It was the summer of 1967. We were planning a trip from Bangalore to Coimbatore to attend my aunt’s wedding. With great difficulty, my father got reservations for us on the Cochin-bound Island Express for May 21. He could join us only later.
My mother made our favourite snack kuliappam for the journey. As the terribly crowded train was about to leave, I remembered I had left behind the food packet on the platform. My father went rushing and brought it back when the train had already started moving.
Lost and found
As soon as the train left Bangarpet, we finished dinner. I was about to throw out the food wrapper when my mother snatched it and kept it under her seat. It was an envelope of the State Bank of Mysore, my father’s employer.
A little while later, I complained to my mother that the train was running at a high speed and I was getting scared. She asked me to chant “Rama, Rama” and try to get some sleep. Within minutes, there was a big bang and a jerk, like an earthquake. I saw a huge trunk falling from the luggage rack and missing me by a hair’s breadth. It was pitch dark outside, and people were screaming, crying and jumping out of the train.
It took us 10 minutes to realise that the train had met with an accident.
A primary school teacher offered to take us to his house. My mother, however, requested him to take us to the manager of the local branch of my father’s bank. We could not find him at home and decided to stay with the teacher. The next morning, we travelled to Coimbatore on a relief train.
In those days when even landline phones were uncommon, my father got to know of the accident only the next morning — 62 people were killed and 63 injured as several coaches derailed because of a brake failure. Arriving in Kuppam by taxi, he was horrified as the enquiry counter had the names of my mother and sister on the death list.
He climbed the gradient from the station to our coach and located our seats. There he found the food envelope. On it was scribbled “SAFE, Saraswathi”. He could not believe his eyes. He booked a lightning call from the local bank branch to the Coimbatore branch, which took a full three hours to materialise. The Coimbatore manager told him we were all safe.
My mother told me that she had snatched the envelope for use as a napkin for my baby sister. Soon after the accident, she had used abundant common sense to scribble “SAFE” on the paper and leave it on our seat.
kannan.bala@hotmail.com
