Comedy of an error

It was in late Seventies that I was returning to Chennai from Trichur after a visit to Guruvayur.I remember the train departing in the evening around 5pm.I was in a first class compartment with three other passengers.Some one came to collect order for dinner at the next station and I paid a small amount to get a coupon for one vegetarian meal.The others didn’t order as they were possibly travelling short distance.I was feeling hungry and wondered when the dinner would be served.It was past 7pm and the train chugged along slowly unmindful of my plight.When it stopped at a station around 7.45pm I knew the dinner was not far off.

Soon a bearer entered my cabin and looked questioningly.When the others signalled towards me, he placed before me a large round stainless steel plate, larger than the usual aluminium plates that I was accustomed to in the railways.He didn’t ask for the coupon. It was covered by a spotlessly clean towel.It struck me odd and asked him whether it was a vegetarian meal.He responded with an affirmative nod and left after a deferential bow.The other passengers were looking at the covered plate with curiosity.Wondering at the unusually large size of the plate, I opened it gingerly.To my great amazement, there were 24 items of dishes in fairly big katories that looked rich even on a cursory look.They included inter alia two sweets,two packets of chips made out of banana (Nendran) and jack fruit(Chakka) and some fruits too.It was a dinner that kings of yore would have taken.

I surmised there had been a mistake as the food I was expecting was a limited variety of rice,sambhar,rasam and two sabzis in small quantity in a small aluminium plate.I immediately covered the plate with the towel and looked out for the bearer to get the matter clarifed.Meanwhile the train had left the station and there was no bearer visible.The pangs of hunger were unbearable.One of the passengers who was sitting opposite to me asked “What are you waiting for ?It is past 8pm.Have your dinner before it gets cold”

“I think there has been a mistake somewhere.I ordered just an ordinary meal and this royal fare, I think, is not intended for me.I am unable to find the bearer.True I am very hungry.” I replied

“It is not your fault.Please have the food.If he asks for extra payment I am sure you would be willing to pay.It is getting late.The train is not vestibuled and the next halt will take more than an hour.Please proceed with eating” he said kindly.The others too nodded their heads in agreement.

I decided to eat.I gave the chips packets and the fruits to them telling the food is too much for me and they could enjoy the snack.They gladly accepted.the offer. It was perhaps the tastiest dinner that I had ever taken in a train. It was just impossible for the railways or the contractor to give such sumptuous food for the paltry amount I had paid for.As I was musing at my good fortune there was a tap on the door.

A young boy of 7 years presumably from the adjacent cabin peeped in and asked “Uncle, have you got your dinner?”

“Yes, young boy.What happened? Haven’t you got yours?” I asked

“No, we got ours.But it was a small plate” he replied innocently looking at the big plate lying before me.Before I could say something the boy ran away.

It was when one of the passengers in my cabin went out to toilet and returned, we found him laughing profusely.When prodded by his railway friends, he replied that he became wiser to the mystery of the large plate served to me.With a large smile he said “The wife of CCS(Chief Commercial Superintendent) is travelling in the adjacent cabin.The bearer committed a mistake in leaving the large plate intended for her to our friend here and his small and spartan meal to her.She is furious.I am sure the contractor would be paying a heavy price for this gaffe.”

It was then I remembered the bearer’s deferential bow.The comedy of error made me get atleast once a taste of good things that the men in power and their families are accustomed to while travelling.

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