About thirty years ago while we were on a vacation to my husband’s place of birth, we had an experience which is unforgettable. It started off with us getting booked on a wrong train. We were to go to Sagar in MP, from Raipur. Only after boarding the train, late at night, did we realise, that the train was heading to Allahabad. I wanted to jump off the train at the next station, but my husband reminded me that it wasn’t a wise thing to do late at night. So we climbed on to our berths and went off to sleep. Our daughter was only five and did not know what was actually going on, so she slept peacefully. At day-break our train stopped at Katni. We had to wake up our little girl and get off the train as quickly as possible.
Katni was a small town in MP, and the railway station was deserted and dirty. Even the “chai-wallah” was not yet in sight. When the first bright rays off sunlight came, we made our way to the station master’s room to enquire about trains to Sagar. He informed us that there was a train at six in the evening. We had the whole day to while-away, as it was only six in the morning. The only mode of transport was the cycle rickshaw, so we got in with all our bags, and headed to the town. There were no restaurants in sight, and our hunger pangs were getting stronger.
It was almost mid-day and we were hot and tired. There was nothing else to do, so we headed to the bus stand to enquire about a possible bus to Sagar. To our luck there was a bus leaving in the next hour, heading to Gwalior via Sagar. It would pass through Sagar a little past mid-night. It was a rickety old bus, but the roads were good and the driving was also satisfactory.There was hardly any traffic and eventually it became dark. All the lights in the bus were switched off, as we were passing through the infamous Chambal Ravines. Only the head lights were switched on and we were speeding through the area.
Suddenly our daughter woke up and said that she wanted to empty her bladder. The conductor of the bus, came and enquired what we needed. We told him that the child needed to go to the toilet, and wanted him to stop the bus. He said it was dangerous to do that at night, but he could help. We could not understand what he meant, suddenly with a tap of his foot a plank of wood on the floor of the bus popped up, exposing the road rushing underneath. He said the child could use this gap and went off to his seat. Our daughter being a city bred, and toilet trained would not hear of it. She held on for some more time, and had to finally answer the call of nature by using the gap in the plank to relieve her bladder. Almost all the other passengers in the bus were sleeping and darkness hid the operation of the “Novel attached toilet”. My husband easily managed to close the gap by moving the plank back to its original position. With a sigh of relief we continued the journey.