The whistle of the train blew but father lingered on the railway platform, smoking and chatting with his friends and colleagues who had come to see him off. The train started but he stayed a few seconds longer to finish his cigarette. Then, as the train began to pick up speed, he quickly jumped onto it, carrying his small suitcase.
He had got on to a different compartment and made his way towards his own coach in the front of the train. Suddenly he heard his name being called and discovered an old friend waving to him. The two then began to exchange news, catching up on events that had occurred during all the years they had been separated. They did not notice the passage of time and then suddenly there was a deafening noise and a shudder which made most of the occupants of the compartment fall down.
Back home, mother had a strange dream. In the dream, she could not find her little casket of kumkum. So she began to visit her neighbours asking if they had seen her kumkum container. It was a peculiar thing to ask people and in one house, the lady said to her: “How can we have your kumkum dibbi? Go and check properly in your own house. It must be there.”
So mother went back home to check and lo and behold! There it was with the idols and pictures of Gods in the prayer nook! “Oh, here it is, quite safe with the Gods! How funny that I didn’t see it earlier,” thought mother.The dream was so unnerving that she related it to her sister-in-law over their morning tea. Soon the bell rang. Some of father’s colleagues were at the door. They told her that father’s train had met with an accident and the engine and first few compartments had all got destroyed. Luckily, father was safe as he was in another compartment when this happened.
I’ve heard this story several times from my parents and it never fails to amaze me. How fortunate that father got onto another compartment down the train away from his own ill-fated one in the front! Then, meeting a friend who held him back from going to his seat in the front coach was another stroke of luck. Mother’s symbolic dream was no less amazing.Father used to joke that if he was not a smoker, he would be dead. But the incident shook him, as his wife and small children were dependant on him, as also his aged father. So the first thing he did on the way back home was to visit an LIC office and buy a life insurance policy!