I and Musa were ‘dumped’ in another city and separated from Aisar on the way to my in-law’s home. It happened when we tried to divide jobs (me handling asleep Musa, him carrying 2 big luggages and 1 stroller –> so obvious in an economic train with no locker! we put them in the aisle and I felt so sorry to other passengers all 4 hours-trip long 😐). Based on information from a passenger who owned Aisar’s seat (it’s another story), I was instructed to walk two cars ahead from the 8th car to get the platform.

FYI, for some small stations in the rural areas of Indonesia, the platforms are short, so if we get seats in some foremost or backmost cars of the train and have to stop there, we won’t meet the platform and need to jump about 1 meter-height. Thus, in order to avoid difficulty when getting off while carrying baby, I was trying to find the good position a few minutes BEFORE we arrived. I had stood up between two train cars when I saw “Bumiayu” sign and got prepared to get off, but I waited until the train had really stopped. By the time I saw small station sign, the train still moved slowly (it was confirmed by the crew later that train moved a lil bit to match the platform position). Then, I saw big “Bumiayu” sign. I knew it’s time to leave the train. My eyes kept attention to the outside looking for any platform. I didn’t recognize passengers load either inside or outside the train, but then… Ohhh, the train suddenly speeded up!

Where did my time go? Until now I believed that it never perfectly stopped. I was awake and alerted.. how could I miss to get off? Continue reading →