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Greetings People!
We love to know more about Authors, more of their fun side. So here is a fun-fact question we asked Adite Banerjie and we got to know about a thrilling train ride she had :)
Misadventures of the Non-Writing Kind
Q: One of the most adventurous thing Adite has done in life apart from becoming a Writer :)
A: I enjoy traveling and visiting new places as much as I enjoy writing. While I don’t get enough opportunity to indulge my wanderlust, I have been fortunate enough to visit some offbeat destinations. Since many of these peregrinations have happened as a solo traveller I have had quite a few adventures.
My first trip abroad was to Hungary and it was one adventure that will stay etched in my memory. I was boarding the train for Vienna from Budapest. And I was struggling to lift my suitcase. A kind man tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you need some help?”
I was surprised and I politely refused. However, the man insisted and helped me with the suitcase.
Once inside the train I marvelled at how beautiful the train was. It was spick and span with its wide windows were spotlessly clean. As I watched the pretty Hungarian countryside pass by I was making plans for my short stay in Vienna. The ticket collector came by and asked for my ticket and documents. I fished into my purse for the wallet containing my papers. My heart missed a beat. The wallet was gone. I looked again but no, it wasn’t there.
I tried to explain that I had lost my wallet to the ticket collector. But he shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand English. None of my fellow passengers could speak English either. It was a disaster. Here I was on a train from Budapest to Vienna with no identification, no papers, no train ticket and no money! The tears though were not far away.
The ticket collector rattled off something incomprehensible in Hungarian and went away. A few minutes later he came back with a lady who could speak English and I explained my situation to her. After a few minutes of back-and-forth conversations, I was offloaded at the first station. The ticket collector got off with me. The station was nothing but a strip of cement with rail tracks in front of it. All around were fields extending into the distant horizon.
“Lost” – the true meaning of the word hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt well and truly lost. And it came with a huge dose of fear. I was in a foreign country with no documents. Holy Mackerel! It was then that I realised that the “kind man” at Budapest station who had helped with my suitcase had also helped himself to my wallet!
After a long wait another train, which was heading towards Budapest, stopped at the middle-of-nowhere station. The ticket collector waved me in after he had spoken to his colleague on the train. Luckily for me, traveling on the train was an Indian couple from the US. They sympathised with my situation and were kind enough to accompany me to the railway police station. There, the three of us struggled to communicate with a lone police officer who didn’t speak a word of English. Finally, after much brandishing of arms and sign language, he allowed me to make a phone call to the Indian embassy in Budapest. Soon after, the embassy sent over a car to fetch me. And I could finally breathe easy! That adventure—or rather misadventure—however did not kill my appetite for traveling. Go figure!
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We love to know more about Authors, more of their fun side. So here is a fun-fact question we asked Adite Banerjie and we got to know about a thrilling train ride she had :)
Misadventures of the Non-Writing Kind
Q: One of the most adventurous thing Adite has done in life apart from becoming a Writer :)
A: I enjoy traveling and visiting new places as much as I enjoy writing. While I don’t get enough opportunity to indulge my wanderlust, I have been fortunate enough to visit some offbeat destinations. Since many of these peregrinations have happened as a solo traveller I have had quite a few adventures.
My first trip abroad was to Hungary and it was one adventure that will stay etched in my memory. I was boarding the train for Vienna from Budapest. And I was struggling to lift my suitcase. A kind man tapped me on the shoulder. “Do you need some help?”
I was surprised and I politely refused. However, the man insisted and helped me with the suitcase.
Once inside the train I marvelled at how beautiful the train was. It was spick and span with its wide windows were spotlessly clean. As I watched the pretty Hungarian countryside pass by I was making plans for my short stay in Vienna. The ticket collector came by and asked for my ticket and documents. I fished into my purse for the wallet containing my papers. My heart missed a beat. The wallet was gone. I looked again but no, it wasn’t there.
I tried to explain that I had lost my wallet to the ticket collector. But he shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand English. None of my fellow passengers could speak English either. It was a disaster. Here I was on a train from Budapest to Vienna with no identification, no papers, no train ticket and no money! The tears though were not far away.
The ticket collector rattled off something incomprehensible in Hungarian and went away. A few minutes later he came back with a lady who could speak English and I explained my situation to her. After a few minutes of back-and-forth conversations, I was offloaded at the first station. The ticket collector got off with me. The station was nothing but a strip of cement with rail tracks in front of it. All around were fields extending into the distant horizon.
“Lost” – the true meaning of the word hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt well and truly lost. And it came with a huge dose of fear. I was in a foreign country with no documents. Holy Mackerel! It was then that I realised that the “kind man” at Budapest station who had helped with my suitcase had also helped himself to my wallet!
After a long wait another train, which was heading towards Budapest, stopped at the middle-of-nowhere station. The ticket collector waved me in after he had spoken to his colleague on the train. Luckily for me, traveling on the train was an Indian couple from the US. They sympathised with my situation and were kind enough to accompany me to the railway police station. There, the three of us struggled to communicate with a lone police officer who didn’t speak a word of English. Finally, after much brandishing of arms and sign language, he allowed me to make a phone call to the Indian embassy in Budapest. Soon after, the embassy sent over a car to fetch me. And I could finally breathe easy! That adventure—or rather misadventure—however did not kill my appetite for traveling. Go figure!
Thank you Adite for the cool and thrilling recounting of your train experience. Glad you still keep the travel bug alive :)
Check out Adite's books:
Book Review: Trouble has a new Name
Check out Adite's books:
Book Review: Trouble has a new Name
Buy them at:
Win #GIFTHAMPER from Harper Collins and Amazon Gift Cards
Until next book intro time. Take care. Bye.
Comments
But glad it didnt stop Adite from her travels.
Thank you for the comment.
Thank you for the comment Sunita :)
Happy Journey !
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