"Stranger" than fiction...

“But how are we going to spend 2 days in a train, ma?”
I heard Sudha asking her mom. Her brother occupied the window seat and was excitedly watching the trains leaving and arriving.
We were all seated in the train which was on its way to Chennai from Jammu and arrived at Delhi. Not minding the scorching heat, the family had been on a vacation to the North and was returning back. The train was heading towards Chennai.
Since my husband and myself were to return back to Chennai due to an urgent work we had managed to book tickets in this train, which was to arrive in Chennai after 48 hours.
As the train arrived on the platform, all hells broke loose, and there was a rush for seats as if someone else will occupy them even though they were booked long time back. The passengers scrambled in and shoved their luggage above and under. We had taken our seats, my husband and I, and were watching the others searching for their seats. This boy, ran eagerly towards the window and occupied the seat though he knew he cant see a thing clearly because it was a AC compartment.
Sudha was the elder one of the two, and she seemed a friendly girl.
Finally, the train started amidst laughter from inside and cheers and waves from outside.
As the train started moving, we realized that there was no pantry car and the AC wasn’t working either.
Sudha and Nithin settled down after a fight for the window-seat. Sudha was asked to give up the window seat, being the elder of the two. She silently took a book and started reading and at the same time, she was glancing at all others who had by then occupied their seats.
She started questioning her mom.
“Ma, which is the next station? What time will we reach Chennai? When can we have our dinner?” Questions came out one by one. Her mom wasn’t patient enough to answer these questions. She took out a packet pf biscuits and handed them over to Sudha and Nitin. This was one of her tactics to silence them.
Now people started settling down and they were getting prepared for the two-day journey ahead- They were fanning, stretching, scratching, and changing into informal clothes.
Sudha started eating the biscuits and gradually lifted her head and gradually set her glance on other passengers. She looked at me first and then at my husband. We were seated opposite her.My husband smiled at her.
“Are you going to Chennai?” he asked.
Sudha nodded her head shyly.
Then swallowing what was in her mouth, she said shyly “Yes. Then to Salem. Then to Coimbatore!” By then, her dad was half asleep and her mom was listening to the conversation Sudha was having with us and was smiling proudly at her daughter.
“My husband is getting transferred and we are moving to Coimbatore. We are in Salem now.” Her mom said.
As time dragged on, the children become engrossed in the conversation with us.
“Uncle, shall we play?”
“Don’t disturb uncle!” her dad interfered.
‘Uncle will play with us. Wont u, uncle?”
“Oh! I don’t know how I am going to manage these kids here!” Sudha’a mom sighs. I was watching what was happening and I felt sorry for the mom. I joined the convo to engage the children.
“Ok, now what game shall we play?” I asked Sudha.
Nithin also joined us. Word games were all exhausted and then Sudha took out the game of Monopoly. The train keeps on moving , it gives a sudden bolt, and then pulls out, and this play has to go on till we reach Chennai.Hours to go... Night set in and the children were tired. They stretched and yawned and then fell asleep on their seats. Sudha’s mom made the bed and put them to sleep. The game went on and on and they never seemed to get tired of the game.and the children somehow got attached to us.
Next day dawned like any other day. The AC stopped working and there was restlessness everywhere. My husband and myself kept the children engaged with all sort of puzzles and games and two other children from the compartment joined us.
Too much of Monopoly and they got tired as the day passed by. To while away the time , my husband gave them a little of Maths, quizzes, and speller games. Since there was no pantry car, we shared with them whatever we had and the parents don’t object since there was no option for them and didnt say a word. Probably they thought so long as their children didnt nag them, it was fine. Sudha’s mom started reading her book which she had in her hand looking relieved that the children had settled down and as time passed by each one settled down in their own little world.. Sudha’s dad was happy sleeping and snoring away to glory.
Some started sleeping, others were trying to. Time flew by and it was hardly one more hour to reach Chennai. People started packing their things and all were seated and ready to get down.
“Thank you for entertaining our children and keeping them occupied. It was nice meeting you” Sudha’s mom said.
“What is there? We had a nice time too!” This was my husband.
“Can we have your address, uncle?” Sudha asked.
My husband gave our address.
“Please visit us when you find time.”
“Sure.”
Sudha’s mom handed over her telephone number and address.
“When you come over to Salem, please do visit us.” She smiled.
As we were getting down, I was behind Sudha.
Sudha was asking her mom..”Ma, why did you give them our Salem address? Tomorrow aren’t we leaving for Coimbatore?”
Her mom whispered to her, “We can’t give our address to strangers, can we? They wont come, anyway!”
We started off on a positive note though, expectantly enough, that we would carry these good times of the fantastic experience at the journey’s end. But as the journey nears its end, don’t we, those who love travelling by train, consider it a humbling experience? Doesn’t the ordinary train give us all an extraordinary experience?