BY N J RAVI CHANDER 

 

 

IN THE late 1980s, my batchmate and coworker at the State Bank of India, M Vijay Kumar Meshak, had a unique train adventure. Vijay was returning to Mangaluru, his place of posting, from Bengaluru, his hometown. Besides seeing his relatives, his primary motive for coming to Bengaluru was to settle an old gold loan he had availed at one of his previous branches. After completing the formalities to close the loan, Vijay took possession of the ornaments - a chain and a necklace. The chain dangled from his neck while he discreetly concealed the necklace in a secret pocket in his trousers. That night, he bid farewell to his relatives and set off on his journey back to Mangaluru, unaware of the drama that would unfold. In the wee hours, Vijay felt the need to use the washroom. However, to his dismay, as he unfastened his pants, the gold necklace slipped out of his pocket, slid down the toilet, and dropped onto the railway track. Driven by instinct, Vijay dashed out of the washroom towards the nearest emergency chain and tugged at it. The high-speed train came to a screeching halt, releasing the heated air in the brake pipe through a small vent as smoke. Everything happened in a trice, jolting a few passengers from their sleep.

 

The train driver and the ticket checker rushed to the train compartment to identify the passenger. The billowing smoke from the vent made it simple for them to zoom in on the car. Vijay was already perspiring as he confronted them but clarified why he pulled the emergency chain. Content with the explanation, the locomotive operator and the TTE stepped off the train to track down the fallen ornament in the eerie silence of the night. The train halted next to a dense jungle in the western ghats, teeming with wild animals. Despite the danger, the railway officials showed resolve in assisting the passenger to find the necklace. Armed with a flashlight, they and half a dozen passengers strode out to try their luck. The search in the pitch night extended beyond a kilometre on the tracks. The team scoured the tracks for half an hour but concluded it was futile and called off the search. Despite Vijay’s desperate pleas to venture further up to trace the ornament, the officials declined his request, citing safety concerns in the unfamiliar terrain. Just as the search party was getting ready to hop on the train, the banker caught sight of a faint light on the track only a few feet away.

 

He rushed towards it to stumble on the precious necklace as tension quickly gave way to relief and joy. The luminous glow produced by the gemstone encrusted in the ornament was the saving grace! Grabbing the necklace, Vijay hurriedly made his way to the train. Luckily, the train stopped before it entered the tunnel; otherwise, finding the ornament would have been quite challenging. The train finally reached Mangaluru railway station after a drama-filled journey. Vijay submitted a written statement to the TTE per the railways’ guidelines. The letter also included the approximate weight, measured in grams, of the necklace that was lost and found. The now-retired banker thanked his lucky stars for a happy ending, but there could have easily been a different script.