34 The Interregnum

The disappointment of not being able to continue as a boarder at Spicer High, constituted a mini crisis at the age of 14 in my life. So there I was without a School to attend till June, and it was only March now – it was the interregnum of my life. My Mother and my Father were worried about the limbo but finally my Father suggested that I visit Delhi to visit his elder Sister as a sort of enforced holiday. This lifted my spirits and thus began the first of my many such solo travel odysseys! My Father decided I should travel by the newly introduced AC Deluxe Express train running between Bombay Central Station and New Delhi twice a week. I fondly recall standing patiently in the ticket purchase queue for almost 4 hours with my Father, as there was great demand to travel on this luxury superfast train.

Ticket duly obtained, I got busy poring over the Bradshaw to check the route and the various stations that this train would travel through. I also discovered that there was a dining car attached to this train, where you were served a 4-course meal in style. So one sunny March morning, my Father dropped me at the Bombay Central Station and I happily boarded the AC Deluxe to New Delhi. It was a chair-car-only train with reclining seats and this is how you passed the night too! To dine I had to inform the attendant, who then duly called me to the Dining Car at the designated time. It was a full service dinner with cutlery and napkins and included soup, starters, main course and dessert – this was indeed a unique experience for me.

The next morning I arrived in Delhi, and there was my Uncle Umanathmam who drove me to their home on Pandara Road. Umanathmam was a senior civil servant and a member of the Railway Board, and he was entitled to a large bungalow in Lutyens Delhi. Staying with her grandparents, was my pretty cousin Sudha who was a few months older than me and who was studying at the Mater Dei Convent in Delhi. The capital of India was a regal city with wide-open spaces in those days. Close to our residence was the iconic Khan Market, and I remember strolling through its shopping area in the late evenings. I did the usual sights of Delhi and immersed myself in the history of this old city.

The days flew by and it was soon time to go back to Bombay. Around this time when I was in Delhi, the news came that my favourite aunt Purnimakka was going to get married in Cochin and that I would also be going down south for this marriage. My Uncle and Aunt also decided to attend, so all of us including my cousin Sudha traveled together to Bombay first, for Uncle’s official work, after which we would all head south for the marriage.