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My mum and my two younger brothers, Sameer and Milind returned to Goa soon thereafter, but I stayed on with Grandpapa in Mumbai for a few more days, since I was to proceed from there directly to Chennai where I would spend the next two and a half months in the pleasant company of spiders, earthworms and my all-time favourites, crocodiles and snakes.
To my good fortune the family decided to spend the Diwali vacation holidaying in Rajasthan and since it was necessary to travel to Mumbai to catch the onward train north, I persuaded my parents that I would come to Mumbai directly from Pune where I would meet them at my grandparents' house in Girgaum.
Having travelled on a couple of journeys by train during the past few months I was quite relaxed on this one although I continued to be watchful and careful of my things throughout. The train journey from Mumbai was entirely uneventful. I had a window seat and slept the night on the lower berth.
I later learnt that my uncle and family were also put on alert to receive a call from their nephew in distress, which did not happen for I was determined to find my way on my own, and I succeeded in doing so. The bus left Pune at around 10 a.m. and arrived in Mumbai a little after 2 p.m. I took a taxi, gave the driver the address and watched carefully as the taxi sped away down unfamiliar streets.
We drove down to Udaipur, where we went boating on the famous lake, saw some more palaces and then to Srilata and Mahendra's second home in Ghantali where we swam in the river behind the house and fished with the village boys. The vacation ended with a 3 hour bus journey to Ratlam station, from where my brothers and I returned to Mumbai with my mum while my dad went on to Delhi.
On the 6th of November, I was put on the Chennai Express, which was to leave Dadar Railway station at 7 p.m., by my Uncle Alan who is very knowledgeable about trains since he has worked in the railways all his working life. My mum had requested him to check my departure from Mumbai since Dadar railway station is a crowded and busy place and I too was not confident of finding my way around.
My father had no option but to leave it that way for Mr Khaire was expected to return only after three days. Dad then left me at the Park and proceeded to Mumbai. For the first few days therefore I journeyed back and forth from Sujit's house. Sujit's home is at Ganeshkhind while the snake park is at Katraj, a good 20 kms away. I remember how I got lost on the first day.
The showroom has about twenty fish tanks on display with a variety of fish that Ashok purchases mainly from Mumbai. Each tank stores a particular species of fish. Ashok's shop is located away from the main market area so he does not have the advantage of casual customers dropping by. However Ashok has his regular customers and there are always at least twenty to thirty customers daily.
So I got myself a few extra days at the Park and another experience of finding my way around, this time in the big city of Mumbai. Sujit bought me a bus ticket to Mumbai and dropped me off at the bus station as well.
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