Seventy eight-year-old Satyasaran Das got off the C-3 compartment and wiped away tears from his face. "I will be meeting my mother (motherland) after 58 years. I will be touching the soil of the land I was born after so long."

Das had left Dhaka in 1950 in the wake of the Hindu-Muslim riots with Rs 20 in his pocket. He had taken the same railway route and travelled from Narayangunj to Sealdah via Goaland port. He had bought himself a ticket worth Rs 9.25 paisa. His life had stood on his head and he had to start from scratch all over again. But like a braveheart, Das struggled his way up and now, he is a proud owner of a home in Kolkata.

When the news of Maitree Express launch reached him, he was the second person to arrive at the ticket counter and though his serial number was two at the counter,the person who came before him, generously stepped aside considering his age.

"So, technically, I am the first passenger of this historic train, you see," he tells rediff.com.

Das will spend about a week in this country, trying to pick up threads of his past life.

Image: Reception at the Indian checkpost of Gede.

Text and Photographs: Indrani Roy Mitra