One lazy afternoon, while I was reading about the Vande Bharat trains, my mind wandered back four decades to a railway adventure of mine.
I was 21 and excited about my first job interview in Ahmedabad. The trip from Bangalore and back involved changing trains at Miraj and Bombay. On my return journey, I had a few mishaps, which culminated in the adventure of a lifetime.
I took an overnight train from Ahmedabad and reached Bombay. I had to take the Mahalakshmi Express to Bangalore at night. I spent the day with a relative, and he suggested that I check the time of the train. Calling from a public booth, I heard the departure time as 10.40. My relative lived in the suburbs and so he suggested we leave early and enquire at the Dadar station if Mahalakshmi Express halts there. When we alighted from the local train and asked a porter, he pointed to a fast-moving train, which was the Mahalakshmi Express. I had heard 20.40 as 10.40.
