An Unforgettable Train Journey

Today I am travelling to my home town Damoh. A place where I was born and brought up. Actually this train journey of 20 hours takes me in the pool of childhood memories of my place. Basically Damoh is a small town in Madhya Pradesh (MP, central state of India). Early history says that Damoh was named after the Queen of Narvar, Rani Damyanti, the wife of Raja Nal. Reported facts mention that from 5th to 15th century different dynasties like the Guptas of Pataliputra, the Kalchuri, the Khalji, the Gond and lastly the Marathas ruled over the period of time. Also source says that Damoh took part in the struggle for independence from the British. In 1933, Mahatma Gandhi’s visit proved that Damoh was one of the active province’s during that time.
Apart from the historical background few famous places to visit here are:
1.Kundalpur around 35 km from Damoh
2.Bandakpur Jageshwarnath Temple, 16 km
3.Puratatva Sangrahalaya, Damyanti Kila
4.Rani Durgavati Abhyaran, 47 km near Singrampur
5.Rajnagar Fort, 7 km
6.Singhoregarh Fort, 62 km.
7.Sadbhavna Shikhar-Nazara View Point, 59 km.
🙂 Woah..too much information about my place..Right?
From childhood days to school days (Indore-Damoh), from school days to college days (Pune-Damoh and Delhi-Damoh) lot of incidences are there and for a girl who is married and mother of an 8 year daughter now, Damoh means her home; her place where she grew up, her struggles, where she got married, she got her first child and many more unforgettable beautiful memories she is carrying within herself.
As because this is my train journey towards my hometown I would like to share one of my travel experience’s from the same route, Ghatshila to Damoh.
In 2010, it was the same train 18477 Kalinga Utkal Express, same route, Ghatshila to Damoh. But a little different person; a dependent one (in mind) because I had recently got married plus I was wearing some stuff worn by a newlywed bride (jewellery) and was travelling alone. Honestly I had already thought about the situation; i.e. what can do if I miss my platform because my husband is not with me. Though I was used to travelling alone without any fear in my college days but I had mixed feelings and a DEEP DIVE SITUATION.
So the boarding time at Ghatshila was at 0500 hours and arrival at Damoh was at 0040 hours the next day. A newly wed girl was happy and in love with each everything around her; whether a normal upper berth in 3rd AC, a stinky bedsheet or the pillow. To say nothing about the about washroom conditions. Around 2300 hours at Katni junction I got a call from Daddy. He mentioned that he was coming to receive me (I was happy). I was super excited as always since I was going to meet my near and dear ones. But due to late night hours I fell asleep. The train arrived at Damoh on time 0040 hours and I was in a deep sleep. Unfortunately due to poor connectivity in AC class, Daddy was not able to connect with me. After a minute the red light changed to green and slowly the iron wheels of this giant train started moving leaving behind my Damoh station. Later, after few mins when finally he (Daddy) was able to connect, the train was not on the platform.

Gosh! terrible situation, wasn’t it? For the first time ever in my life, I missed my platform. 🙂
What next! Only option was to get down in next station after 20 minutes which infact was a small station. Flipside it was 0115 hours. Somehow managed to get down in Patharia station. Trust me it was a situation straight out of Bollywood drama flick; dark night, a girl alone in that abandoned station. But a beautiful thing happened out there. There was one kind person was already present in front of my bogie because he had got a call from one of the fellow members from my hometown station (Daddy had requested that person).
Finally, after of 30 minutes waiting I got the other train towards Damoh and a further 20 minutes later I arrived back to Damoh. It was an emotional situation, Daddy was in front of me and I was numb for some time. After that I smiled for few seconds and then started crying.
Two things I learnt that day:
1.I learnt what is real joy and true peace. A very kind person who helped that day without knowing me or my father gave this answer.
2.Everything is the game in your mind; I thought I would miss the train and I actually missed it! Whatever we think, it will happen in front of us. Some people say this is the Law of Attraction which uses the power of your mind to translate whatever is your belief and materialize that into actuality. It holds true!