Exams were over. An ordeal came to an end. It was time to relax and chill. The very thought of going home was filling the heart with loads of excitement. Thrilled by this very feeling I went to the reservation counter in the institute only to see a 200 yard (apologies for exaggerating a bit) long queue of hopeful travelers. "Should I go for it?" the very question was knocking the doors of my brain but the scorching sun overhead had something else to tell. As always I was again not in a mood to drain out water from my body and so I decided to leave the anxious people in the queue behind me happier. I dint have the idea that a little (now I know it was not at all "little") bit of complacency on my part would lead to a hell lot of trouble later on. So what now?? Suddenly my intelligent brain showed me an alternative. The plan was to borrow the scooter of one of my friends in the evening and get the ticket booked at the station itself. The plan was not bad at all if it would have been implemented accordingly. But as usual the plan had to fail without coming out of my neural networks.
Thanks to the first years that came to our hall in the evening to deposit their belongings before going for the vacation. The faccha whom I gave the money to book the ticket for me, must have cursed me for harassing him after a frustrating stretch of exams.Anyways, I got my ticket and again as always the ticket was wait-listed. I was not at all worried at that time because every time I had traveled by this train I had managed to land in the wait list only. But never ever I had faced such a situation which I am going to describe in following paragraphs.
My train was scheduled at 11.45 in the night. So I had enough time to spend on other activities. Thanks to my project partners, I had to finalize the project all alone. So I had planned to finish the work before 5 pm and then pack my bags. Everything went fine except that the deadline of 5 pm couldn’t be met and I was able to sum up only by 8 30 pm. Somehow I managed to pack my bags within such a short span. As I was to go to Pune for my internship so a lot of preparation was needed. I had planned to gather a few books from my college mates, download some software, collect some e-books but none of them could be accomplished. Despite all these I was satisfied as I was going home and this very thought was overshadowing everything else.I finished all the preparations before 10 pm and since an hour was left before I was to leave for the station I thought that I should check my reservation status. This time also I was not much tensed upon knowing that the chart had been prepared and I was W/L 17. I was having an idea that as always this time also I would be able to manage a berth by offering a few bucks to the TTE. But hell, I was all wrong this time.
Train arrived and I rushed to the black coat the moment I found it in the crowded platform. Before I could utter a word another person started talking to the TTE with same intentions and the way TTE scolded that fellow I lost the interest of taking any chance there .So I started looking for a softer target. Thanks to my body language reading skills, I was able to find one fellow who was at least ready to listen to the passengers. In the beginning he also turned down my request and showed me the general compartment. Cursing myself for this situation I strode towards the general compartment. What I saw in those compartments deserve another post. I had 3 bags with me including the laptop and there was no space event at the gates. For a moment I thought I should cancel the journey but the "Never Say Die" attitude dint let me give up and I rushed to the same fellow again. This time the person was a bit softer and the moment I said I was carrying a W/L 17 ticket and I was an IITian, he permitted me in. This was not all, each and every seat was occupied inside the compartment. I don’t know why during these kind of journeys the people who manage to get a seat reserved generally have a very suspicious attitude towards other fellow passengers who couldn’t get one. I have noticed this attitude quite often and to be very frank I belong to the same brigade as well. The very empathy proved to be a source of a great experience. At 11.45 pm train left the station and I took a deep breath and thanked god as it was very necessary for me to reach my home the very next morning. As the train gathered momentum I was loosing my patience and was dying to sit somewhere. So I took out the news paper sheet which I had kept in my bag anticipating this situation, spread that on the floor, sat down and started reading "FIRST THINGS FIRST" by Stephen Covey. Reading a book in those conditions was really a different experience. A few minutes later the whole battalion of the railway police appeared before me and started interrogating about me but fortunately the TTE who allowed me to enter the compartment had already told them about me. I carried on with reading and had gone through three chapters when slumber came calling. Initially I was reluctant to do that but later on I surrendered. I spreaded the newspaper between the berths as a bed sheet, put my bag on one side, kept the laptop under a berth safely and then lied down. My dignity was not at all allowing me to sleep in such a condition but after burning all my joules since morning on the project I was not giving a damn to it. Though I reached home after facing all this, the trip made me learn several things viz. don’t hesitate from sweating in the sun for some genuine reason- had I stayed there in the queue for some more time I could have got the ticket, don’t be complacent- had I taken the scooter from my friend and gone to the station that very evening I would not have seen that situation in the train.
Thanks to the first years that came to our hall in the evening to deposit their belongings before going for the vacation. The faccha whom I gave the money to book the ticket for me, must have cursed me for harassing him after a frustrating stretch of exams.Anyways, I got my ticket and again as always the ticket was wait-listed. I was not at all worried at that time because every time I had traveled by this train I had managed to land in the wait list only. But never ever I had faced such a situation which I am going to describe in following paragraphs.
My train was scheduled at 11.45 in the night. So I had enough time to spend on other activities. Thanks to my project partners, I had to finalize the project all alone. So I had planned to finish the work before 5 pm and then pack my bags. Everything went fine except that the deadline of 5 pm couldn’t be met and I was able to sum up only by 8 30 pm. Somehow I managed to pack my bags within such a short span. As I was to go to Pune for my internship so a lot of preparation was needed. I had planned to gather a few books from my college mates, download some software, collect some e-books but none of them could be accomplished. Despite all these I was satisfied as I was going home and this very thought was overshadowing everything else.I finished all the preparations before 10 pm and since an hour was left before I was to leave for the station I thought that I should check my reservation status. This time also I was not much tensed upon knowing that the chart had been prepared and I was W/L 17. I was having an idea that as always this time also I would be able to manage a berth by offering a few bucks to the TTE. But hell, I was all wrong this time.
Train arrived and I rushed to the black coat the moment I found it in the crowded platform. Before I could utter a word another person started talking to the TTE with same intentions and the way TTE scolded that fellow I lost the interest of taking any chance there .So I started looking for a softer target. Thanks to my body language reading skills, I was able to find one fellow who was at least ready to listen to the passengers. In the beginning he also turned down my request and showed me the general compartment. Cursing myself for this situation I strode towards the general compartment. What I saw in those compartments deserve another post. I had 3 bags with me including the laptop and there was no space event at the gates. For a moment I thought I should cancel the journey but the "Never Say Die" attitude dint let me give up and I rushed to the same fellow again. This time the person was a bit softer and the moment I said I was carrying a W/L 17 ticket and I was an IITian, he permitted me in. This was not all, each and every seat was occupied inside the compartment. I don’t know why during these kind of journeys the people who manage to get a seat reserved generally have a very suspicious attitude towards other fellow passengers who couldn’t get one. I have noticed this attitude quite often and to be very frank I belong to the same brigade as well. The very empathy proved to be a source of a great experience. At 11.45 pm train left the station and I took a deep breath and thanked god as it was very necessary for me to reach my home the very next morning. As the train gathered momentum I was loosing my patience and was dying to sit somewhere. So I took out the news paper sheet which I had kept in my bag anticipating this situation, spread that on the floor, sat down and started reading "FIRST THINGS FIRST" by Stephen Covey. Reading a book in those conditions was really a different experience. A few minutes later the whole battalion of the railway police appeared before me and started interrogating about me but fortunately the TTE who allowed me to enter the compartment had already told them about me. I carried on with reading and had gone through three chapters when slumber came calling. Initially I was reluctant to do that but later on I surrendered. I spreaded the newspaper between the berths as a bed sheet, put my bag on one side, kept the laptop under a berth safely and then lied down. My dignity was not at all allowing me to sleep in such a condition but after burning all my joules since morning on the project I was not giving a damn to it. Though I reached home after facing all this, the trip made me learn several things viz. don’t hesitate from sweating in the sun for some genuine reason- had I stayed there in the queue for some more time I could have got the ticket, don’t be complacent- had I taken the scooter from my friend and gone to the station that very evening I would not have seen that situation in the train.
