Page 26 - MML - Journal - Centenary Edition - Vol. 01 / 2023

Suddenly around 11 in the night, while we were fast asleep, there was a heavy jolt with a loud bang and all of us were thrown out of our sleeper berths. We realized that the train had derailed and could move no further.
Eventually, our contingent which included R W Bro. Narendradoss, R W Bro. G. K. Selvarajan, R W Bro. Himmatlal, my father R W Bro. S. Chintopanth and a few others had to get off the train and walk on the tracks with our luggage at around midnight to reach the next station where a replacement train was arranged. This was a midnight walk on the tracks with a constant drizzle all the way. Certainly no “Singing in the rain”.
The third peculiar moment that I can recollect now and relate was again at Kanyakumari when I was the Regional Grand Master of Southern India.
It was the Ritual Working Competition time for Lodge Vivekananda at Kanyakumari. The designated judges were R W Bro. Narendradoss, W Bro. Dr. B. A. Anantharam and another brother whom I cannot recollect now.
On the day of the meeting Bro. Dr. Anantharam reached Kanyakumari early in the morning by train from Bangalore, was received by the local brethren at the Railway station and well accommodated.
When the local brethren reached the station later to receive Bro. Narendradoss who was on the train from Madras, the train had already arrived, and the platform was empty with no sign of Bro. Naredradoss. The brethren went into all the compartments of the stationery train to check if he had overslept, but to no avail.
They then figured that this gentleman may have got off at Trivandrum itself. Those were days without mobile phones. STD and
trunk calls were made to all concerned including his home at Madras to enquire about his whereabouts which triggered a good deal of panic. I was at Madras at that time on an official Lodge visit and was constantly monitoring the situation.
To compound to the confusion, Bro. Dr. Anantharam picked up a news item in the local newspaper which mentioned discovery of an unidentified body on the railway tracks nearby! This naturally increased the fears of the brethren for the safety of their chief Judge. They then made a diligent search for the person of R W Bro. Narendradoss at police stations and even mortuaries.
Such was the state of confusion at the Freemasons Hall at Kanyakumari that evening where all had gathered for the Ritual Working Competition meeting and wondering what now?
And then an autorikshaw drives up the porch of the Freemasons Hall and out comes Bro. Narendradoss fully suited and booted with his regalia box ready to judge the ritual working!
It so transpired that R W Bro. Narendradoss’s train reached Kanyakumari half an hour early even before the reception committee could reach the station. This brother not finding anyone to receive him, himself hired an autorikshaw looking for some accommodation not knowing where his stay was arranged. However, none of the hotels would accommodate him since, as a rule, a single person is not welcome into hotels at Kanyakumari.
Finally, one hotel took pity on him and checked him in. After lunch and a siesta, he dressed himself and came to the Freemason’s Hall in an autorikshaw quite oblivious of the grave anxiety he had caused to so many including his poor wife!
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A Publication of Madras Masters Lodge No. 103, GLI
Madras Masonic Journal Vol. 01 / 2023 - Centenary Year Edition