Once on a temporary duty I had to carry three big, heavy steel boxes from one Air Force station in Uttar Pradesh to another accessible by a train-journey overnight. That day at 11 am I returned from the work spot to my barracks to get ready for boarding the transport that was to pick me up from the mess after my lunch. After going to the mess much earlier than its normal lunch hours starting at 1 30 pm, I took a chair in the mess office as asked by one of the cooks. Soon another cook brought me a plate of steaming hot meals. Finding the repast too hot I got up from the chair and with the plate in one hand I attempted to turn the fast-running pedestal fan towards me with the other. My very touch of the main pole of the fan flung me out of the room and landed me flat on my belly across the sagging cable of the fan resulting in the shattering of the plate and splashing of the food. In short order, one of the cooks from the kitchen came rushing to me, lifted me up and made me at home. Soon polishing off another plate of meals served to me I came out and stood looking for the transport.
In a little while a vehicle with the boxes I had to carry arrived at the mess and stopped before me. In next to no time, I boarded the vehicle and occupied the seat next to the driver who started driving it towards the railway station. A tad before reaching the station the transport negotiated a sharp turn that accidentally slammed open the door on my left hand side. My tight grip on the handle above the door saved me from tumbling down into the gulley edging the road. After getting at the railway station, the three boxes were unloaded by the lascars that had come along with them. I consigned the boxes to the railway authorities, ambled to the waiting room and fell asleep weary of the day’s grind.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
When it was a tad past 9 pm with dark clouds hanging heavy it began tipping down. The train scheduled to arrive at 8 pm screeched to a halt at 10 in the night. Ensuring that the boxes were moved into one of the bogies at the rear I hurried towards a compartment that was almost empty but for one single passenger in it who was enjoying a sound slumber unruffled even by a wee bit with my repeated kicks and bangs at the door. With no letup in the downpour I stood firm at the entrance with no dry thread upon me, pressing myself hard against the closed door and having a firm grip on one of the window grills of the adjacent toilet. Lady Luck smiling upon me the train got at the next station within scarcely 12 minutes. A few passengers also coming to board the same compartment started banging the door hard and hollering at the callous hearted man inside. As the door opened soon I got in along with others and reached the station the next morning where the boxes were unloaded. The bitter experience taught me to be overcautious on such duties by train.
