It is said that days are shorter in winter. But they too leave strong memories. Shorter the days, stronger the memories. This incident happened in the year 2003. I was in Dhanbad, the coal city of India. After finishing the Christmas, I took a train to Dehri-On-Sone to come to GEMS HQ to attend the Annual Fasting Prayer. It was from 27th to 29th of December. After the Fasting Prayer got over on the 29th, I went to the railway station the same night to take a train to go back to Dhanbad.
I went to the ticket counter and saw the arriving trains’ schedule. An Express train coming from Delhi on its way to Calcutta was expected. So I bought an unreserved ticket for Express trains. Due to winter, trains do not run on schedule and they are even late by 24 hours! As I was waiting for the Express train to arrive, a train pulled over at the station and I immediately boarded it, as trains stop at this station only for two minutes. Only later I came to know that it was not the expected train, but another train and unfortunately it was a Super Fast train! And I was carrying an Express train ticket.
There was no place inside the coach and I had to stand at the doorway. It had been one and a half hours after the train had left and the Train Ticket Examiner arrived. I showed him my ticket and he looked at me with contempt. He told me that I had boarded a Super Fast train with an Express train ticket. I told him that I would pay the difference which would come to only twenty rupees and that was the only money I had in my wallet! The TTE refused to help me with that and told me that either I should pay him fifty rupees or should get down at the next station. I did not want to pay him that which was not lawful and decided to detrain.
The next station was Koderma and it arrived in another forty minutes. When I got down at this station it was around 12 in the midnight. Even before getting down I had decided to go to the house of one of the Zonal Leader’s of GEMS who was staying in Koderma, by name Mr. Victor Immanuel. But I had never visited him before and I did not have his address either. I tried enquiring at the few shops that were open at such late an hour, but in vain. A rickshaw puller said that he is familiar with the place and agreed to take me there for twenty rupees, all the money that I had! It was half past twelve in the night. I had worn only a half sweater, as I did not carry any other luggage, because of the unreserved train travel. It was terribly cold and the rickshaw puller moved out of the station parking lot into a street of Koderma. I was sitting in the rickshaw holding a bag closer to the body, to make myself warm. But still I couldn’t beat the cold. I was shivering and was praying that I should reach anytime sooner. The man had driven for almost an hour and throughout the road was dark. After driving for such a long distance, he turned back to me and said that he was not sure where the place was! And he took me to a Dhaba, a road side North Indian motel. He told me to stay there for the night and find my way the next morning.
I came to the Dhaba and told the people my situation. The person in-charge showed me a kattiya, an Indian rope cot to sleep. That was the only cot which was empty and unfortunately it was close to the cow shed! The cot had no mattresses and I had no blanket to cover myself. I cuddled myself close to my bag and slept on the cot. I was tired because of the long travel in the cold and wanted to sleep off, but the mosquitoes were successful in keeping me busy all through the night. I was fighting the cold and the mosquitoes! But sometime later I slept off, occasionally waking up either by the chill cold wave blowing on me or by the biting mosquitoes or by the moo-ing of the cows!
The day dawned and I got up to go. The dhabawala offered me water to wash my face and showed me the direction to a nearby Church. I walked five minutes and reached a Church campus. It was a Catholic church and it seemed to me that it was my only hope to find my way to Mr. Victor’s house. I entered the church campus and found my way to the Priest’s quarters. I rang the bell and a priest answered the call. I narrated him the night’s story and he offered me tea. He was a priest from Kerala and a very kind man. He gave me the direction to Mr. Victor’s house and told me to take a tempo, a local motorised mode of transport. The tempowala charged me four rupees, the remaining coins in my wallet. I reached Jhumri Tilaya, the place of Mr. Victor Immanuel. I enquired and found my way to his house. I rang the bell and he answered the bell and was surprised to see me. I narrated him and his wife the whole story. They understood that I was very tired. They immediately arranged breakfast and bed for me. I ate my breakfast and slept off immediately. I woke up at only three in the evening. They had made hot water for me to take bath. The hot water was very cosy to my body that was badly exposed to the cold the whole night.
As soon as I was ready, they were good enough to offer me a good meal. We chatted for a while and Mr. Victor took me to the railway station. Understanding that I had no money, he bought me a ticket to Dhanbad and helped me take a train. I was very thankful to him for his hospitality and help.
That night as I was lying in my bed, I could only think of Joseph and Mary who were struggling to find a place in Bethlehem in that cold winter night 2000 years ago. The One, who is the King of the universe, chose to make a manger his birth place! All memories, shorter or longer or pleasant or bad, are insignificant if they don’t remind us of the Saviour and His acts!
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