31st

“2 more slides … and then it’s done” Indrajit was thinking. It wasn’t new for him to prepare presentations while travelling by air or train. Indra was asked by Samsher to handle a meeting in Jalandhar on behalf of him.

Indrajit Pandit was working with one of the leading Marketing & Strategic planning firms in India. He was a senior manager for Western India region. Samsher Tyagi was his colleague; moreover his very dear friend. Both had started their careers in this company at the same time. They had worked together in Eastern region for 6-7 years to make it most profitable region before they got promoted as senior managers. Indra was asked to manage Western region and Samsher was asked to manage Northern region.

PZB was Samsher’s client and they were interested in setting up a plant in Punjab for producing their energy drink. It was the second meeting where Samsher had to present some critical success factors to PZB. PZB had shortlisted 2-3 sites in Punjab – mainly around Jalandhar. They wanted Samsher also to take a look at their shortlisted sites; hence the meeting was setup in Jalandhar.

But due to some emergency at Samsher’s end, he couldn’t have attended the meeting. Hence he had requested Indra to handle it. Had it been somebody other than Samsher, Indra would’ve declined to take it up as the meeting was on 1st Jan – 11am. Indra had planned a big party at his farmhouse for 31st and had called up 50+ people for it. Indra was a party maniac and was looking for meeting his old friends after a big gap. But for Indra, it was impossible to say No to Samsher.

Indra was booked on a Amritsar bound train from Mumbai. It was supposed to reach Jalandhar on 1st Jan’s morning at around 7am.

It was 11:50pm when Indra finished preparing slides. His train was slowing down, probably approaching some station in U.P. Indra was very tired. He was busy reading the report prepared by Samsher in train journey. He thought about putting some additional slides to beef up the presentation. He had had a quick chat with Samsher to get his buy-in. He hadn’t slept well for last 2 nights. He was definitely feeling sleepy, but idea of sipping a cup of hot tea excited him more. Train came to a halt. Mathura it was. A big station – atleast 15 minutes of stop. He got down from his AC coach. Masala Chai at railway station in India, he thought, is the best drink one can get!

He received some calls and SMSs wishing him a very happy new year. Party was on there in his farmhouse. He was thinking – on 31st – instead of having tequila shots, his drink was masala chai. Instead of delicious chicken tikka pieces, he was nibbling some bhajiya. What a life!

There was a second class sleeper bogie next to his AC coach. It was the first compartment from the door in that sleeper where he saw a sardarji trying to sit on the side lower berth in a quite awkward way. Seemed like there was no space for him to sit. Indra walked 2-3 steps to take a closer look. Sardarji was actually a military man and there were 2 girls, aging between 10 – 14, trying to sleep on the same berth. Plainly put – there was space for only 1 person. It wasn’t comfortable sitting/sleeping there for any of those 3 people.

Sardarji stepped out from the bogie and took masala chai. “Papaji, kya hua?”, Indra couldn’t resist himself. “Kya kahu bhai, 2 berths waitlist pe hain. Army quota se sirt 1 berth mila hai. Dekhte hain shayad Delhi ke yahan koi berth mil jaye. TC se baat ki thi. Meri akele to koi tension nahi hai. Lekin mere 2 bachche hain saath me. Unko Phagware chhod ke muze Srinagar pahunchana hai duty pe parso tak.”

“Damn, I can’t be so inert. I gotta do something. Right now! But what? One can’t get extra berths just like that. But yes, there’s one berth I can offer to Papaji. My berth!”, Indra thought. He immediately asked Papaji.

Papaji was not keen for this. He said, “Sahab, meri pareshani aap ki wajah se to nahi hai. To aap kyu raatbhar takleef me rahe”. Indra persuaded him by saying that think about your daughters. Indra would sit with Papaji in sleeper class and will take up a berth when TC allocates one to Papaji. Papaji was still not very convinced but he agreed. Indra showed them the berth and ensured Papaji that his daughters will be safe there. Indra mentioned this to AC coach attendant as well to take care.

Papaji and Indra sat in the sleeper as the train moved from Mathura. They chatted for a while before Papaji fell asleep. Papaji was very tired and it was evident that he had had a tough time travelling.

It was 4:30 in the morning. Indra was still very much awake. He had shifted from Papaji’s berth and he was standing in the wide open door. It was shivering cold outside. They had passed Delhi, Ambala and were somewhere in Punjab. Indra sipped one more masala chai at Ludhiana at around 5:15am. He went to AC coach & checked whether Papaji’s daughters were comfortable. They had had to share the berth but atleast AC coach’s wider berth gave them more space. They were sleeping in peace.

Indra sat in the door itself. He must’ve got a nap of not more than 1 hr but he was feeling refreshed when he got up at Phagwara.

Papaji and his two daughters got down there at Phagwara. Papaji thanked him wholeheartedly and extended his open invitation to visit his place in Phagwara anytime. Papaji’s daughters had a very cute smile on their faces.

Indra never wore specs but he couldn’t see Papaji and his daughters clearly when they were bidding adieu. Moist eyes maybe.

For Indra, it was the best 31st night he had had ever!