Back to Lucknow

I had just returned from Lucknow a week back and now I had to rush back. My Naani ji had passed away. Since, I could not reach immediately I decided to be there on the day of the havan. I got my tickets done and the same Thursday night I was boarding the 14004 (NDLS NFK Express). I was traveling alone and light as I planned to return on Saturday.
Mostly my night journeys like these are spent quietly. I have my dinner and sleep. I don't really interact with other folks on the train. This time it turned out to be different.

Above is the helpful couple who sat diagonally opposite to me. They were the first to get on the coach :-). Lady looked after my bag while I bought a water bottle and Reader's Digest for the night. They had to get down at Bareilly which was scheduled to arrive late at night and so they planned to keep awake. Unfortunately, the train was delayed by 4 hours and they had a tiring night.

Charles and two of his students. He is a professor at University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh and was visiting India with his 10 students (all girls team) for a program on mental health care workshops. They were on a 10 day tour covering New Delhi, Varanasi, Allahabad and Agra. This was his third trip to India, though first with his student.
How did I get introduced to him? Actually, formal introduction of exchanging names happened long after we had spent talking for an hour. His travel agent had requested me to switch berths with him so that he and his students could be together to which I obliged. But the real introduction happened when the ticket checker came and Charles realized that his travel agent had goofed up while taking the e-ticket print. He did not have the names of all his students on the e-ticket that he had. His agent had printed two copies of another ticket, by mistake. I saw and heard all of this and I could sense the helplessness. I got up and took the role of the translator (not that the TC did not understand English) and mediator and communicator between Charles and the TC.

Once all was settled, we ended up talking till late night. I found Charles to be very well informed. He has two beautiful daughters - Charles, I am sorry I have forgotten the name of your elder daughter; Is it Kim?. The younger one is Skie (she had very blue eyes when she was born and thus the name with changed spelling). We exchanged views on culture, family, values and a varied range of topics. Hey Charles, if you ever come across this do connect with me. It was great talking to you that night in the train!

And finally, below is the helpful TC. He did not create any issue when Charles was not able to find the complete list of his students in the e-ticket print that his travel agent had provided. He took the names from Charles and marked them in his chart and provided Charles with the seat nos.as per the reservation chart. Later he also ensured that Charles and his students did not have to move from the seats where they had settled down (not all seats were together for Charles and his entourage of girls).