on board Mandore Express

there are things that happen in this world but are quite outside the boundaries of your world, or u think that they are, life has never been so helpless for you, accidents.. never happened. makes you quite carefree.

but life knows when and where an experience is needed, good or bad, but the event surely makes you wake up from the "all is well" world of yours and take notice.

on board Mandore Express. Friday, November 13th, was one such day. everything was fine, as usual, college semester got over and a lot of students including me were off, taking the most convenient Mandore Express, to reach delhi, for our further trip to Dharamshala. as excited i was after the exams got over, to have some fun, never in my wildest dreams had i imagined that the trip would be cut short, when mandore express derailed that night at 1:35 am.

i was sleeping on my berth, with headphones on, and suddenly the train started shaking, which got worse in the next 30 seconds or so... the attendant was tryin to calm the screaming passengers, the train just got derailed, and everyone should get out at once.

at first i couldnt realise the fact that something terrible has happened, maybe i was still sleepy, i got out of the train, searching for my friends. i found them, everyone was safe.

next 30 mins were full of anxiety, people searching for their friends, their luggage, i was just trying to get the entire incident sink in. i thought that a few coaches had derailed, so they were just tilted. i was walking in that direction where the situation wasnt that bad.

someone asked me to go in search of their luggage, i walked in the other direction only to see in the darkness that two coaches had actually fallen down on their sides and people were still inside them and being rescued. i came back, a few minutes later came the news that a girl from my college was seriously injured and was being taken to the hospital.

i was with two other friends in my coach, and only half an hour before the entire incident they had left their berths and gone to some other coach. a rail track had entered in the train from the bottom and through the berths. those were the berths of my friends who had left just some time back..... and the girl who was rushed to the hospital was not unconscious, she had died.

i couldnt register these facts immediately, and then when i did, was my threshold, i broke down, never had i cried like this before, the thought process had just stopped, my mind went blank.....

we were there from 1.35 am till 5 am, watching people run towards NH 8, stopping any vehicle that passed by, and leaving as soon as possible.

we left at 5 am, reaching jaipur at 6, my mother had come to pick me from there.

for the next two days, maybe i dint realised but people around me did, i was numb. i was in shock and the scene wouldnt leave my sight. nothing mattered. everything had lost its significance.

there were around 70 people from my college in that train, 1 dead, few injured. although i was safe, but the entire incident left a scar in my mind, which will remain fresh forever...

i have changed, i can feel it. i wasnt sacred of anything, now my fears have a face.