The Time Train

Chapter 4- Mumbai 2019

PA Announcement: "Passengers travelling to decades 30's, 40's, 60's and 70's please proceed towards terminal A, due to the increased volume on these trains in lieu of the upcoming historical events, these trains will depart from terminal A for the next 20 days."

Sanchi heard the end of this as she made her way down the train, Aakash following her with suitcases in hand. Once on the platform, they both gazed around, this place was very strange. On the far side wall next to the clock was a black board with flashing yellow letters giving the schedule for the upcoming trains. Before Sanchi could make out what it said, the letters had suddenly disappeared and were replaced with a different set of letters representing another set of train schedule.

On the other hand, Aakash was busy observing a man in unusual clothes tapping on a cupboard like box, only here the cupboard had glass on the front and everything inside was arranged on shelves. Now the man was inserting something that looked like money into the cupboard in what seemed like a tiny opening. A second after this the one of the shelves started moving and dropped a packet, the man dropped down stuck his hand near the bottom of the cupboard and grabbed the packet. This was clearly not a cupboard but some sort of machine. What a bizarre machine and why had he never seen this before!

Both quite perplexed with what they had witnessed looked at each other and their strange surroundings in bewilderment but couldn't say anything. They stood quite shocked to the same spot. Right then Aakash was yanked out of his spell by hearing people shout their names and running toward them. As they got close, he could see one of them was holding a cardboard with their names written on it.

The strangers came running and stood in front of them panting. One was a beautiful petite girl in her twenties wearing a blouse and skirt bent down holding her knees trying to catch her breath. The other was a young gentleman in a suit and hat, about the same age as the girl, catching his breath as well. It took a second for them to get their bearings after which they were profusely apologizing doe getting late. They went on to express their deepest regret at having left them alone on the platform, possibly confused, for the last 15 mins.

To this the couple replied that they were indeed quite bewildered. Aakash started babbling about the vending machine while Sanchi was fascinated yet baffled about the board with flashing colors.

Girl: "Yes I can see how this all looks very strange, but I assure you there is a simple explanation"

Boy:" Yes absolutely."

Sanchi: "Well we are waiting, what is all this, where are we?! This surely is not Mumbai; I have been to Mumbai central a lot of times and this is not it."

Girl: " Well you are right and wrong, so this is indeed Mumbai but not Mumbai central. This is a new wing of the station that has just opened a few days ago and they are experimenting with all these new machines. Its part of a new push to adopt more technology to get us in the same line with our international companions."

Aakash: "But I would've known of these new machines, I am an avid follower of the trends in up and coming technology; I have seen no mention of these anywhere!"

Boy: "That's because till about a month ago this was all classified military equipment. As you would have heard after finally coming out of the grips of colonialism (freedom of Goa in 1961), the Prime Minister has sworn to put our country on the global map by making it self-sufficient. In part of doing this they wanted to extend their technology for public use, for everyone to benefit. Its still in the testing phases, only at a couple of public places to see how the crowd interacts with it. Not a lot of people know about it as this station is not in a very crowded zone."

While this seemed a logical argument, it still didn't quite sit right with the couple. However, before either of them could ask any more questions, the girl began: "See I completely forgot to introduce ourselves; I am Radhika, and this is my brother Ravi and we are your hosts for this trip."

Aakash: "Hosts? Wait this Sashi set all this up? That sneaky little b...", he didn't finish seeing Sanchi giggle from the corner of his eyes. Aakash suddenly felt embarrassed and started blushing.

Radhika: "Just like newlyweds on a honeymoon, I never get tired of seeing new love blossoming!"

They both went a deep shade of red.

Ravi: "Common Radhika, don't embarrass them, see you've made them shy now. Right, I apologise to you both for my silly sister and I think we need to get out of here else we'll miss our reservation. We still have some distance to cover."

With that Ravi picked up one of the bags and started walking, Radhika motioned them to follow. While still curious the couple gave up and followed suit with Aakash carrying the other bag and Sanchi at his side.

The four got in a sedan with blacked out windows and zoomed away. As their car pulled away so did another one, following them at a safe distance as to not be spotted.