Bhushan Raj Selvaraj

I vividly remember my first local train experience in Mumbai when I came for admission interview at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2013. Two guys who looked suspicious and carried something which looked like a knife’s handle. It was around 4.30 or 5.00 AM in the morning. They were trying to talk to two girls who boarded in the nect station. The reaction of the girls didn’t look alarming. They were talking normally and others also didn’t seem to be bothered. Whenever I think about this, I feel this incident was some kind of harassment but couldn’t come to a conclusion.

Now 7 years later, I am moving out of Mumbai and decided to take the train instead of flight due to heavy baggage. I went to my office to bid good bye to few people whom I missed the day before. It took some time and I had to rush to take cash from the ATM. In a hurry I forgot to take the card from the machine. After crossing 1km, my colleague called and informed about the card. I had to wait 10 minutes for him to arrive. Still the boarding station was reachable well before departure time. But there came Murphy’s law in to picture after a long time in my life. The road to the station was diverted and we had to go further South and take a very long route to reach Kurla. The train departure time was 6.45 PMand the estimated time of arrival as per Google Maps was 6.44 PM. Luckily the traffic lights turned green just when we were crossing. Took the back gate entry directly to 4th platform from Auto rickshaw. With the help of few people who took my bags and ran with me, I was able to catch the moving train. But lost my food bag which went under the wheels.

I managed to board the last compartment, just after the guard’s coachwhich. It was very spacious coach with just two rows of seats, empty and had a big open bathroom. I have never seen this coach before. From the looks of it, it seemed to be for physically challenged people. The guys who took the bags threw it inside the coach and I had 100 Rs in my pocket to give them quickly. I threw the bags inside and was glad that I didn’t miss it. Got scolded by the security guard in the station for boarding a moving train. This was the first time I took this daring attempt like those typical scenes in an Indian movie involving trains. But I didn’t know that the movie was yet to start.

After a few minutes a guy boarded inside and started locking doors saying some people are chasing him and trying to kill him. He has been running for his life for the past 3 days without having food. He was insisting me not to get down in the next station saying they will catch him if I open the door. He said they were trying to pull him down from the previous compartment and he somehow escaped them by jumping out and boarded my compartment. He was a medium height (~160cm), dark and spoke a language which sounded more like Hindi but not Marathi. His face mask (covid time) had some grains, which made me think that he has been eating something or has been hiding somewhere or drunk but was really in hurry. He opened his mask showing his faceand said he is really tired and has been running continuously. He showed that he wounded himself when jumping out of the previous compartment. He got two calls and seemed to explain the same thing which he told me. He showed his wallet saying he doesn’t have anything and was begging to not open the door even ready to touch my feet. He seemed to be innocent but the same time I was afraid that he could be making all this up and try to rob me. He was saying that if they get inside it would be a problem for me also and that I have too many bags. More than anything else I was afraid of losing the important documents that I was carrying. I was ready to abandon him and go as quickly as possible. You can try to be brave but believe me if you are in that situation you would be ready to abandon everything and run at the next possible chance. The only weapon was the umbrella in my hand. I also checked the nearest safety alarm handle.

I started getting dizzy probably the blood pressure shot up too much. I tried to be cool and think patiently. Just before this incident my mother called me up to check whether I boarded safely. I told her that I boarded the unreserved compartment before the guy came inside. Another friend (Sanjay) was also checking with me. I was messaging whatever was happening just in case if something bad happens. I gathered all my bags for quickly getting out as soon as the next Thane station comes (20 mins from LTT). But I had too many bags to carry by myself. One big sized trolley bag, one medium one, two backpacks, a duffer bag and a long umbrella. It was good that I lost the carrybag with the food.

Those 20 minutes were the most terrifying time unable to decide whether the guy was genuine or he himself is the robber. The previous time of such incidence was when I had to roam around Kanpur Central station searching for an auto rickshaw back to IIT Kanpur campus. The train stopped and I didn’t know that Thane station came. The platform was on the right side but I was looking on the left. After 30 seconds I saw that the platform is on the left and saw someone knocking the door or trying to open it from outside. The terrified guy was not ready to open and was stayed behind. I didn’t know how to open the damn door with all those heavy bags and stressful mind. Somehow I managed to open it and the guy standing outside was shouting why the door was locked. I ran as quickly as possible with all the luggages and reached AC coach feeling relieved after seeing other people.

Fortunately a crime thriller opening scene, where someone gets killed, didn’t happen in my life at this time and I didn’t have to use my umbrella like Kaala Rajinikanth.