AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 103 of 237 cloths. Those days none of used disposable nappies. For the baby I was using home sewed nappies. At Palanpur station we used our waiting time to wash the baby cloths and nappies and no doubt the bucket came in handy. We also tied a temporary cloths line between the two upper berths to dry the washed nappies. This practice, of washing baby cloths and drying them, we continued throughout our journey till we reached Jorhat. We also had a saucepan to boil water and sterilise bottles at railway stations. We would request the Chaiwalla bhaiya and seeing the infant he would readily oblige. Day - 3 Our train reached Delhi around 8.30 a.m. While making our train reservation we had initially itself planned to break journey at Delhi for one day so that we recoup our health and replenish the logistics for the second part of our journey. At Delhi station we kept the big pieces of our luggage in the cloak room and took a taxi to Subroto Park and stayed with a course mate of Harsha. The break in Delhi was a much needed one. I could get all the cloths washed and feeding bottles sterilised. We could also take the much needed shower. And as it happens in Air Force, a course mate in town means it’s party time and we had a lot of course mates and friends coming to over to say hello to us. Day – 4 From Delhi we took an evening train to Guwahati and as usual there was big Air Force crowd at the station to see us off. We were showered with packed dinner for the night as well as packed breakfast and lunch for the next day. It was again a first class cabin with three seats of ours and fourth person missing from the scene. This journey was much calmer since all of us had got adjusted to the train journey including the baby. Day - 5 The whole day was spent sitting in the train as it traversed through many states. We were cautioned about the train journey in the when it passes through Bihar. We were told that people with no reservation will enter the compartment forcibly and occupy the seats for their day journey. In fact, everyone locked their cabins from inside for safety. We didn’t have to do any such thing. They came in large numbers. And seeing a wailing infant, harassed mother, cloths line full of drying cloths, bucket and 13 odd boxes and trunks no one dared to occupy our berths. All the packed food given by friends came in handy.