MEMU and Me

Today the MEMU workshop in Palakkad is ready to set-off. MEMU (mainline electric multiple unit trains) is a little train with engines on both sides. With wide doors and spacious seating arrangements, these trains are always the choice for short distant journeys. In MEMUs you can walk from one end to another. There is only one MEMU operating in Kerala. It starts from Shornur and ends in Coimbatore. I always enjoy traveling to Ettimadai in this train, painted green and yellow.

But towards the end of last semester, MEMU once scared me. After an outing with our department’s academic pass, I and my friend hurried to board the train. The deadline to enter hostel back in the evening was 6pm. It was already six and so we managed to take the ticket peeping in through a long queue.

Another friend told us she would join us from train. We were not sure whether she was in the MEMU which was about to start. The girl who was with me told the other one would get into the train by any means. We didn’t have time to spare. Suddenly we got a call from her saying she is in that train. By that time train started. My friend got into train. I could not catch up the pace. She extended her arms for me to hold on. As I started climbing, my leg slipped.

Oh my God! It was a terrible thing even to remember. Luckily, a group of people standing near the door pulled me in. They started shouting at us. I didn’t here a single word what they had said. I was in a different world. I forgot even to express my gratitude to them. But whenever I see a train now, I used to thank them in my mind. A group of hands that pulled me from a disaster…