Our Harrowing Ride to Amritsar

Our last day with aunt Saramma started on a good note.  Andrew took us to the shopping mall that serves only military personnel and their families.  It was possible only because of their considerable goodwill the base has with Kashmir Evangelical Mission.  It is a good place where you can get stuff that are unique to Kashmir such as their silk, rugs, and things like them.  I was glad just to be inside the base and see things. 

The day went quickly, but the night turned out to be long to say the least.  As our train from Jammu to Amritsar was at 9:30 PM, I didn’t want Andrew to drive us to Jammu at night especially considering the treacherous nature of the road and the terrain.  So we took a train from Udhampore to Jammu, and we reached an hour before our connecting train to Amritsar and for which we had reservations since early December for a nice comfortable ride in a heated coach with comfortable beds, clean sheets and pillows. It was something we were looking forward to.  We had a hard time getting out of the train from Udhampore with our two suitcases and a bag.   As soon as the train stopped, there was rush of a huge crowd passengers trying to come in before we could get out. I am thankful that both Susan and I were able to get out of the train without being trampled under or any bodily injury. I couldn’t believe that I forgot how normal this kind of thing is when you ride train in India.  Well, I didn’t have much time to catch my breath as I was now on a new mission to find the platform from where the Amritsar train was to be boarded.  Everything is written in Hindi, and there wasn’t a person in sight in that crowd of people who could speak English and know what was going on.  I stopped at three different enquiry places, and each gave me different information.

My Hindi today is as good as my English was when I first went to the US some forty years ago.  Let me cut to the chase, just five minutes before my train was supposed to leave the station I found out that my Amritsar train was cancelled from there, however, if I wanted to catch that train I would get it in Pathancot, some 120 kilometers from Jammu.  Furthermore, I could get to that station by getting into a train headed for New Delhi and that it was about to take off in five minutes from platform number 3.  We got to platform 3 just as the train was beginning to move, somehow I pushed the luggage in and we got in to find out that we were in a similar coach as on our missing train.  People were nice and very helpful and allowed us to sit there till we get to Pathankot.  When the Ticket Examiner came, we told him about our situation expecting some sympathy and consolation.  However, his attitude was that he couldn’t be bothered with such small matters. The fellow passengers were irked by his uncooperative attitude and decided to help us further.

As they were frequent travelers between Jammu and Delhi, they gave us crucial information, this train we were on wouldn’t stop in Pathankot, but would stop at a station just 2 kilometers away.  Once we get there we could get a taxi or scooter to this station.  Due to some track work going on between, the New Delhi train we were on going was so slow, it took about 6 hours to travel 120 kilometers, and finally we got off at a station called Chukky Bank at 3 AM, and up until that point we hadn’t had any sleep.   We called a scooter and asked him take us to Pathancot station in a hurry so that we can catch our express train to Amritsar, which was to leave the station in few minutes.  Since I asked him to take us in a hurry he jacked up the price to the max.  I didn’t argue.  We got into the station and found out the train was about to leave and if we run to the platform we might be able to catch it.  It was about 3:15 a.m and it was about 10 degrees Celsius, which means for my American readers about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  Susan and I ran as if our life depended on it, with our 3-pieces of luggage in hand. We must have been about 50 yards away from the train when it took off.  There we were in Pathankot at 3:30 a.m, cold, tired, our throats parched and stomachs empty, with nobody around with whom we could talk to. We were shivering and shaking.  Then we heard on the PA system that a local train to Amritsar will be leaving the station around 4:30 a.m, it would arrive at our destination by about 8 a.m.  With no other option, we decided to take that train.  As we got into the train, we found out that not only was there no heat but also that some of the windows were stuck open letting in cold air. Susan and I sat close like the newly weds wrapping ourselves in a couple of shawls.  I suppose we were not dressed for the occasion.  When the train finally crawled into Amritsar, our 12 hour nightmare was over.  The hotel we booked there, the Golden Tulip, couldn’t be nicer.  After a shower and a buffet breakfast, we decided to catch up on our sleep before we  dared do anything more. Unfortunately, I have no picture to post about our adventure.  Taking a picture was the last thing on my mind.  Stay tuned for the blog from Amritsar.