KASAB by ROMMEL RODRIGUES

Author:ROMMEL RODRIGUES
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143415473
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2010-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

17

UNLEASHING HELL AT THE CST

The taxi stand outside the CST was brightly lit. Shaikh decided to wait for a while near the busy railway terminus for a long-distance fare. He took out his cellphone and tried to call his friend Irshad Shaikh, but Irshad’s phone was busy.

Right behind Shaikh’s vehicle, another cab screeched to a halt. Mohammed Israeil Ansari’s taxi was packed beyond its capacity. He was ferrying eight members of his extended family—his brother Ilyas, his sister, her husband along with her two sons and a son-in-law, and his elder brother’s two children. His favourite nephew, thirteen-year-old Afroze, a Class V student, was sitting next to him and trying to learn driving. Ansari lived in a small hutment at Tulsiwadi near Tardeo. After a short trip to the city, his family was retuning to their home town in Bihar’s Navada district. Their train, the 2141 Rajendra Nagar Express, was scheduled to leave at 11.25 p.m. but since they had only a few confirmed tickets, Ansari was hoping to manage some more berths through the agents who operate in the central reservation hall attached to the terminus.

‘You all go into the hall there and find a clean place to sit. I’ll park and come,’ he told his family and headed towards the Government Dental College on St. George Road to park his taxi. Afroze’s elder brother, Sagir, led his family into the hall and they waited in a small open area near platform thirteen.

Ajmal and Ismail were standing in the outer foyer of the station, looking around. Then they slowly walked into the reception hall, past a book depot. The huge hall had ticket-booking windows on either side and was crowded with people queued up in serpentine lines. Turning towards an entrance near a lift coming down from the retiring rooms, they walked into the large waiting hall. It was noisy and packed to capacity with people occupying every possible space. Scores of people were seated all around on benches and open spaces on the floor. Groups of families, young and old people, were waiting, sleeping, talking into cellphones or eating right where they had parked themselves with their luggage.

Some urchins were chasing a stray dog. Beggars were soliciting alms from people. Licensed railway porters in red shirts and white caps were all around. A few Government Railway Police (GRP) cops, men and women dressed in khaki, were patrolling the station. About half a dozen Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, wielding canes, were keeping watch near the two main entrances and the ticket-booking windows to ensure that touts did not loiter around.

It was a busy terminus. Several trains had already departed. Several others were scheduled to depart through the night. Train 7057 Devagari Express was running behind its scheduled time of 9.05 p.m. Train 2322 Kolkata Mail, supposed to leave at 9.25 p.m., was also delayed. Passengers were now rushing to catch the 2701 Hussain Sagar Express, ready to leave at 9.50 p.m. After that, the 2115 Siddheswar Express would leave at 10.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.