Click to play videoNew Delhi: Old Delhi Railway Station’s platform 18 looks like any other Indian station: busy, crowded and active.
It was from here that on Sunday the Samjhauta Express left for Pakistan and met tragedy when bomb explosions killed 68 of its passengers. Platform 18 was bustling on Tuesday, and for people here the tragedy was something to be taken in stride.
Most people at the waiting room were Pakistanis, who reached Delhi in a train on Tuesday. From here they will head for their destinations, to meet their friends and relations in India.
Mohammed Ibrahim, 75, was born in India and was visiting the country after 15 years with his two daughters. The blasts delayed his train's departure from Attari by three hours, but the desire to meet his grandchildren and see Jaipur's famed Johari Bazar were too strong for him to put off his visit.
"I have come to meet my grand children. I had the determination and I am here," said Ibrahim.
In another corner of the waiting room, Syed Mohammad Siddique said his being alive was a piece of lucky. Siddique, a resident of Karachi, missed the Samjhauta on Sunday by minutes. He tried to enter the unreserved bogeys but couldn’t. The blasts occurred in the unreserved bogeys.
Siddique and his family hope to catch the next train home on Wednesday. The blasts have not deterred his spirits.
"My spirits are high and I have to go back to my country. I had come to India for a visit," said Siddique. Everybody at the platform has a similar story to tell, of how they want to meet their loved ones, of how this is one personal pilgrimage for them.
The people at platform 18 are shocked by what happened on Samjhauta but they have another train to catch.
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