Continued from here
Just like a scene from a Bollywood film, the last bogie of the train chugged away just as we reached the correct platform.
DISASTER!!
The in-laws had never ever missed a train in all these years!! Even my parents had never missed one. In fact my father’s greatest fear and a recurring nightmare is that he is unable to catch a train! MIL was visibly upset. All the ticket money down the drain!! Thankfully there was another train to Digha at 2 pm. (There are four trains to that place!! )
So D and FIL went and got tickets in the next train. We had lunch at Comesum at Howrah station. Then we waited at the allotted platform for the train. Just 15 mins before departure, there was an announcement that the platform has been changed!!! Somehow Fate was playing tricks to stop us from going!! Again we hurried. Thankfully it was just the next platform. All of us got into the AC Chair Car bogie and took our seats.
The journey was going to take 4 hours. The bogie was empty and our seats were located around a table! Making use of the table we played ludo. It was great fun! FIL won 😦 Then we had “jhaal mudi” and tea being sold by vendors on train. I was looking forward to eating jhaal mudi ever since we went to Kolkata. MIL had just tea.
Now one important thing here – my MIL hates outside food, be it anything..even tea…be it on roadside or a big restaurant. Unless there is no other option, she avoids eating outside. And I am a foodie who loves eating outside!! And my hunger increase three folds when I travel especially on train. MIL knows I am a foodie but how much – that she doesn’t know yet.
Now D and FIL went to some empty seats to spread themselves and nap. MIL napped sitting right in front of me while I read a novel.
10 mins later.
Coffee guy comes. I look at MIL. She is fast asleep. I buy one and start sipping, making as little sound as possible.
15 mins later.
Fish chop guy comes. My mouth starts watering. I look at MIL. She stirs a little due to the vendor’s shouts. I drop the idea. 😦
15 mins later.
Chowmein guy comes. My stomach growls. I poke D who was sleeping in the seat behind ours. I figured if D eats chowmein too , then the crime would look less severe. 😉 But he refused and continued napping. Grrrrrrr! 👿
I looked at MIL. She was fast asleep. I could not resist the temptation anymore. I bought one. But I couldn’t afford to be caught and worse, be told how bad outside food is!! So I put the big shopper bag between me and MIL. I bent my head down behind the shopper and ate one mouthful after another.
And this way I ate chowmein on train right under my MIL’s nose 😀 😀
I rolled up the aluminium packet into a small ball and slipped it in one of the netted water bottle holders so MIL wouldn’t notice that.
Later, D and FIL woke up. We reached Digha by 6.30 pm and headed for a rickshaw.
To be continued…
LOL This is awesome. I want to read more
hehehe 🙂
You shouldn’t have missed the fish chops too. Bangali-der naak katiye dile je 😉
Shashudir lecture er bhoye sacrifice korte hoye 😛
The best would be MIL tells you or rather asks you “How did the chowmein Taste “..
and yeah shud have bought the chops or told the guy to come in 2 minutes time QUIETLY 🙂
Bikram’s
OMG!! thank god that didnt happen!
Oh my!! You missed the train!!
I second your MIL… outside food is a big NO-NO for me too!!
Interesting journey… looking forward to more of it!! 🙂
So you don’t dine out ever??
lol!!! Food chor 😀
I looooove Jhaal Muri. When we shifted to Orissa and were travelling their for the 1st time I wasI was introduced to it. Ah! what a preparation! I still miss the authentic taste of that side!
Sigh!!!
P.S. I salute ur patience for going through all the missed posts of mine. I could have never done that! Thanks for taking out time comment in each of the posts 🙂
hehehe food chor! khane ke liye kuch bhi karega! you are welcome!
Lolz… cool story… shaadi ke baad kya kya jhanjhat karne padte hain yaar 😛 Hope the chowmein was worth it..
by the way, wht is jhaal muri?
Jhaal muri is a simple Bengali snack available as street food Jhal Muri means to Kolkata what Bhel means to Mumbai, and even though both are based on puffed rice, they are a world apart in flavour.
I consider jhaalmuri in train a sinful delight, not so much in terms of calories, as much in terms of the e.coli load.
true!
Down south, the food in the stations are slightly better than what we get inside the train. But still, I prefer eating in a hotel outside the railway station. But the tea/coffee are generally good in the trains – I like them 🙂
Destination Infinity
yeah the coffee is good in South trains.
Well the best(safest) place in India to miss a train would be in Howrah. All trains lead/start from Howrah anyway 😛
I don’t eat anything from trains these days. The worst thing is the coffee, chai is better coz it atleast smells like one. 🙂
yeah and thankfully there were more trains to the same place.
I have been missing trains and buses offlate too. missed train due to delayed flight at delhi and then missed volvo bus as was late by 10m recently at bangalore. Its quite a bad feeling if the miss is due to own fault, which was the case for me in second instance. And yes, me too foodie. cant resist trying most items on trains, even if i have to throw a few after tasting haha. look forward to your continued story
ahh hope you dont miss any more trains and buses and flights.
I love your story! Some day I am going to take a train ride in India. Maybe i will have to find you to show me what food is good and what is bad, because me, I would try it all and might get sick
thanks! oh do read up before visiting India. we are immune to gastro problems and can eat all food. you may face health issues.
By the way goodgle translate does not know what jhaal mudi is so neither do I
Jhaal muri is a snack of the state of west bengal in India. it is made of puffed rice and various ingrdients and spices.
sounds all fun Reema !
Good that you’re back and I’m amazed that you’ve already cleared so much of your reading backlog..I’m yet to reply to your comments 🙂 Shall do that slowly !!
So write more…waiting !
that’s okay!
😉
good one 🙂
thanks
ROFL!!! I pictured how you’d have gobbled down that chowmein — and i cant control my laughter 😀
You, of all people!! 😀
Ossum! Cant wait to read Part 3
hehehe 😀
Catching a train is one of biggest problem of middle class.I remember that we used to wake up at 2 o clock to catch train at 6 even though the station was only 30 minutes from house.
why???
lol.. even I love to hog on trains/buses, anywhere while travelling.. good thing your MIL dint catch you while eating.. haha..
yeah thank god!
Thank you so much for all the lovely comments, Reema 🙂 I read your blog regularly too, loved this post (travel posts are so much fun, aren’t they?) especially the sneaky eating, hah. Hope they won’t come around to this blog someday and find out 😉
Also, (belated) congratulations!!
god forbid! hope my blog says off the grid 😀
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Love this post and your quest as a foodie to satisfy your appetite. Sigh, we bahu’s go through so much 😉
sigh true 😉
LOL! I am the same in trains – I think food tastes so much better on the trains 🙂 And you had me drooling at jhaal mudi! I used to love it! Haven’t had some in ages!
you can make it at home! is puffed rice available there?
Nothing can best the magic of travelling in local trains.I enjoyed it a lot when i was child.
I have never travelled much in local trains.
Hahaha. Kudos on being a brave foodie 😀