"Dad,  show  me  the sea. Show me the Bay of  Bengal"  --  Chottu repeated for the third time.

He  was getting bored. He did not bargain for this long  journey. Mainly  he  had not been bribed. Dad got him an atlas.  A  comic would have been welcome. It would make interesting reading. Atlas habit is good for the school -- believed the knowledgeable Dad.

The train passed through some station -- in great haste.

"Dad,  what  is  this place called?" --  asked  an  inquisitive Babloo. He was the elder of the kids.

"Can't you read those yellow signboards?" -- retorted an  impatient Ramesh.

"My window and the boards are not on talking terms. They look  to different directions" -- informed Babloo.

"So what ?" -- quipped Ramesh and added "If you cannot sight  the Station  Master's  chamber, you will still be able to  locate  the Pointsmen's cabins. You can read them"

It was too late. The train was already passing the outer signal.

Ravi could not still remain a silent spectator and came to help. He was a co-passenger and was determined to make the travel a pleasure.

"All that we have to find out is where we are. Isn't it ? That is simple. What  is time now? Say Sixteen thirty. Open  the  time table.  Where should  the Delhi bound Rajdhani  be  at sixteen thirty? Bhopal.. or somewhere near that.. ok?"

Ramesh interjected -- "How can we be anywhere near Bhopal when we are yet to cross Krishna and Godavari ?"

Babloo  added -- "And particularly when we have traveled  hardly an hour out of Madras?"

"I presumed the time tables meant what they said " -- opined Ravi meekly.

"Yes,  the sixteen thirty referred to belongs to tomorrow  afternoon, past Nagpur, past Itarsi. Even a jet plane takes more than an hour to fly Madras-Bhopal, you know" -- said a beaming Ramesh.

Ravi did not have the right kind of reaction. So he stated "Don't be so sure. There will be a day when magnetic levitation will transport the coaches at such impossible  speeds that you will reach Delhi in less than a  hundred minutes"

Babloo volunteered --"Dad, we are now crossing almost twenty five poles a minute along the tracks. Does that mean anything ?"

Ramesh  said  -- "That we means we are doing well -- at  least  a good  sixty  kilometres an hour. For a country with meagre resources, it is not a mean achievement"

"Provided  the lines are doubled and electrified" --  interrupted Ravi.

"Of course they are" -- apprised Ramesh.

"Not in the Madras -- Delhi route" -- hastened Ravi.

"You are mistaken" -- said Ramesh, this time with more confidence.

"I  have been an engineer with the Railways for more than  twenty years. Shouldn't I know be knowing better?"

"Looks  like  you do not. I have similar reasons to believe the tracks have been laid and wired for high speeds with route relay interlock and what not. Nevertheless we may verify with the Member-Mechanical at the  Railway Board, as soon as we reach Delhi, if the lines are indeed doubled and electrified"

Ravi agreed not wanting to escalate the debate further.

Cutlets came. Chottu wanted cutlets also.

"Show me the Bay of Bengal" -- started a tired Chottu again, when eating of the cutlets was over.

"Bring  me  the atlas" -- said Ramesh," Open  Andhra  Pradesh.  I shall show the Bay of Bengal on the east coast"

The  train  was picking up more speed. Bi-e-ee-en  --  shouted  a train passing on the opposite side.

"Why  should  the train whistle be sounding like a  badly  played violin ? -- asked Babloo.

"It is due to what is known as Doppler's effect" -- said Ramesh.

Suddenly there was light, starboard. The passing train was  gone. There were open fields. All level ground. Cultivated. Beyond that a big sheet of water.

"Show  me  the  Bay of Bengal" -- reiterated  the  weary  Chottu, taking another bite at the vadas.

"You see the sheet of water, yonder, Mr Columbus, that is the Bay of Bengal and the sea" -- informed a modest Babloo. And then  he went to attack his plate of vadas.