Mazumdar left the country in 1964, a victim of the Hindu-Muslim riots, and came to Kolkata via the same route the Maitree is taking today.
As he recounts his tale of horror to his wife Bijan travelling with him, his eyes moisten with emotion.
"I had just done my graduation then. Religious unrest spread to every corner of Bangladesh, then east Pakistan. I had to take shelter in a toilet of three consecutive days, before heading to a refugee camp," he says.
His son is well-placed now in New Jersey and he has got himself a home in Kolkata. Yet his heart pines for his ancestral home in Comillah.
Image: Biman Behari Mazumdar and his wife onboard the Maitree Express.
Photograph: Indrani Roy Mitra
Also read: Bangladesh: Next terror frontier?
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