After the meeting ended my dad was scheduled to go to Chennai for some work but I was to return to Goa on my own. My dad came along with me by bus to Calicut. At the railway station, my father bought me a ticket to Mangalore and left me at the station at about 2 p.m. to await the train which was due at around 4 p.m.
It was the first time I was travelling alone and I was quite nervous. Although it would be two hours before the train arrived I dared not fall asleep. I had with me a small battery operated video game and I occupied myself with this while waiting for the train to arrive. When it did there was a general commotion as people started rushing into the compartments. I enquired with one or two persons whether there were any special seats but nobody was really willing to pay attention so I just found myself a nice spot and settled down. The train started soon thereafter.
I stayed fully alert during the entire journey, keeping a watch on my things (I carried a haversack and a sleeping bag, both new) and having heard about pickpockets and other thieves I wanted to be doubly careful. I did not get down at any of the railway stations as I was not sure how long the train would stop. So I contented myself with eating the fruit that Dad had bought for me at the Calicut station.
The train arrived in Mangalore at 9 p.m. From the station I took a rickshaw to my grand aunt's house for which I paid thirty rupees. This was quite a lot of money, but since it was night-time and since I was not perfectly confident of the route I did not bother to argue with the rickshaw-wallah.
My aunt and family were pleased to see me and urged me to stay on for a few days. But I knew that my mother would be anxiously awaiting my return, and not wanting to be irresponsible, I decided to return as planned the next day itself.
In the morning my cousin Reggie took me on his scooter to the bus station where we saw a bus about to depart for Goa. I jumped in and managed to get the last empty seat. The bus reached Panaji at 5 p.m. From there I took the local bus to Mapusa. Only when the bus reached the Mapusa bus terminus was I finally on familiar territory. I looked around at the familiar street dogs and hawker stands and then hailed a motorcycle taxi to take me home, which was a short distance of 3 kms.
Back home I proudly walked up to my mum who was smiling a welcome, my brothers punching me, my dog licking me-all so far away from the world of elephants and tiger footprints.
Chapter 6: Snakes Alive!
It took several letters and phone calls from my dad to establish contact with Mr Neelimkumar Khaire, Director of the Snake Park in Pune till finally the green signal was given and I was all set to visit the place. As the arrangements were not absolutely "pucca" my dad decided to come along with me to Pune, which is what we did on the 3rd of October, soon after he returned from Chennai.
We left Goa by bus and arrived at Pune early the next morning. Two of my parents' very good friends, Sujit and Vidya Patwardhan, live in Pune. Our entire family, dad, mum, my two brothers and I, had holidayed at their place a year earlier. That was when I had my first glimpse of the Pune Snake Park and the idea of my one year sabbatical took root. (Later, I was surprised to learn from Bany, their daughter, who I became good friends with, that her elder sister Lara and her friend had taken a sabbatical several years ago on completing school and they had toured the countryside looking at alternative methods of education.) So it was to the Patwardhan residence at Ganeshkhind Road that we first went and after a wash and a brief rest we set off for the Park.