12 Questions
Where did Gangadharpant travel from when he reached Peshawar the day after tomorrow?
Bombay
What was the significance of the tiny Union Jack painted on each carriage of the train?
To symbolize British territorial control
What historical organization surprised Professor Gaitonde by its continued existence?
East India House
What kind of employees made up most of the staff at Victoria Terminus?
Anglo-Indians and Parsees
Where did Gangadharpant intend to go after facing a setback at Forbes building?
Asiatic Society library
What was Professor Gaitonde concerned about regarding his son?
His son's existence
Where did the Jijamata Express stop after Lonavala?
Karjat
What did Professor Gaitonde plan to do in Bombay as a historian?
Go to a big library and browse through history books
Who was the Anglo-Indian at Sarhad station checking permits on the train?
Khan Sahib
What was the destination of the Anglo-Indian at Sarhad for his journey to Peshawar?
Frontier Mail out of Central
Where did the British Raj supposedly begin according to Khan Sahib?
Sarhad station
What was Professor Gaitonde's regret as he traveled towards Bombay?
Not having thought of going to a big library sooner
Study Notes
Journey to Bombay
- The Jijamata Express travels from Pune to Bombay, stopping at Lonavala, Karjat, and Kalyan along the way.
- The train stops at Sarhad, a small station where the British Raj begins, and Gangadharpant meets Khan Sahib, an Anglo-Indian who is headed to Peshawar.
Khan Sahib's Journey
- Khan Sahib is taking the Frontier Mail from Bombay to Delhi, then to Lahore and finally to Peshawar, a long journey that will take him until the day after tomorrow.
- The train route goes from Bombay to Delhi, then to Lahore and finally to Peshawar.
Arrival in Bombay
- The train arrives at Victoria Terminus, a remarkably neat and clean station with a staff comprising mostly Anglo-Indians and Parsees, along with a handful of British officers.
- Gangadharpant notices the blue carriages with the letters GBMR, which stands for Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway, and the tiny Union Jack painted on each carriage, indicating that they are in British territory.
East India House
- Gangadharpant is surprised to find the East India House, the headquarters of the East India Company, which he thought was wound up after the events of 1857.
- The building is imposing and suggests that history has taken a different turn, perhaps before 1857.
The City of Bombay
- The city of Bombay is different from what Gangadharpant expected, with departmental stores like Boots and Woolworth, and offices of British banks like Lloyds and Barclays.
- There is no Handloom House building, and instead, Gangadharpant finds a typical high street of a town in England.
Search for Vinay Gaitonde
- Gangadharpant searches for his son Vinay Gaitonde at the Forbes building but is unable to find him.
- He realizes that if he himself is dead in this world, there is no guarantee that his son would be alive or even born.
Test your comprehension skills with a passage about the journey of Jijamata Express from Pune to Bombay, and the thoughts of Professor Gaitonde during the trip.
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