Essay on delay in railway station
Answers
Answer:
Last evening I went to the railway station to receive my friend. He was to come from Bombay by 5.30 trains. The train was late by one hour. So I roamed about on the platform. I saw that the platform was full of people and their luggage I saw the newspaper stall with its beautiful colored magazines. I had a cup of tea at the tea-stall. It was tea for name’s sake only.
I saw some porters, sitting on a bench that was meant for ladies. They chatted and smoked and spat on the platform. Some ladies stood near them. They did not care to get up. A railway official happened to pass by. I drew his attention to the porters. He said that he was a ticket collector, and it was his job to ask the porters to get up. He went away. I wondered at his behavior.
Then I walked up and down the platform, and saw many curious things. A young wife was weeping because her husband, who was a soldier, was going to the frontier. A fat government official was garlanded by his clerks. A bride-groom and his party were cheered by their kith and kin. An old mother bade a tearful farewell to her son.
Just then the arrival of the train was announced. The porters lined up, and so did the eager people who had come to receive their near and dear ones. In few minutes the train pulled up. I saw an aged couple welcome their son most lovingly. I was looking for my friend. At last I noticed that he was standing in the door of a compartment, looking for me. I went to him and greeted him. Then we came out of the station and hired a rickshaw and came home. But all the while I kept wondering at the sight of the platform.
At times due to unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances a train gets delayed. This time when we were going to Darjeeling and the train was delayed for nearly three hours. I remember how we were hurrying about to get to the station early so that we do not miss the train under any circumstance. To, our surprise we were more than early at the railway station. The Darjeeling express was delayed for nearly three hours on account of intense fog and unfavourable weather conditions; and we were there at the station three hours before the train would actually arrive at the station.
In these circumstances, one can only wait and there are no two ways about it! In the course of waiting for the train to arrive, it was quite entertaining to take a glimpse of the railway station with its hustle and bustle all around. We could see throngs of people walking in and out of the platforms. There were crowds of people at the station. The first thing I noticed that a good number of people were at the enquiry counter demanding information and the reasons for trains being delayed. The officer at the enquiry counter had no choice but to repeat the same answer to all the passengers enquiring about the status of the trains.
Once the passengers understood that the train is delayed, they started finding comfortable locations in the station to rest a while. Some passengers went to the rest rooms, while others sat on the platform after spreading some newspapers or bed sheets. It was amusing to see vendors moving to and fro the station with different types of goods for transportation in hand carts. Some of these hand carts were carrying passenger luggage as well. People were busy buying eatables such as fruits, food items, biscuits, distilled water bottles etc. for the journey from several shops inside the station. Vendors selling tea and coffee were doing their rounds almost every ten minutes. Apart from this there was a restaurant inside the station catering to customers from all walks of life. The restaurant was crowded with people having their meals that ranged from Continental, North Indian, South Indian, Chinese and Bengali food. There was a good deal of commotion at the railway station. In the meantime I also started to feel hungry. My father picked up some Chinese food for me.
It was almost close to three hours and it was time for the train to arrive. We got our luggage ready and were hopefully expecting the train to arrive at the station. It was such a long wait! But suddenly I got a glimpse of the engine of the train. I was overjoyed! I was happy that finally the wait was over and now I would be on my way to Darjeeling soon. As soon as the train stationed itself on the platform, we got in and settled down in our berths. In a while the guard waved the green flag signaling departure and the train left the station. My heart exclaimed - Hurrah! We are on our way to Darjeeling!