By Savitri Narayanan
“Never mind, madam,” said the stall owner on the platform as he put away Suniti’s teacup for washing, “I know you’ll be back soon, will take the balance then!”
Suniti Rao was a practicing chartered accountant. She split her time between the head office in Chembur and branch office in Trissoor. Netravati was her favourite train. The timings were quite convenient. Suniti could easily squeeze in a good morning’s work and then board the train! The railway station was close to her office, so close that Suniti could switch off the computer, eat her lunch, pick up her backpack and walk down to board the train! Over the years, Suniti had become a familiar face to those who manned the stalls on the platform!
Blaring its siren, the train pulled in slowly and took position. Suddenly there was brisk activity on the platform as the passengers, their escorts, vendors and some railway staff in uniform made their way around in quick strides.
“Safe journey, madam,” called out the young man with his warm smile, “see you back soon!”
The second class sleeper compartment was more or less full. As Suniti rushed in pulling along her bag, a middle-aged woman made space for her.
“Come, come, madam! This is your seat!” she said as she slid to the middle seat.
“No issues, sister!” laughed Suniti, “Wherever I sit, whichever seat I take, I will reach Chembur for sure!”
“Oh! You’re going to Chembur, too!” said the woman, pleased to continue the conversation. “We stay at Diamond Gardens, what about you?”
That was the thing about train journeys – the way people connected and identified areas of common interest!
“I live in Trissoor, not Chembur!” said Suniti, “I’m an accountant there; have a few days’ work at our head office in Chembur!”
“My sister is an accountant, too”, said the lady. “I am highly impressed at the way you accountants talk about lakhs and crores; I wasn’t good in Maths, anyway!”
“There’s a vacancy; our office’s looking for an accountant to join right away!” said Suniti, “If interested, ask your sister to drop in at our office!”
“How sad!” said the lady, “Lata lives not in Mumbai but in Ratnagiri; her husband is the manager of a mango orchard there!”
“Ratnagiri’s mangoes are world-famous, so sweet and juicy,” the gentleman in the seat across joined in the conversation, “We all can buy some on the station platform tomorrow!”
“What time do we pass Ratnagiri?”
“9:15 a.m.,” another passenger was quick to check on his cellphone and pass on the information. “There’s a five minutes halt there, long enough to stock up on the mangoes!”
The train continued its run towards the Konkan coast. The passengers settled down soon – talking, napping, reading, catching up on the cellphone, on the laptop or just looking out of the window- there were plenty of interesting things to do!
Late in the evening, by the time the train crossed Kannur and their dinner packets were opened, a sense of familiarity and comfort had descended on the passengers. Conversation picked up over shared dinner.
“What a coincidence! I too have a sister who lives in Ratnagiri,” Suniti smiled at her co-passenger. “Not an accountant but a teacher; Sujata heads the Physics Department in the Government Women’s College!”
Latika was all excited at this piece of news. Her face glowed as she passed around her bottle of pickle, “Too good! My niece Aparna is studying in that college, no clue what subject!”
After dinner she took out her phone to ask her sister but there was no signal.
“Here, use my phone!” said Suniti. “But after I talk with my sister; for all you know, Sujata might be teaching your niece! What a small world!”
Suniti’s phone happened to be well-connected so quite a few used that one to call their people.
“No worries, call whomever you want! It’s fully charged and has enough range!” Suniti said once in a while.
“Wonder if Sujata wants to come to Ratnagiri station!” Suniti said aloud to nobody in particular, “No clue how far she lives!”
“The college is about twenty minutes’ drive from the station; my sister’s family is in Amalpur and Aparna goes to college by her scooty,” Latika seemed well-informed. “Where does madam live?”
“In some mango orchard, somewhere!” Suniti dismissed the topic. “No way she’ll come to the station, she’ll go to her college, I am sure!”
Soon it was past midnight and one by one, the passengers fell asleep.
***
At night, things took an unexpected turn.
Latika opened her eyes, wanting to go to the washroom. She came down from her top berth, slowly and quietly, not wanting to disturb the other passengers. To her shock, Suniti was down on the floor writhing in convulsions. Within no time, the lights came on, other passengers woke up and came down. The Ticket Checker was informed, who in turn made an announcement asking for any passenger on board who was a doctor. There was one in the next compartment, who came quickly to provide first aid.
“Who’s travelling with her?” asked the TC.
“No one,” was the answer, “She’s an accountant going to her head office in Chembur!”
“These convulsions are alarming, especially as we’ve no medical history,” said the doctor, “She needs to be hospitalised immediately and undergo medical tests!”
“We in the railways have a procedure to hand her over to a responsible adult who’ll take her to a hospital,” said the TC. “Any friend, relative, known person travelling with her?”
As they were talking, the convulsions started again. The doctor placed his pen between her teeth to prevent a tongue-bite.
“No time to lose, she needs to be in a hospital”, said the doctor, his concern clear in his tone.
Suniti had either become unconscious or was in deep sleep. There was absolutely no response!
“Madam’s sister is a lecturer in Ratnagiri Women’s College; I’ve her number!”
All eyes turned to Latika. It was as if God spoke through her!
As the train pulled in to Ratnagiri, a stretcher with railway staff was in attendance on the platform. Sujata’s family, along with Lata’s, were waiting too. Within no time, Suniti was in the ICU of a nearby hospital, intubated and under observation. Thanks to the timely treatment, within a few days she was discharged and home, at her sister’s place.
“The railway staff was amazing in the way they stepped in!” said Sujata, “Cheers to Indian Railways!”
“Credit goes to good people like your madam!” Lata addressed Suniti. “My sister can’t stop praising you for the way you were friendly and helpful in so many ways; apparently your phone had strong signals so you allowed everyone to use your phone! How often do people do that!”
“Coming to think of it, that’s how they got your telephone number to inform!” said Sujata.
“Oh! Yeah!” said Aparna, “Madam’s phone must’ve been locked and she was unconscious so how would anybody inform anybody!”
“How true that God comes in different forms!” said Sujata, “We’ve had an unexpected reunion with Suniti didi which asks for a celebration, let’s order some chocolate ice cream!”
