Army in Train at Railway Station - A True Story

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Chapter - 2

Army At War With Railway Station Staff

Finally, the day arrived when we were all told to board the train for the big move from this small village to a big City. And this true story actually started unfolding. We all were very happy to board the train with all our luggage onboard. Every family that reached the railway station to board the army hired train, had at least four or five large wooden boxes full of luggage.

When we reached the railway station to board the train, we were told that all the personnel luggage will either be loaded into luggage wagons which will be attached to the train in the end or else they can be put inside the army vehicles. But the big wooden boxes carrying our personal luggage could not be loaded into the passenger compartments of the train despite my father making many requests to his army regiment bosses.

These army vehicles will first be filled up with all the wooden empty ammunition boxes converted into luggage carriers and then each vehicle will be driven and parked on top of open trailer train bogies which will also be attached to the same train later, just before the train starts from that railway station.

Both the hired train without any engines attached to them with about thirty wagons in each train, were waiting for us to board, in the railway station. The first was the passenger train wagons for Officers, and the next few wagons were for the men and all the families travelling with them.

The second train without engine, parked alongside on the second railway line was luggage wagons and trailers with all the army vehicles loaded on top along with the big guns. It was such a beautiful scene. The army had hired two engines for moving their hired train.

The two long army hired trains parked alongside in a completely picture perfect railway station deep inside a jungle was a good sight and a photographers pleasure. It took the army three full days to board all their vehicles, luggage boxes, guns, ammunitions and the army unit men and their families on the train.

By the evening on the third day the entire men, families and vehicles etc., were ready to move by 4 pm. In fact the entire unit had already been living and working for the past three days on the train. 

The Railway Station staff were unaware of what was going to happen in a few hours. Unaware of the future, the railways had managed two railway diesel engines and connected them one each on the two trains for departure at 6 pm. One engine for the passenger train with all of us onboard and the second one for the luggage and vehicle loaded train.

The Commanding Officer arrived just in time for the train journey just in time. The Commanding Officer saw that there were two trains instead of one long train with two engines contrary to what he wanted. His aim was to keep everyone and everything together.

The Commanding Officer was not ready to accept that. He wanted that both these trains be combined in to a single train and these two engines be connected together in front to pull this unusually long hybrid train.

The message was sent to the railway station staff. But the railway station staff was not under the army or army headquarters. So railway station staff refused to oblige the army regiment Commanding Officer.

There was a lot of heated discussions between the Army regiment bosses and the railway station staff. Finally the railway station staff had to give in to the adamant army regiment Commanding Officer's decision because the army had hired the train.

The railway station staff connected the luggage and vehicle bogies behind the passenger train we had boarded and now our train was 30 bogies against a normal of 23 odd bogies of a passenger train. The two engines were connected in front of the single long train and ready to move.

It was decided that many more additional families would be sent by road to the new city in the army vehicles which had to be unloaded from the train, because over 20 goods wagon loaded with vehicles had to be removed when it was decided to make it a single train at the railway station itself.

Army Dinner At The Railway Station

By the time all these events happened, it was already time for dinner. But there was a big problem. The train wagons given to the Army train were all independent and could not be connected for people to walk from one passenger wagon to another.

So the army had no choice but to keep the train from departing from the railway station, so that everyone could go to the army catering wagon and collect food. The army works strictly on time. We all took our dinner plates the moment the announcement was made that everyone to have dinner before the train moved.

The stewards in the lone catering wagon came out of all four doors of the catering wagon. One door to serve the Officers and their families standing in queue at one door. There were ladies and children of lower ranks standing in a separate queue on the other two doors of the Langar wagon. The higher other ranks and their families stood in the third door collecting their dinner. One door was kept reserved for the Commanding Officer, the Second in Command and the Adjutant and their families.

The very first real dinner on the train was progressing. It was a grand dinner served from the catering wagon of the train. the entire army unit along with the ladies and children had impatiently stood in queue to get their dinner. There were some altercation between some ladies. But the army men came in and resolved the issue.

The reason for the altercation of the ladies was the seniority differences of their husband with respect to the other ladies husbands while standing in queue for dinner. After the altercations were resolved amicably, all the men controlled their ladies immediately, took their filled dinner plates to their own reserved seats in the army train to have dinner in peace and chatting with the other friendly families on board. The dinner gave me a feel of a picnic.

By the time the dinner was served and had by everyone, there was another queue formed in front of the water tanker bogie, to wash hands and the utensils of the army personnel and their families after dinner. Everything got over by 10 pm and peace returned almost three hours after it all started. The dinner was over and al the army people and families had all settled back in to their own reserved seats in the army train.

Two Train Engines Missing from Railway Station - A True Story

We all waited for the train to start moving. But the army train engines had gone missing. The serving of the dinner took about two hours. The engine drivers were not ready for this as they had other scheduled trains to pull. So the railway station staff decided to remove the engines and send them for pulling other scheduled train.

The army Commanding Officer was completely unaware that the railway engines have gone missing and that the army train was not going anywhere that night. We too were not aware that the two engines were missing and that we were going to spend a third night in the train at the same railway station, where we had already spent two nights on the train . This true story was about to take an ugly turn that night.

This true story was going for a twist. Even after an hour after the chaos of dinner was over, the army train did not move. That is when we all realized that the two engines connected to the army train had gone missing. Those engines were scheduled to pull some scheduled trains elsewhere. Everyone realized that they were going to spend one more night in that railway station. There was no choice. But the true story was going to bend a little in a few minutes.

When the Commanding Officer of the Army Unit was told that the train engines were missing, he came out of his wagon fuming. He along with his second in Command and the Adjutant went to the railway station. Another heated argument between the railway bosses and the army bosses for a second time that day happened, which lasted well past midnight.

The explanation given by the railway staff was that those engines have scheduled trains to pull after three hours and due to traffic on the single railway line, it would not be possible to stop this thirty wagon long a train in any of the smaller stations after three hours, because the army did not let the train move due to its dinner schedule.

Finally, it was decided that by morning 8:00 am there will be another two engines made available for a slot of just three hours non stop run of the train. 

I woke up to an army wake up call whistle at 5:30 am the next morning. The army had to muster all the men in the morning sharp at 6:00 am and do physical training for maintaining their health. I had to wake up so early because my father woke up to get ready and was gone for physical training muster at 5:55 am. Exercise is a mandatory part of army life. There was on escape for anyone from it.

The weather in that railway station in the jungle was very cold and I went back to sleep for another half an hour. But the commotion of army unit exercising, woke me up. I saw the army do the mass exercises on the railway track with a few civilian people on the platform which was on the other side, witnessing all this with awe.

Train Engines Missing A Second Time From Railway Station

I sat watching the beautiful sight of over six hundred army people do their morning exercise standing in a few orderly group with the civilian people watching it from the station platform. I heard noise from the other side of our army train and saw two engines go past in the opposite direction. Then I felt the jolt twice on the train which was an indication that the diesel train engines had been connected to our train.

That meant that the railway station bosses had given two diesel engines as promised the previous night to the Commanding Officer of the army unit. I thought that once the exercise routine was over, the train would start moving as we have two diesel engines. But I was wrong. The true story was not happening the way I thought it would.

The army people exercised for about half an hour and then it was time for their bath. There was a queue in front of the water tanker wagon for bathing. The ladies and children were queued up separately with buckets to take water into the bathrooms in their own wagons. Another hour and a half was gone and then it was time for breakfast.

Like the previous night, I saw another two diesel engines go past my wagon. I looked at the engines and prayed it was not our engines that were detached once again.

Everyone had finished bath by 7:30 am and It was time for having breakfast for everyone. Once again everyone queued up in front of the pantry wagon doors like the previous night. And by the time everyone settled back in their bogies after breakfast, it was well past 10 am because people were standing in queue for everything starting from the washrooms, then the exercise, then in front of the water tanker and after all that for breakfast.

The true story was having too many bents along the route. The two diesel engines I saw go past our wagon a few minutes back were the same two diesel train engines which were connected to our army train an hour ago. Once again the army train was without any engine to move from the small railway station in the jungle. Everyone was sad about the turn of events.

The true story was rewriting itself almost once every two hours. All the excitement of the breakfast was blown away in a moment when we realized that we may have to spent the fourth day in that small railway station in a hired army train. But no one gave up hope. The picnic on the train was continuing, because it was now time for tea at 10:30 am.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Chapter - 3

Army Train Journey Starts Like A Picnic True Story

After settling down at in our train bogies by 10:00 am, my father was getting four tumblers ready to collect tea for all of us from the pantry wagon. Meanwhile the army bosses and the railway station bosses were involved in the heated discussions over the missing engines for a second time. It has been over an hour now since the arguments started. For us, life was like a picnic on the army train in that railway station.

By then the clock was showing 10:10 am and tea time was just 20 minute away. So my father went to collect tea along with all the army people who had started coming out of their train bogies and making queue at the pantry bogie, to collect tea by 10:15 am. This true story was shaping up a little better that morning despite the two diesel engines of the army train having gone missing a second time.

Somehow by then the army bosses and the railway station bosses had stuck another deal. The train would be reconnected with the two engines which were disconnected, provided the army train departs from the railway station immediately.

The army never deviates from its routines like morning exercises, tea time, breakfast, lunch and dinner times etc. Everything always happens exactly at the correct time on the clock exactly as one would have planned a picnic. And the only difference was that this picnic was happening on an army train.

But today it was a different story. The Commanding Officer of the Army Unit orders that everything be cancelled to ensure that they start moving the army train. So announcement came that the tea at 10:30 am as well as the arms drill practice at 11:00 am, both had been cancelled for that day, to ensure that the army train could move off the railway station on time at least that day. The picnic on the army train was becoming even more exciting.

Cancelling tea was a big demoralizing fact for the army people, but the cancellation of the one hour weapon drills was more than enough to compensate for the cancelled tea for the day and make the army men happy. The picnic mood was back on the army train.

At least that day everyone could relax during the tea time onwards till lunch time and be with their own families and friends on board the army train. This confirmed to me that I was on this army train to enjoy a picnic, travelling the country side and that too in a jungle.

This feeling of a picnic had started right from home and had been on for four days. By the time the train started moving for the first time on the fourth day. With a pair of new diesel engines, the army train started moving on the tracks for the seven hour journey, it was already 10:30 am.

The train barely was running for about 45 minutes, when a medium sized railway platform came to view and the train stopped. Has the picnic on the army train come to an end in just 45 minutes?

This true life story was changing its course once again. The seven hour train journey had started four days back, was going to take many more days. Everyone was excited to know why the army train had stopped and who had the guts to stop this powerful army train on its track and spoil their picnic. Everyone got out of their bogies to investigate what had happened.

Army Train Engines Missing At Railway Station A Third Time

The true story has had a new twist as we understood after people got down at this small railway station and started inquiring as to why this powerful army train was stopped withing just 45 minutes of starting to move in the morning. The answer that came from the railway station staff was funny.

According to the railway staff the two engines were provided to pull the army train from the previous railway station starting from 8:00 am till 11:00 am. In those three hours the army train would have reached half way through their journey to the forward area.

Since the army regiment lost time by getting busy doing morning exercises, bathing, having breakfast etc., the railway station staff had to wait for a long time at the previous railway station. Also they wanted to get rid of the army from that railway station where we had occupied a track for four days.

The two engines attached to this army train had to pull two other scheduled trains from different stations from 12:00 pm onwards. So the railway station staff were told to detach the two diesel engines from the army train and dispatch them. The only way to do that was stop the army train at this small railway station and let the two engines go on their scheduled duty.

Thus without telling the Commanding Officer of the army unit on the train, this new railway station staff just detached the two diesel engines and sent them off. The army train was left high and dry once again like the four days they had spent at the previous railway station. It was an unbelievable true-story, that the two engines of the army train had gone missing for a third time within twelve hours.

This was not seen as a set back by the army bosses, because they were already high with the accomplishment of having moved the entire army regiment including women, children, vehicles and luggage in a single train with 30 wagons a few kilometers closer to their destination.

When will they reach their destination did not matter at all. Having moved from their original railway station itself was considered as a big achievement by the army. The army life must go on with the changing positions of the clock needles. The lunch was ready and the army people made queue in front of the catering wagon again.

Army and Railway Station Staff at War Again

The Commanding Officer of any army unit is considered as a King. His word is order. No one questions him or his authority. But here was a set of civilian staff called railway station employees who had stolen the two engines of the army train on which the army unit Commanding Officer was also travelling. This was not acceptable to the army. They went all out to fight the railway staff. The heated arguments started.

In the end the railway staff offered a solution. They were ready to provide one engine immediately from somewhere, but the army will have to make the 30 wagon train into two trains. The engine will then be connected to the passenger train which will move.

The other part with only the luggage wagons loaded with vehicles will be left behind at this new railway station. Whenever an engine becomes available, the army goods train would be pulled to the new place as soon as possible. But the army was not ready for any division. They believed in their culture of fighting as one team and not two. The fight was a stalemate.

The army train with two missing engines had to stay put in that small station which was also inside a jungle for another day or two till two new diesel engines are made available. The army did not accept defeat. The army unit Commanding Officer was adamant that the next morning he wanted the 30 wagon long army train to start moving again. The railway station staff did not guarantee, but promised to try their best to replace the two missing engines of the army train.

The railway staff were helpless in getting engines for the army train and said that the army needs to wait for another day at this station for the two engines to be made available. The army never gave up. The discussions went on for a little more time. And in the end the army and railway staff left for lunch, after the Commanding Officer of the army unit agreed to wait till next day to get a replacement for the two missing engines of his army train.

The train was not going anywhere till the next morning and the Commanding Officer of the army unit passed orders that there will be an off in the evening from 4 pm till 7 pm that day, when all people whose families stuck on the army train for the past 4 days may go out to the small town.

The Commanding Officer allowed his men and their families to go out of the army train into the town outside because he felt that the entire army had already been living in this jail on rail for over four days. The orders of the Commanding Officer was that the entire army men and their families would be back on the train before sunset.

I thought this true story running on the train was going to end the next day when the two new engines arrive and the army train starts moving again. But this true story had something more in store for me to experience, when the sun rises the next day. I blissfully slept off in the army train unaware of the events going to happen when the two new engines arrive next morning.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Chapter - 4

Army Commanding Officer: A King

It is a true story that, in the army, the Commanding Officer is like a King. He rules his regiment. No one says a word against the orders passed by the Commanding Officer. If the Commanding Officer says at 12 in the noon, that it is night now and what you see in the sky is the moon and not the sun, his Officers and men will all say it is indeed midnight and will suddenly start to act accordingly as if they were really in the night, in broad daylight.

The Commanding Officer is the King in his army unit. His word is law. This is not a fiction. It is a true story. It did not happen overnight. This was required because in war, when he says move forward, everyone needs to trust him and move forward well aware that there is their enemy in front waiting to kill. But without trust in the Commanding Officer the army regiment cannot move forward and win the war.

Not only that, the Commanding Officer of a regiment in the army in the old times used to fight on foot along with his men. The Commanding Officer leads leads the entire regiment. The Commanding Officer is always walking in the front with the soldiers following him in the battle field. When the regiment is in a tight situation, the Commanding Officer will lead the entire unit in one single long line.

Walking in a single line means that, the very first arrow or bullet will hit the Commanding Officer who is leading the regiment into the enemy fire, he being in the front. And, only when the Commanding Officer falls dead will the next bullet hits the Second in Command of the army regiment get hit and fall dead. Thereafter, the Officers will die in their sequence of seniority.

Once the last officer is dead, the war is lost and all the non-officers and other ranks will surrender or run for their life. Since all the Officers die before the men, the men treat all the Officers with great respect and would be ready to die, if asked by their Commanding Officer. The entire army fights in a war based purely in trust on their Commanding Officer's courage and abilities. This is a true story you will always read in any war.

Thus, everyone knows that each of his seniors has to be dead first before a bullet hits him. This is the reason why a soldier blindly obeys and follows his Commanding Officer. Thus seniority in all ranks including Officers ranks and below Officer's rank is strictly followed and the army men never forget this fact in war or peace. Thus the Commanding Officer of any Army regiment is treated nothing less than a King.

If the Commanding Officer is a King in the army, then imagine what will the Brigadier be? A Brigadier is the head who sits in the Core Headquarters. A Brigadier has a few regiments under him each with a Commanding Officer. So, the Brigadier is the boss of all the Commanding Officers who are Kings of their own army regiments.

That makes the Brigadier an Emperor automatically with all the Kings bowing in front of him and treating the Brigadier's words as Order. You can further imagine what is the status of an Army General who has many Brigadiers under him. The Chief of the Army staff has the entire army of the country under his Command, including all the Generals, all the Brigadiers and all the Commanding Officer. Army is an elite service and joining the army is a dream come true.

Thus, in the army the senior is always respected even if the person is just one day senior to a soldier. Each Officer and men obeys the order given by his senior without questioning. This is the universal truth in all the armies all around the world. This is the reason why a good army is where the seniority structure is correctly followed and ingrained into the minds of each and every soldier.

As per the Commanding Officer or the King's orders that afternoon when he found that there were no engines available to run his army train he allowed every man with a family to go out into the town and enjoy the evening provided they all returned back before sunset. As per the King's orders, every man and his family who went out into the small town from the army train in that railway station returned back to the train well before the sunset. There was a big reason to this.

The reason why everyone came back to their respective bogies of the army train they live in, well before 7:00 pm was because of the only fact that the Commanding Officer is their undisputed King and his words were orders. Also the other reason why everyone returned back before sunset as per the Commanding Officer's orders was because at 7:00 pm there was a muster of all men and everyone is accounted for. It is ensured that no one has gone missing from the train or has not come back to the army train.

Even otherwise the head count in the morning fallin for exercise will reveal if someone has gone missing. The entire army will go searching for the missing man or his family and the train will not move till the missing team mate is found and accounted for.

After return back to the army train and settling down, we took a bath and went to get dinner from the pantry wagon. Everyone was happy after going out to the town market. Everyone had bought some fruits and dry nuts. They all happily stood in the queue for taking dinner talking about their adventure in the town and where all they went not knowing that the true story they were writing into the history was going to change once again the next day.

Army Fully Disciplined in Railway Station in 4 Days

The true story was flowing smoothly. Everyone came on board the train that evening before sunset and at the 7:00 pm roll call, nobody was found missing. A report was made to the Commanding Officer of the army regiment on the train in this regard and he was relieved. If anyone was not to return, the procedures would have been difficult as they were not in their parent base and to top it all the army regiment was operating from a train stuck in some remote railway station.

Then came the evening dinner time when the same scene that was happening at meals time daily thrice for the past four days was repeated. But this time even the women and children have started behaving themselves and learned to stand patiently in line in front of the pantry wagon, Water bowser bogie and toilets etc. There was discipline everywhere on the army train.

There were no altercation amongst the wives on this army train anymore. Everyone seems to know everyone else and would greet each other cordially. It is a true story, that even the ladies had learned to respect all ladies whose husbands were senior to their husbands, by virtue of the seniority of their respective husbands and had started paying mark of respect to the senior's wife.

The ladies would even move out of the line and allow the senior army man's wife to come in to the queue before them for meals if they came in late. These were very heartening to hear for the Commanding Officer from his deputy army officers who were briefed in turn by their respective Junior Commissioned Officers in each train bogie. Amazingly, the entire army train got disciplined in under four days at railway station.

The reason for the people on the army train getting so well disciplined was that, all the men women and children had realized that they all had nowhere else to go till the army train reaches their destination. What they thought was a 7 hour journey was now extending indefinitely.

Once the army regiment is moved to a new forward area, that army unit will be provided with brand new offices and brand new accommodation, specifically built for their families. The army plans it so well, that it was something to look forward to when moving from a place in a jungle where this army regiment was raised, lived without any amenities, till that army regiment gets moved into a new place next to a big city.

The railway station staff was not co-operating. They were not able to give two engines simultaneously for this unusually long 30 wagon long army train. And when the railway staff were kind enough to give two engines, the army regiment was not able to move on time because for the army tea time, breakfast, lunch and dinner times, exercise time etc., which were more important to the army.

We were all a team in less than 24 hours of the train starting to move from the previous railway station. This time, the dinner took under one hour, compared to two hours the previous day. That was a big achievement in terms of discipline for the army. The Commanding Officer even made a mention to his second in Command on the improvement in discipline of the men and their families.

We were all learning the art of being disciplined in life like my father and the fully disciplined army, in which he served our nation. It is a true story that four days had gone past and the army was not at all perturbed that their army train has not moved more than 40 kilometers in four days. The Army lived, bathed, ate, did their morning exercise, mid day arms drill and continued to work on the train, as if they owned the entire railway station and that train in particular.

The next day which was the fifth day after this true story had started, two engines were made available by about 2:00 pm. The train started running smoothly for about an hour and a half. I always used to sit on the seat near the open window. In the old days there were not grill onthe train windows. I was enjoying the view of the thick jungle outside. It was so thick a jungle that no sunlight reached the ground except along the railway track on which the army train was speeding.

Sitting on the seat near the window, I had spotted all kinds of animals in those jungles as the train sped through it, like black monkeys, peacock, some multi-colored birds, especially a fleet of parrots, black faced monkeys etc. As I sat and enjoyed the free jungle ride safari, there was sudden brake applied and the train started decelerating fast and came to a stop almost instantly.

There was a smell of the rocks grinding between the wheels of the train and the railway tracks. It was more of a burning smell due to the heat generated by the brake pads rubbing against the wheels and the iron wheels rubbing against the steel rails. The train came to a stop in a few seconds. Everyone was worried. No one knew what had happened. This true story of the army train was going to have a new twist which was completely unplanned.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Chapter - 5

Photo Shoot On The Army Train

I could get the burning smell in the air. It was coming from the wheels of the army train which generated heat due to the sudden brake application. I put my whole body out of the windows to see ahead to find out why the train stopped. Those days there was grills in the train windows. Often people those days would board a crowded train through the windows because the doors were jam packed and getting into the train was difficult in the three or five minutes the train would stop in the railway stations.

There was no railway station in that jungle ahead of where the train had stopped so suddenly. That means there is something really wrong for the train to stop. This true story was going to be hilarious. I craned my neck further to see what happened. Far away I could see that the two engines were half way on a bridge over a wide river. Some people including a few ladies were walking alongside the train.

That was funny. Why would ladies go out of the train and not the army officers or men to find out what has happened. I too got out of the train as did many others. I walked towards the front of the train to see for myself what was happening or what had gone wrong.

The engines of the train were already half way down the long bridge over a huge river. At the beginning of the bridge the name of the river was written. I was a bit scared walking on the open bridge.

I took the risk of going up to the engines without fear because this was a private train run by the army. They won't move the train unless everyone is back on board the train. As I reached the engines carefully walking along the bridge, I saw what was happening or what had already happened.

It was very clear what had happened as I was approaching the engines of the train. The wives of the Commanding Officer, the Second in Command and the Adjutant, wanted to click photos standing on the train engines which were exactly on top of the bridge.

As I walked keeping closer to the army train so that in case the train starts moving I can board it quickly, I saw three women on the river bridge climbing the forwardmost diesel engine of the train. One of the two ladies was the Commanding Officer's wife and the other lady was the wife of the Second in Command. A third lady the wife of the Adjutant was standing on the tracks holding a huge camera.

Then all three climbed on to the train engine and the Commanding Officer's helper was clicking photographs with a huge magnesium flash camera, set up a few yards in front of the train. I stood there watching the shooting for which the army train was stopped for a while. It looked like the ladies had already planned the shooting well before the train had started moving from the last station.

Then some monkeys walked from behind the train and climbed the engines. The ladies got excited and jumped on to the tracks. The monkeys settled on top of the engine and the ladies took photos with the monkeys who seemed to be posing.

That is when I heard the whistle. The whistle indicated tea time. The entire lot of people came out of the train and lined up in a very disciplined manner to collect tea with whatever tumblers they had. Some were outside the train just to enjoy the jungle view. And a few like me had found the shooting of photographs more interesting than the tea. No one noticed the monkeys on top of the train.

Another 45 minutes went past before everyone settled back in their bogies. And all this while I was enjoying the shooting session with the ladies giving different poses on different part of the diesel engine including the driver's cabin and later they were posing for shooting well ahead on the bridge with the army train in the background.

After the photo shoot and the tea time was over, I too went back to my seat in the army train which started moving again. We had wasted over an hour and a half thanks to the desires of three powerful women onboard who had expressed their desire to do a photo shoot to their powerful husbands traveling on this army train.

But as I was watching the shooting and almost all the people had come down from the army train and were busy enjoying the beauty of the jungle around, there was another true story happening right inside the army train which no one realized. There was an army of monkeys which had descended down from the low hanging branches of the trees on top of the army train.

Blissfully unaware of this monkey army, walking on top of the train silently, everyone was enjoying their life focused on their tea and shooting session and a new true story was being written by the monkeys right inside the army train.

Monkey Army Raid The Army Train

There was an army of monkeys waiting on the top of the branches of the jungle trees overhanging the part of the train still in the jungles and had not reached the river bridge, waiting for an opportunity to raid the train, which the monkey army was going to get very soon. The monkeys somehow came there smelling the biscuits which children and families on the army train were eating. This is a true story which had actually happened.

When the whole train got empty on the bridge during the shooting at the tea time entire monkey army descended silently on to the top of the train bogies. This army was of monkeys comprising of ferocious male monkeys, protective mother monkeys and small cute monkey babies showed their teeth and screeched to scare off the few people who were still inside the train.

The monkeys ate whatever fruits, nuts, biscuits and other food items they could eat, as the train was now completely empty. The monkeys also filled up the two bags on the sides of their mouths. Then they picked up whatever food stuff they could carry in their two hands and between their teeth and climbed over to the top of the train and started running on top of the train bogies and climbing over on to the overhanging branches and had vanished as fast as they had appeared from the jungle.

The monkeys had got away with all the fruits we all had bought from the town we were stopped previously before the train moved a couple of hours ago. I was one of the first to come back to the bogie after watching the ladies photo shoot on the bridge. I realized that we had lost only a bunch of bananas, a few packets of biscuits and one packet of bread kept outside. The rest of the food articles were inside a steel trunk below the berth and had survived the monkey army attack and loot of the train. This is a true story.

I had never noticed these monkeys raiding the train. So I just went out to see the commotion which had started because of the people who had now started coming into their train bogies and had found all their food items had vanished. Some people were pointing up at some trees and screaming. I looked at the trees and found an army of monkeys eating all our fruits and other food stuff they had robbed from the army train.

Amazingly most monkeys had more biscuits and bread in their hands than fruits. Probably, the monkeys had developed a taste bud for biscuits in that raid. They may have found a new sweet taste much better than the taste of the raw fruits, leaves and nuts they were eating daily in the jungles. What is funny was that the monkeys were careless. They were dropping more biscuits and bread on to the ground than they were eating sitting on the trees.

An hour and a half after the shooting on the army train started moving, we reached a big railway station. Total running time of the train that day was two and a half hours only excluding the one and a half hour stop for shooting on the train, over the river bridge for the photoshoot.

Army Train Engines Go Missing A Fourth Time

The army train had started moving at around 4:00 pm and ran for next three hours. Out of these three hours, the train had stopped twice at two small railway stations to let some other scheduled trains to pass. This was a medium sized railway station where the army train had once again stopped to let one more scheduled train to cross and it was already past 7:00 pm.

The army has dinner a bit early at 7:30 pm. So the Army Regiment Commanding Officer called the second in Command and told him to stop the train for an hour more at that railway station for dinner to be served, so that the train need not be stopped thirty minutes later for dinner, on the tracks as they have been doing all this while. The Second in Command called the Adjutant and passed the order for serving dinner early at 7:00 pm. This is not a true story but a true fact about the army.

The problem was that the Army unit Commanding Officer sitting on the train was passing orders to his officers without keeping his intentions known to the railway staff. This was a big problem. The train engine drivers were told not to move the train until dinner is over, but no firm time was told to them. They in turn informed this to the railway officials.

The railway officials tracking the movement of the army train was fully aware that the dinner on the army train would take not less than two hours. And these two diesel engines on the army train was scheduled to pull other trains from another station soon. So the railway officials decided to detach the two train engines for a fourth time during the voyage, to pull the other trains else where, and keep the army train on this railway station till the next day, exactly as the railway station staff had been doing till now.

As the Army dinner progressed, the train engines were detached without informing the Army Regiment Commanding Officer on board the army train, and sent off for pulling their scheduled trains elsewhere. The Army Regiment Commanding Officer came to know of this withing minutes and he went to the railway station staff to fight. But the fight was useless.

There were no train engines available that night to pull the army train and we had to spend that night also on the train in that remote railway station, with no hope of moving the next day too. Finding two engines simultaneously for the army train was a herculean task for the railway station staff. So the army train minus the engines had to stary on that railway station for two more days and nights.

The army did its full routine smoothly during the next two days, as if they were in their own base and the entire families were allowed to go out into the town on both days. It was a nice experience for everyone because this was big town with lots of fun opportunities. All the families and men on the army train worked and enjoyed their stay in that railway station for two days, till the railways managed two diesel engines and our army train was put on motion again. But the true story did not see its end anywhere on the horizon.

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

Chapter - 6

The Army Train Stops To Milk Cows

After staying in that reasonable town railway station for two days and enjoying the outings, people on the army train were getting bored. As I sat in our army train bogie having dinner I heard the families in the nearby seats talking that there was no more fun in going out at this town. They were praying that the railways are kind enough to get a pair of engines the next morning.

Secondly, the meals were also beginning to be bland and tasting same over the past almost nine days, since we had boarded the train from the small railway station from where this great escape true story had started. Initial enthusiasm in the army men and their families were now weaning. They were all bored being onboard restricted to a few berths in a train, eating meals tasting the same everyday.

Everyone was missing the freedom they had at home. As a young boy, I was having trouble because my father was sitting or sleeping next to me throughout the day and night. I was restricted in movement and even talking. Freedom was lost and boredom was creeping into the lives of everyone on that army train.

Then, God seemed to have heard my prayers at night because when we woke up at 5:30 am, my father was about to go for the army morning physical exercise, there were two engines going past our train on the adjacent track. After some time there was jolt felt on the train. That was indication enough for everyone to rejoice as we were all very sure that the army train has been given a pair of diesel engines.

A little later my dad came back in a hurry and then went off with utensils to collect tea and breakfast unusually early in the morning at 6:00 am. The reason was that the railways have given the army train two engines under the condition that the engines will be withdrawn if the army train does not move from that railway station in under 30 minutes.

Half an hour later, the army train started moving and everyone on board was happily having breakfast while watching the railway station move away from the windows. Some people went back to sleep because there was nothing more to do that day. The next stop will be only for tea after about four hours at 10:30 am. It was a big relief for all of us to leave that railway station as the train once again entered the jungles.

The Army Train Stopped To Milk Cows

After about forty-five minutes of traveling, we crossed a small railway station. As I looked out of the Window, I could not see the railway station platform as there was long goods train stopped in that station. To my knowledge passenger trains are stopped to let goods train go. But this time the goods train was stopped to let the army train go past the railway station. The railway station staff was probably fed up of all the army tantrums.

As I continued looking out of the window of my train bogie, I realized that the goods train had dozens of milk cows in each of the goods bogies. And there were two people sitting in each goods bogie to care for these cows. That was unusual. I had never seen anything like this before. Milk cows inside a train?

The army train went past the railway station at high speeds for another five minutes and then there was a screeching sound as the army train applied brakes and the wheels slipped on the rails. The train stopped quickly. After another minute or so, the train started going in the opposite direction till the railway station with the milk cow goods train came back to my view. Something was not right. Everyone started saying that the train has been called back to remove the two train engines as usual.

The Army Ladies Stopped The Train For Milk

I later found out what had happened. As the train went through the station, like me, the wife of the Commanding Officer of the army unit also happened to see the goods train full of milk cows and she instantly got a feminine idea. Why drink tinned milk or use milk powder when one can get tons of fresh cow milk?

The lady told her powerful husband, the Commanding Officer of the army Regiment traveling on the train to stop the train and reverse the train back to that station we just passed. The Commanding Officer had no choice but to obey the lady, more powerful than him. So on the sound powered telephone he rang up his Adjutant sitting with the guard in the rear end of the train, who in turn told the guard. The guard signaled the engine drivers to stop the train and reverse it back to the station to milk the cows.

The entire people on the train disembarked and lined up in front of the goods bogie next to their own train bogies. The care takers of the milk cows, milked the cows as it was early morning. They did this for free as a goodwill gesture to the Army. Everyone was used to lining up for getting milk or tea in front of the pantry car in this entire true story. But today, everyone was making a bee line in front of the cow train.

After getting milk from the milk cow train, everyone was now lined up once again at the pantry car bogie of our own train, to get the milk boiled. The total time taken to finish boiling the cow milk in each small utensils took about four hours. That also included the excess milk which the pantry car had collected from the cow train. This fresh milk was boiled and thickened to be used later. Some part was used to seed into yogurt.

As we were enjoying the fresh milk, the railways knew was going to take many hours and decided to detach and send the two army train engines to pull some other scheduled trains. This was the fifth time we lost two diesel engines of our train. As usual the army train was without engines thanks to the milk cow train and stood there on that small railway station till the evening. All the discussions with the railway station staff, to get the train engines back by the army bosses failed.

The army train had travelled only about 45 minutes that day. That night was spent in this small railway station just 45 minutes away from the previous railway station where we had spent two full days awaiting train engines. This railway station was in a small village and no one wanted to go out into the village. The army organized some party games and the night was spent well at the railway station.

The engines were back only after about 36 hours, by the evening of the next day. But no one seemed to be bothered or perturbed. The Army unit went on with its daily life as if they were in their own base unit.

The stopping of the train by the army for conducting their routine and duties of the day, the non availability of two engines together to pull the long army train, the adamant army not letting the train to be split into two for faster movement, catering to the desires of the top brass ladies, the tea times, meal times, exercise times etc., caused unusual delays of the army movement and frustration to the Railways. But the army lived a normal daily life on the trains and in the railway stations they got stuck.

A pair of diesel engines arrived a day and a half later and we were moving again. There was more in store for the army regiment traveling on this train. This time the train started moving only to stop at its final destination railway station. But no one knew that this army train would be stopped three kilometers short of the railway station and everyone onboard would be made to vacate the train with all their luggage's by the railways.

The true story was about to end with a bang, in way which the people in that army train had not imagined. This was the biggest surprise which no one was going to forget in their entire life. But for now they all sat in the moving train not sure if they will be stopped in any other small railway station like the past eleven days.

The Army Train Reaches Destination Railway Station

The Army Train had travelled just 385 kilometers in Eleven Days is a True Story hard to believe even for me, who was in that army train from the start till the end. The journey of 385 kilometers would have taken not more than seven to eight hours by train. It could have been just an overnight journey. But thanks to the way of life in the army, the seven hour train journey of just about 385 km, took eleven days to complete, at an average rate of just 35 km a day. All said and done we had reached the destination.

We were approaching our destination railway station. The train had slowed down to walking pace around five kilometers before reaching the Railway station. I felt sad at the thought of getting down from this train we had lived for eleven long days. It was more than a journey. It was a picnic. We learned the army way of life and the importance of being disciplined. I felt as if all the families were also part of the army that was onboard that army train for eleven days.

We all had started enjoying the life on the train which was about to an end in around ten minutes. The train was running at just walking pace for around ten minutes now. As I looked out of my window, I saw a very long line of tents pitched all along the railway track. That was an unusual sight. It looked like there was an army waiting to fight a war along the railway track.

Army Train Finishes Journey

As the train came nearer to the rows of tents, I realized that actually there were so many army personnel in uniform. What was unusual was to see that there were women and children too in each of these unlimited number tents. My father announced that we have reached our destination city and we have to get down. I was puzzled on hearing that because the train was still moving at walking pace and there was no railway station anywhere around.

My father looked at me probably reading my mind and said that the tents we were seeing along the railway track was another army unit ordered to welcome us, and those people in the tents were actually been waiting for us to reach since morning, so that they can welcome us all.

And finally, the train came to a halt. We were all ordered to get down from the train. As we alighted from the train, these people who were waiting near those tents started coming into the train and helping us with our luggage and very cordially invited us into the tents. That is when I realized that there was an entire army unit with their wives and children waiting for a full a day in tents to welcome our unit people arriving by this army train.

There was one tent for each family. Each army soldier of our unit was welcomed by a soldier of an equivalent rank, from the welcoming unit. It was evening 4 pm when we reached. So there was tea and snacks placed inside the tents for us. We sipped the tea chatted with our hosts whom we had met for the first time in our lives, as if we have known them all for years. The bonding in the army is instant.

A Brand New House Given To Each Army Family

As we sat and spoke sipping tea and eating some snacks in tents meant for my father and his family with another army man of his rank, with his family, that soldier's wife handed over a key to our new house in Bhatinda. I learned that each family man was given the key to my mother. That was the key to our brand new house which was newly constructed for us specifically. The soldier introduced the driver of a three tonner army vehicle intended for transporting my father, his family and his luggage to the new house.

We all boarded our three tonner vehicle which was nothing but a truck with an empty trailer without any cover on its top and no seating arrangements in it. We sat on top of our own luggage. The ride to the army base was a rough one along a bad terrain, once the three tonner truck veered off the main road for about five kilometers from the city limits to reach the new house. There were at least 150 vehicles in that convoy. That is the way army moves.

The three tonner stopped in front of a line of brand new houses specifically built for our regiment personnel. As I entered the house, I got the smell of fresh Paint in the house. Even today as I am finishing writing this true life story of the army train in which I lived for eleven days about four decades ago, I can still remember that fresh paint smell when had I entered the newly built house.

I could never forget the army train true story. It was a real life incident I lived through four decades back and once again lived through it as I was writing this true story for you to read, enjoy and experience it, exactly as I experienced it in my life.

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