A petrifying railroad journey into the Himalayas was the beginning of my first serious educational studies…
It began with an overnight train ride on the Eastern Indian Railroad from Calcutta to Siliguri. I slept in an upper bunk bed, with a powerful fan on all night. Although my mother was in the compartment on a bunk below me, it still felt like a nightmare trip for a 6-year-old, leaving the comfort and close companionship of home and going to a completely unknown destination called a “Boarding School” which would be full of older unknown boys.
I cried myself to sleep with the comfort of the clickety-clacking rails and the loud droning sound of the fan. Ever since that time, any overnight railroad ride has been a deeply affecting psychological experience for me.
Siliguri is at the foothills of the Himalayas. There we changed to a narrow-gauge railroad a “cog” railroad on narrower gauge rails (only 2 feet in width). My mood changed to curiosity as we tumbled with our suitcases and bedding onto the fun-looking “Toy Train.” It would take…
