Train trip in past with Heliodorous

by Divya Raj (India)

The last thing I expected India

India is a giant which can stupefy people by its charm and an ever-changing heterogeneous mass and I am a part of it. After a trip to Pune, I was on my way back to New Delhi, which was a 28-hour journey in a train. I woke up at 9 am in an ac compartment of a train, I wanted to brush my teeth but the public washroom already looked dirty, the train came to a halt at a railway station named Vidisha, in Madhya Pradesh. I spotted a clean drinking water dispenser but was in a dilemma if I should leave the train or not. I: How long does the train stop here sir, can I go, brush my teeth and come back. Vendor: Ohh! Sir, for some 5-7 minutes Without a second thought ran to brush in a pair of boxer shorts, no money and a phone with 10% battery. After brushing, I turned and before I could lift my legs, I was having contractions, the train had left me, I kept running till I could not see train anymore. Everything that I possessed got away, for help I rushed to the control room, after telling the lady officer (LO) about my story, LO: A train is scheduled in 50 minutes overtakes your train at Agra (City of Taj Mahal), you can take that train. Aaah, I am sorry son, but the train is approximately 2 hours late. I had two hours, next, I remember was standing beside a 113 B.C, Heliodorous [H] pillar, commissioned by a Greek ambassador H, few miles from the station. Both of us were from far lands but I could connect to him, H: Why do you look so frightened, child? Sir: You know what I did. H: If I can come to a foreign land and get a pillar build you definitely can chill and will be good, trust me. My thought process flipped, all I had to do was pretend that I have ticket and board the train back. After getting into the train, I was starving, had no plans to steal food from train pantry but could not resist. I had called my cousin to collect my luggage from Agra station, train halts for two minutes, I had to get down to find my cousin, get myself back in the train, by the time this happened, the train had left too. I heard an announcement that another train was heading to Delhi. As I entered the train, the ticket collector caught me and I had no ticket, he wanted to imprison me for a month, finally only fined me. Two hours later I reached Delhi and my satiety centers felt embraced. Every journey has something to impart, all we need is to instill the ability to recognize what has been diffused within and always someone like H is there to help.