The Chronicles of Chaos Part 3 - Dragging through the Dooars

…continued

Early Sunday morning, Akshay called us to inform that Kanchankanya was running late. This allowed us the extra few minutes to catch some more 40 winks. Having had a breakfast of pan-fresh Aloo Paratha and a parcel for Akshay packed, we walked to the NJP station, spending a few moments to savour in the beauty of the MAWD loco in daylight. In the yard at a distance, we spotted our prey, Baaz, aka ex-UBL 20012. We made our way towards it walking down the NG platforms of the UNESCO Heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railways, across the tracks, greeting an Awadhi WDG 4 from Lucknow. A quick chat with the RPF ensued to clear our intentions and Baaz was in no time being photographed multiple times from all angles, ensuring that its celebrity status was intact. The RPF looked on, clearly bemused by our antics.

As we trekked to platform 1, a dirty white machine stood standstill at a corner, signalling a sign of things to come in the near future. A Gomoh P7 it was, waiting in peaceful slumber, while a pair of dead Malda twins looked on grimly. We later learnt that this P7 was being used to test the new electrified lines in NJP premises. The CRS of the Gunjaria – NJP section eventually happened on 24th led by a GZB P7 30402.

Soon, the Kanchankanya Express trundled into NJP, with the customary Barddhaman Alco at the helm. 

Abhilash was overcome with nostalgia at this point as Barddhaman was the district where he spent his entire childhood, to be precise close to Andal on the Andal – Sainthia branch line. Luckily for him, the overnighter Shatabdi had made an unscheduled halt at Barddhaman the previous night and he was able to step on to the platform. Back to the present, a pretty long halt later, we departed NJP, negotiating a huge curve to the left. Delay built up to just over two hours, with the delay at NJP being an hour.

The tiny hill line to Darjeeling gave us company for a while, crisscrossing the BG tracks a couple of times. The little fella gave us its darshan, as the rake was being moved to NJP from Siliguri for the hill-bound departure. Our train pulled into Siliguri, giving us a spectacular view of the DEMU shed and a stationary rake with a dead Alco. Siliguri cleared, the brave Barddhaman WDM 3A hauled the load towards the Dooars line after bidding farewell to the little line shortly after SGUJ. The famed tea estates dotted the section with the mighty Poorvottar range standing guard right behind. The Bengali cousin of Churmuri, Jhalmuri came by soon and we promptly devoured a ‘cone pack’ each. We changed into the special T-shirts custom-made for this trip to declare that we had finally entered NFR.

We were now meandering through thick forests, with a constant PSR accompanied by continuous honking. This was elephant territory. On a lucky day, the majestic beasts would wander on to the tracks, and we were on a constant vigil. The train rolled on, but the tuskers were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps, they were enjoying their Sunday siesta. We did spot peacocks, monkeys and plenty of birds chirping around, which added to the ambience. 

Dooars were cleared and we were halted at Nagrakata for a crossing for what is undisputedly, the legend of the route, the Sikkim Mahananda Express. But before the King could pass, a faithful WDG 4 with a BOBYN rake cleared the path and occupied the loop. 

Mainline starter proceed, distant starter proceed and the legend bloomed into view, with all 4 of us occupying different doors to take a video of the crossing and pay homage to the legend. Had the ground situation been better, two of us (they shall remain unnamed, for the disclosure could land them beds in the nearest mental asylum) were to have taken this legendary train from Aluabari Road to NJP in Sleeper class, duly booked 3 months in advance at the PRS counter. As we waited, a vendor came by with hot momos. We apprehensively ordered one plate, but the lip-smacking taste ensured the vendor would be lighter by 4 plates overall. 

Well, that was all we had of the planned part of the trip. By now, we received confirmation that our original plans hereafter were relegated to the backburners. Two succeeding trains, the onward Silghat Rajya Rani from Alipurduar that was to take us to GHY and the Shatabdi the next day to Naharlagun in Arunachal, were confirmed cancelled thus effectively putting a spanner on our tracks. Past couple of days’ history revealed that each of the trains we were booked on beyond Naharlagun to Tinsukia, Ledo to Lumding to Agartala to Silchar and back to NJP were cancelled.  So we resigned to fate and decided to return back to NJP by the Padatik Express from New Alipurduar which takes a different route and booked confirmed tickets online for the same, just before charting. 

Hasimara, the nearest railhead to Bhutan, saw a good crowd alighting. Sleep caught up on the human forms of WDP 4, WDM 3A, WDM 3A and WAP 5 from SWR, and were awakened as we were nearing Alipurduar, where we finally reached at 14:25. At Alipurduar, an ominous announcement was being made: "Kanchankanya back to Sealdah is cancelled". We thanked our stars that we were booked to return by Padatik and not the Kanchankanya. But our joys were short lived as we soon received an SMS that Padatik has also been cancelled. Some quick checks and calls revealed that all trains passing through Malda were cancelled in both directions due to some miscreants torching and vandalizing trains in that division. Fears engulfed us as we were stuck in no mans’ land what with our luggage at the hotel in NJP. We had to get back to NJP at any cost! We were now left with around 11 useless PRS tickets which had to be cancelled but being a Sunday, the PRS counters at Alipurduar had closed at 14:00. How can back luck be so ruthless! One by one, all our meticulous plans were falling apart.

Mindless of these, our tummies were grumbling and had to be satiated. On Suraj’s recommendation, we had a typical but satisfying Bengali lunch on brass plates at a rather nondescript looking ‘Pagla Baba Hotel and Dhaba’. This tiny hotel was fully (wo)manned by ladies, who were clearly taken aback when we ordered 4 niramish (vegetarian) meals.

Having checked and rejected all available train options (trains that were to go towards Katihar were the only ones running, far and few though), we decided to take a bus back to NJP. We made our way to the NBSTC bus stand, where we were informed to our horrors that the last bus to Siliguri (a special arranged due to train cancellations) was about to depart but it was already crowded with only few inches of space remaining. Suraj meanwhile informed us that the situation had worsened in Bengal and the Kanchankanya that brought us in was the last train to pass Malda. Grim indeed!

We were told that buses to Siliguri will be available from Cooch Behar, about 30 Kms away, till 6 PM. We decided to try our luck. We boarded a rickety bus about to depart for Cooch Behar. Pawan meanwhile had made up his mind to head to Darjeeling the next day by the NG train and fly back home from Bagdogra the day after. I did get a bit anxious and started searching for return flights from Patna, Bagdogra and where not, until my good friends calmed me down. There was no way the railfans in us was going to be bogged down and we also had to make good the week long leave from work. So we decided to go ahead with Plan B(C?).

An hour later at Cooch Behar, more bad news awaited us. The next bus to Siliguri would be at 7 pm, provided the incoming bus from Siliguri arrives. We were already missing the services of the reliable KSRTC buses back home. Quickly deciding to head back by taxi, we reached the taxi stand where a horde of waiting drivers started quoting astronomical rates realizing our desperation. Once again here, the linguistic skills of Abhilash came into play and he started bargaining aggressively with the drivers in chaste Bangla. Finally, a deal was stuck and a kind driver, Shibu, agreed to drop us at NJP in his Alto for Rs. 3000/-. Desperate that we were, we decided to waste no more time and get along. A long drive in poor road conditions in the dark and fog awaited us. It wasn’t even 6 PM, but to us southerners, it felt like almost midnight.

We passed by very close to the Bangladesh border which was visible at a distance, paying a silent tribute to the BSF who protect us day and night. We encountered plenty of near misses with the lorry and SUV drivers crazily crisscrossing the roads at high speeds, traffic rules be damned. We took a pit stop for fuel and chai with singhara freshly out of deep oil and this helped us regain composure. Near Jalpaiguri Road station, Anubhab Dey was kind enough to come and meet us in the biting cold and we took another pit stop for a second round of hot chai and more rosogollas and chamcham this time. 

We finally reached NJP at around 10 PM. After profusely thanking Shibu, we had a quick dinner and retired to our hotel to catch up on some much needed rest. The next day, the three of us would part ways with Pawan.

The three of us were to board the New Jalpaiguri - Udaipur Weekly Express the next morning. Oh yes, from the Northeast, our plans changed diametrically opposite to the Northwest as we found this to be the best bet for any Plan B or C or D that we had in mind. We had made preemptive booking (lucky to get RAC in 3A) in this train on intuition couple of days before our trip commenced. We were determined not to let anything ruin our vacations. Northeast or Northwest was just a direction. We had a full alternate plan in place, with the return to base being by air from Kolkata the next Sunday. More on this in the subsequent parts. Meanwhile, the incoming train from Udaipur reached NJP a good 4 hours late as we were having dinner. But would it leave on time the next day, given the situation? Will Lady Luck accompany us this time?

...to be continued.