It transpired only after our arrival at the railway station that Mahanagari Express was running late by two hours.

The elder son, Eknath was annoyed, “I had already enquired on phone that the train was running late but you did not agree with me, father.”

“Because you can’t believe these people sitting in that inquiry room! They are not worried about the passengers; they are only worried about their duty hours. If we have reached early, nothing is lost but if we had come late, the train would have been missed,” the old man tried to convince him. He often made hurried departures from his home when someone had to leave the town and they had to go to the railway station.

“The heat is unbearable,” said the second son, Onkar, looking at the ceiling fan which was running at its full speed but it did not provide solace to the passengers at the platform.

The father said to the mother, “Why are you gaping at people, standing like a stupid? Have you never seen this railway platform before? Come and sit on this bag and keep an eye on the luggage. There are many thieves and lifters roaming around.”

“Don’t you try to teach me!” said the mother with obvious annoyance in her voice, “We have nine bags in all. I have already counted them.”
Her daughter, Ambuj, and two children had stayed with them during summer vacations and now she was going back to her husband. The mother had loaded her with gifts and clothes and the number of bags had reached nine whereas she had brought only two bags at the time of her arrival.

The youngest son, Tilak, was looking at the baggage and the cycle his nephew had been gifted by the father. He tried to suggest, “It is very difficult to make room for this much luggage in the compartment. Yash and Tobu are unnecessarily carrying this bicycle with them. Leave it here, and we will send it through transport, or take it next time.”

Tobu began to cry and she said, “I will take this cycle with me. Grandfather has gifted it to me. If I leave it here, Om and Dev will break it. They will ride my new cycle and damage it. No, I won’t leave it here.” She began to stamp the floor with her feet.

“All right, all right, don’t you cry and take this cycle with you. We will adjust the cycle with these bags though it is really difficult. Don’t you worry, and now smile,” said the mother.

Tilak was furious, “Mother, you will be weeping in the embrace of our sister, Ambuj, but we will have to load this luggage!”

The mother showed him her familiar angry face and turned towards her daughter.

The father could not resist, “Your love for your daughter is really amazing, for you have filled these bags with wheat, rice, flour, and what not!”

“So what…we have so much grain produced in our fields and my daughter has to buy these things there. She does not have to carry these things on her head,” the mother retorted.

The eldest daughter-in-law added, “Nowadays these trains are so croweded that one should be satisfied if one is able to board one’s train successfully, with only one’s handbag.”

The mother expressed her resentment, “You keep quiet, Sneha.”

The mother was sad because her daughter was going back one week before the earlier decided date. She was not ready to listen to anyone.

The father was looking at the people with suspicion; he was worried about his daughter and he thought that every unknown face there was the face of the prospective thief or robber. He turned to Ambuj, “My dear daughter, listen to me very carefully. Don’t sleep at night. Though Tilak is going with you but he is a useless fellow. He loves sleeping in trains. Don’t you rely on this brother of yours.”

Tilak’s wife Soni made face when she heard the father’s views about her husband.

“Father, you don’t worry. If we get seats in the train, I will take care of everything else,” said Ambuj, trying to assure her father that she was capable of handling the situation, though she is worried to see hundreds of people waiting for the arrival of the train.

The programme was fixed in a hurry after a phone call from her husband’s house that her husband was not feeling well. They did not have time to reserve the seats.

The father tried to give courage to her, “Everything will be all right. This is unnecessary crowd. Only a few are passengers and the rest are the people who have come to see them off. I don’t know why so many people come to the station to see one or two persons off.”

Ambuj smiled because their case was also the same but the father did not realize that they had only four passengers and fifteen relatives to see them off.

The father considered it a matter of pride when all of them reached the station to see his daughter and her children off. When his sons tried to tell him that only two and three persons would be enough, the mother got angry and said that no one loved her daughter.

The father cursed the entire nation, “I think the entire population of the country has assembled here on this platform today!”

“Father, they have their own works but we have unnecessarily reached here two hours earlier,” Onkar added.

“I will go and see if there is space in the waiting room,” said Tilak and went away.

The vendors were shouting and attracting the prospective customers. The children wanted to eat chips but the mother was not ready. The father bought four packets of chips and told the children to share them but they didn’t agree. All together there were seven children and they wanted their separate packets. Finally, seven packets were bought.

The mother was angry, “They are so spoiled that one would think they did not get anything to eat at home.”

The mothers of the children agreed with the old lady.

The father was angry because he was not in favour of buying edible things from a railway station. He had thrown away his money, he felt.

Tilak returned from the waiting room, “The waiting room is overcrowded.”

“It’s too hot,” the father wiped his forehead. His daughters-in-law, Rama and Sneha, smiled and exchanged glances.

Eknath was talking with a porter, “You will have to load these bags and the bicycle on Mahanagari Express.”

“All right, Sahib,” said the porter.

“Don’t go away until the train arrives, otherwise we will be looking for you,” said Eknath.

The porter assured him, “There is nothing to worry, Sahib. I will take care of everything. The unreserved general compartment stops there. Tell them to wait there.”

Now they had to move about two hundred yards upward to the place on the platform indicated by the porter. It was very difficult to control the children.

Having finished their chips, the children were thirsty. Onkar picked an empty bottle and moved towards the nearest tea stall.

Sneha’s daughters were looking at the posters of the films. The mother scolded them, “Control your children. There are many child lifters roaming around!”

Soni and Rama got worried and began to look for their children. The children had disappeared in the crowd.

When the children returned with Onkar, Rama shouted, “Stand here, all of you. Don’t you move from this place!”

The children followed the command obediently but their flippant nature did not let them stay there at one place for long. Eknath was following the ticket checker in hope of getting their seats reserved. Tilak was feeling bored; he went to the nearest book stall and bought a news magazine. He was about to read the very first story when his father snatched the magazine and began to turn the pages.

The children were looking at the comics with their greedy eyes. Obviously, they wanted to buy a few comics. Sneha got annoyed and she slapped her second daughter Shubhi on her face. Sneha had not wanted to bring the children to the railway station but the mother-in-law was ready with her comments, “Yes, why should you go to station? My daughter visits me once in a year and you people don’t like it.”

Shubhi was wiping her tears with her frock and in the meanwhile Ambuj scolded her sister-in-law, “Why did you slap her? Come with me, and I will buy comics for you.”

The father tried to stop her from wasting her money on comics but she bought one comic each for every child there.

The mother did not like it at all, “This is what happens when you bring children with you, unnecessary expenses!”

“No problem, mother,” said Ambuj with a smile.

“Yes, you have a lot of money! Why won’t you spend your money on unnecessary things like comics? Listen carefully; there are a few things for you and your children. Eat them on the way. Keep that bag close to you,” the mother pointed to a brown bag.

“Mother, you are talking about food and I am worried about my husband. I don’t know how he is! When will this train arrive?” said Ambuj very seriously.

“I will go and ask at the inquiry counter,” Onkar got up and said.

A voice was heard on the public announcement system and the father gestured to keep quiet for a while. The announcer was informing about some other train.

Meanwhile, Onkar came back and informed, “Mahanagari Express will arrive in one hour.”

In a few minutes, another train stopped at the platform and the crowd of people rushed towards the train. The noise on the platform increased. A chain snatcher appeared from nowhere and pulled the gold chain from a lady standing near the mother.

The father shouted, “He is running away! Catch him!”

The police caught him but the father did not stop. He said to his wife, “How many times I have told you not to wear these heavy ornaments to the railway station but you never listen to me! There are so many chain snatchers around this place. People are looking at your necklace!”

The mother realized that her husband was right and she quickly covered her necklace with the end of her sari that covered her head.

Then the father looked at his three daughters-in-law. They could not meet his eyes because they were loaded with gold ornaments too.

Ambuj said, “Shall we order some coffee?”

The others were ready and they nodded.

Onkar went to bring coffee. The children followed him and he had to waste some money on them.

After a few minutes, the voice of the announcer echoed, “Passengers please listen carefully; Maharani Express is reaching the platform number two.”

Sudden commotion happened on the platform.

The father stood up attentively and Onkar began to look for the porter. He did not know that the porter had already loaded four bags on his head.

The train entered the platform with thundering noise and people made their distance from the train.

“Hold the hands of the children tightly!” the father shouted.

Eknath began to run along the unreserved coach. The porter, Onkar, and Tilak followed him. The compartment was already overcrowded. The mother’s shrieks and loud comments got lost in the clamour. There were people crowding the door of the compartment.

The people who were boarding the train were not allowing the passengers who wanted to get off the train.

Someone shouted, “How would you board the train if you don’t let us get down?”

Eknath shouted, “Get down quickly and don’t deliver the speeches.” He helped the man alight the train. The porter pushed his way into the compartment. The father shouted at Tilak, “Why don’t you go after the porter? See where he keeps the bags!”

“Please father, it is not possible to enter the coach. Let them get down first,” said Tilak.

An old man was struggling to board the train, “Son, please let me go in first. I have to catch this train. I have an urgent work. Please help me.”

Eknath said, “No one is happy to be the part of this crowd. We all have works and they are urgent. Please calm down and wait.”

The old man said, “You talk very intelligently but you are jostling and wrestling too!”

“Keep quiet, old man!” Tilak found his way into the coach, pushing aside the old man.

“Please pull me up,” said the helpless old man. Tilak was too busy to listen to the plea of the old man.

The crowd pushed the old man aside. He had tears in his eyes. He was shouting, “Please help me. My daughter is in city hospital. I must reach there…”

Ambuj had boarded the train and she was shouting for the remaining bags. Her little daughter had been pushed inside the coach with a great effort. Eknath threw the last bag in to the coach.

Meanwhile, the train began to move. The father shouted, “Take care of the bags. Don’t eat anything from anybody. Don’t get down at other stations! Keep your children near you….”

Unfortunately, they could not load the sacks of rice and wheat on the train. The mother was angry, “You are useless fellows. Now, my daughter will have to pay for rice and wheat. We have plenty here but who cares?”

The father looked at the old man. He had missed his train. The father said to his son, “You could have helped the old man, Eknath.”

“Father, we were loading the luggage.”

They began to move out of the station. Suddenly, they realized that Onkar’s little son, Dev, was missing.

They began to look for him.

“Where is Dev?” shouted the mother.

“Mother, we are looking for him,” said Eknath.

They went in all directions and asked many people. They went to the inquiry office and informed them about the missing child. Dev was in black shorts and blue shirt. They announced on the public announcement system.

The women began to weep. The mother said, “He must have boarded the train!”

“You keep quiet. Your guesses are always frightening!” said the father.

About two hours passed and nothing happened. Someone suggested to go to the nearest police station.

They rushed out of the railway station and began to run towards the nearest police station. Suddenly, they all stopped, as if their feet refused to move. Dev was sitting with the same old man who had missed his train. He was eating biscuits which, obviously, the old man had bought him.

The mother rushed to the child and embraced him tightly. The smiles appeared on their faces.

The old man said, “I missed my train and I was going back home because the next train was after six hours. Suddenly, my eyes fell on this boy. A man was forcing him to sit on his motorcycle but the boy was shouting and crying. I interfered and the man left him there and escaped. He was definitely a child lifter. Thank God I reached in time. I was thinking of taking him back with me to my house but in the meantime you people came…”
The father embraced the old man and said, “I am sorry you missed your train. Please don’t worry. I hear your daughter is in hospital. I will pay for a private taxi to take you to the city.”

“But father, the taxi would cost thousands of rupees…” interrupted Onkar.

“Shut up! This is the first time I have realized that I have never spent money for a good cause,” said the father.

The mother told the old man, “You are an angel to us, sent by god. Please take these two sacks of rice and wheat with you. It is a gift from us.”

“No, I don’t want anything. All I want is to reach the city to pay for my daughter’s operation. I have arranged the money with a lot of difficulty. She is in the hospital, waiting for me. The doctors say that she will be able to see clearly after this operation.”

“Don’t you worry, my son, Onkar will go with you to the city and take care of everything,” said the father.

“You won’t believe, last week my only son, Sunil, died in a road accident. He was the only earning member. He was a taxi driver. I had bought him a taxi with the retirement money which I received from my office but, I think, god did not like it and he called him back,” the old man’s eyes were wet and his voice was heavy.

“Oh, my god, your son died last week and now you are going to the city for the operation of your blind daughter!” the father hugged him again.

The mother said, “I keep on shouting at my children for no obvious reason at all. I had been living with my pride and notions. Don’t you worry, now you have three sons and a brother, my husband.”