train took fifteen days time in reaching Trivandrum Central from Dimapur. Genarally in a normal movement other than the war situation the military specials are given last priority in order not to disrupt the normal traffic of passenger trains. One can imagine traveling in the same compartment (first class coupes for officers and second class sleeper coaches for the other ranks) for fifteen days, so we, the bachelor officers had decorated our respective coupes with our favourite pinups. Our train used to have long halts on important stations to let the normal rail traffic pass as well as to replenish our logistics. The train would be parked in some yard where the jawans would come out and do some brisk physical exercises to straighten their limbs. The officer mess would be established at a suitable open space with a small shamiana thrown up and with pipe band playing in attendance. The food and drinks would be served to officers and ladies there in style (some of of the officers were also joined by their families to enjoy the experience of the travel by a Military Special).

I will narrate a very interesting incident which occurred on our way to Trivandrum. Our train was allotted the route along the eastern coast to avoid interfering with the busy railway traffic of the central route. All the Army or Naval units falling on our route were informed of our move, who had to supply us with necessary dry and fresh rations on the way. A duty officer was deputed out of the younger lot in rotation to see that the move is systematic and things go as planned. I was deputed as duty officer one night. After a continuous run for many hours, our train stopped at a station at midnight. As per the practice i got down and met the Station Master. I was carrying the route chart of our train provided to us by the Railway authorities. When i laid the route chart on his table to tick the station where we had reached, i could not find the same. I asked the station master to have a look at our route chart. After looking at it he started shaking his head from left to right and after a few moments of silence he looked up and gave me a very hopeless look. He told me that we had come on the wrong route. The station that we had reached fell on the central route instead of our scheduled coastal route. The station master explained to me that the traffic control at Asansole (West Bengal) had wrongly put our train on the central route, and that we had come a few hundred kilometers off our route. I immediately informed the CO. He got damn upset over this. We had to pick up our supplies on the coastal route only. He asked me to arrange to take the train back to the bifurcation point, which was left behind hundreds of kilometers as mentioned above. I came back to the station master and told him the same. He was already arguing our case with the control over telephone. The traffic control were not in favour of getting our train back on the original route and we were not prepared to move further on that route for obvious reasons. I gave my piece of mind to the Station Master who obviously was not at fault. But that worked. He shouted into the telephone and told the traffic control, " look the Army Commander is sitting in front of me and is getting damn annoyed. You please take the train back and put it on the original route". I was flabbergasted on hearing him addressing me (I was Second Lieutenant at that time) as Army Commander, may be due to his limited knowledge about the rank structure of the Indian Army. Army Commander is a term used for General Officer Commanding In Chief, one of the five senior most Lieutenant Generals in charge of a Command. After a little more shouting from the Station Master the traffic control relented and our train moved back to travel on its original route. I will never forget the name of that railway station -- SHERGARH, Madhya Pradesh. This incident took place in 1979.

This post also forms part of series on my life journey. To read all the posts in this series, please click here.

Gandhigiri

There was a long queue at the railway reservation counter. Though, this one was the credit card counter, yet, the queue was longer than the cash counters - sign of technological advancement or 'India shining' perhaps. But the booking clerk belied these feelings. Firstly, he had occupied his seat about ten to fifteen minutes late, as against the timings marked on top of the counter window, after availing his recess and secondly, his working speed matched that of a narrow gauge toy train of Darjeeling. Customers standing in the queue were making different types of comments. One of them remarked that our charismatic Railway Minister needed to take the class of his own staff to improve their speed and efficiency instead of going all the way to IITs and IIMs to do the same. I would have shifted to one of the cash counters but, since in addition to booking a ticket I also had to cancel the one previously booked with my credit card, for which I will not be entertained at the cash counter, so I did not have the option of changing the queue. When my turn came, the clerk took the reservation slip and the credit card from me, while still attending to the person in front of me. I think, to counter his slow speed, he was trying multi tasking. After going through the rigmarole, he finally handed me my tickets, credit card and the charge slips. I checked the ticket for the correctness but did not bother to check the charge slips. That was my mistake, because when I reached home and had a look at the two charge slips (one for the reservation and the other one for the cancellation), I found that one of these did not belong to me. It bore some one else’s signatures and also mentioned a different amount. I once again rushed to the reservation office. The queue now was longer than before. People were looking visibly agitated, owing to the slow motions of the booking clerk. When I headed straight to the counter they started shouting, thinking that I was jumping the queue. I raised my hand holding the charge slip and somehow elbowed my way to the counter. I attracted the attention of the booking clerk by tapping on the glass partition showing him the charge slip. He gave me a blank look and told me to come close to the counter as he was not able to hear me properly. There was a hefty lady standing at the window and when I requested her she frowned at me but nevetheless moved a bit back to make room for me. I told the booking clerk that he had handed me a wrong charge slip an hour and half back. He reluctantly took the charge slip from me, examined it carefully through his thick glasses with a wide frame and handed it back to me. He told me that since I had not pointed out the mistake immediately after getting it from him at the time of leaving the counter, I had to accept the same. I admitted my fault but requested him to give me my own charge slip, which I needed as a proof of the transaction, for which I would be paying later once my credit card bill arrives. He shuffled the papers lying in front of him and told me that he could not find any other charge slip bearing my name (which, he most probably must have handed over to the other customer) and told me point blank that he could not help me. I did not find it useful to stand at the counter any longer as I would be merely wasting my time in addition to testing the patience of the customers waiting in the queue who had been somewhat sympathising with me till then. I prudently decided to withdraw from the counter.

I entered the administrative office behind the counters from the side door and went straight to an official sitting there. A wooden plate fixed on the wall on top of his seat indicated that he was the Chief Reservation Supervisor. There was a group of persons surrounding him and by their look I could make out that they were all trying to get reservation through some special quota etc. I waited for some time and then finding some gap throegh that group pushed my self and told my story to the CRS. He told me to go out and come back after some time as he was very busy. I did not do so but instead pulled a chair and made myself comfortable in a corner. The crowd around him had depleted but he was not showing any signs of paying attention to me. I also did not show any sign of agitation and every time our eyes met I passed smile at him. After some time he called one of the attendants and told him to call the booking clerk of the concerned counter. I sat up in my chair with some hope. When my friend clerk arrived he gave me a disgusting look and blurted out something in his lingo to the CRS. The CRS looked at me and I passed another smile. He told the clerk to help me out. The clerk again confronted me and asked me that when he was not able to find my charge slip on his counter, how he could help me. I told him that since they had retained the original charge slip, he should simply take a xerox copy of the same and give that to me. He once again gave me his signature lethargic look with his brown , paan stained teeth protruding out of his thick, dry, black lips. He stood there for some time and when he again looked at me I smiled at him. He reluctantly went out and after some time came back with the xerox copy of my charge slip. He advised me angrily to check such mistakes before leaving the counter in future to which I obediently nodded and came out after thanking him and the CRS. Well friends, the Gandhigiri works.

Musical Chairs in the Train

Last Durga Puja holidays I traveled from Calcutta to New Delhi to be with my family members. To get train reservation during Puja holidays in Calcutta, you have to get your act together exactly 60 days in advance (some times the Indian Railways changes it to 90 days). After calculating the dates etc. I prepared myself to make the reservation on the designated day when the counters will open at 8 a.m. The reservation counter was just across the road from the place where I was staying. I was told that I would have to reach the reservation counter at 3 in the morning to note down my name in a list maintained there to avoid standing in the queue for long time. I did not believe this but still wanted to give it a try and walked across to the reservation counter at wee hours in the morning. The guard was rolling up the shutters of the counters and yes, there were two lists lying on the counters in which there were already sixteen and seventeen names noted down respectively. I entered my name in one of the lists and was told by the guard to go back to sleep and come in the morning just fifteen minutes before the opening of the counters at 8 am. To be on the safer side I reached a bit early, and sure enough, I was given my due place in the queue as per my serial number in the list. The counters opened at 8 am sharp and by the time my turn came the booking status in the Rajdhani Express was showing waiting list 166.

After reaching the office I narrated my story to one of my colleagues. He suggested that I contact some travel agent if I wanted confirmed reservation. I did so and the agent suggested to me to take the reservation in broken form i.e., in the same train same date I would be given booking up to a certain station some where midway and then again from that station to New Delhi without getting down from the train. I readily agreed as I was desperate to get the reservation, though, it meant paying more to the Railways as well as to the agent because of two tickets. On the day of the journey I occupied my seat of the first leg. When the ticket examiner came I took out two tickets stapled together with a little hesitation as I was afraid that my co- passengers will make fun of me for holding two tickets for the same train journey. To my utter surprise every passenger in that compartment was holding two tickets each. At the midway station no one got down and no new passenger boarded but we all did some musical chairs in the same compartment.

This post is part of the series on my life journey. To read all the posts in this series please click here.