Well, if things have to screw up, no matter what you do, they are going to screw up...
It so happened that I didn't get a berth under VIP quota.. When the charts were prepared I was on WL1. Still, I was so determined to go home, that I thought I will catch the train and later beg the TT to give me some place to sit or maybe get my ticket upgraded or downgraded. My cab came on time and I reached Bandra station an hour before the scheduled departure. And as soon as I got down, my dad calls me and tells me that I am ticket-less! One hour for the train to depart and I was ticket-less!!! The thing was, since it was an e-ticket and not confirmed, it became invalid and I was ticket-less.. I hit the panic button again! Then dad told me that he has spoken to a few people and they will get me fresh tickets made and something will workout. And told me that I should go to some superintendent's office. So, I take my luggage and start walking towards the office when I get two more calls. And then was directed to Station Master's office. I somehow manage to reach there. The SM takes a look at me, and the first thing he does is gives me water to drink and calms me down. Then he explains me the whole thing that he has sent someone to get fresh tickets made, and I will be getting a berth from here to Vadodara and then from there a different berth to Jodhpur under VIP quota. And then someone gets my freshly booked tickets, I pay him the money, the SM makes a few calls and gives my PNR number to the central railway, I thank the SM and leave for platform no 3 where the train is waiting. On the way I make a few calls and thank all the people involved in changing my status form being ticket-less to 'two half tickets' and helping me reach home safely. And at 2.30pm I board the train, and finally start my journey home.
I reached home the next day in the morning. Again ate a lot and to the extent that my stomach started paining in the night..:D :D But what the heck, I am finally home and super happy.. :D
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
How I missed my TRAIN....
India me reh ke life me bollywood masala mafik story na ho, to sali life waste hai...
This journey back home is becoming some crazy experience I must say. Now I am laughing at it but the tension I went through was miserable - 'train milega, ki nahi milega....'. Finally ended up missing my train.. The story goes something like this -
Yesterday evening while I was in the cab to Panjim to catch my bus to Mumbai, I should have understood that my journey is going to be very interesting and full of excitement. The start was itself not so good with the terrible headache that I was going through. But these signs are too minute to be understood. It all started when the bus suddenly came to a halt at around 5ish in the morning. I thought that probably the driver is taking a tea break and slept off again. But surprisingly the bus didn't move for next one hour. And when it moved, it moved for some 5mins and again came to a halt. That's when Sneha woke up Hitesh and asked him to check whats going on. He also, like me took things lightly and slept off again. So Sneha, all determined, went to check what happened, went out. It was around 7am at that time. And then she comes back with the news that the bus is not going to reach Mumbai before 3pm. It was because of this terrible landslide and hence a traffic jam due to it. We freaked out. Went down to check. I could see this never ending line of buses and trucks. This other bus driver in front of our bus told us to take a lift from some small vehicle, because apparently smaller vehicles have enough space to go. By the time I could speak to Hitesh and Sneha, Hitesh was already speaking to this guy in the van. He and his family were going to Panvel. Reluctantly he agreed to give us a lift. So, we took our luggage and hitchhiked this guys van hoping that probably now we would be able to make it to our flights and trains. But within no time this guy turns around and starts moving in the opposite direction. I again freaked out. Was on call with my father, so couldn't freak him. After the call I got to know that apparently there is this other route which is less crowded and we were taking that route. But through that road we had to travel 90kms extra, and it was pathetically maintained and yes, there were traffic jams here also. It took us 5hours to cover around 200kms. Such a waste of time and energy! Anyways, while we were en route, others started canceling their flight ticket. I still had hopes. My dad was going crazy in background as well. He had already made a zillion calls to my Uncle and Sister in Mumbai. But the best part was, the train was on time!!! Indian trains are never ever on time, and this one time when I am running against time, the bloody train has to be on time! My Uncle had come to Panvel station to pick me up and drop me to Bandra station. But, the tragedy of life. When everything was going fine and I had full hopes of making it to the train and have the most dramatic train catching experience of my life, we reached a traffic jam. Yes, a traffic jam!! By the time we got out of that one, the road condition deteriorated and unlce started driving slower and slower. And then the second traffic jam. It took us more than one hour to cover the last 25kms.. It was 12.45 by the time I reached Panvel station, and my train was supposed to leave Bandra fat 1.30pm. And it takes a minimum of 1 hours 45mins to reach Bandra from Panvel. Thus, I missed my train. :(
So, having left with no option I go to my Uncle's place. Finally get a chance to brush and take bath around 2pm. And then I hog like anything, because 1) Its home food 2) I was starving 3) Finally I get to eat some home food.. :D Then from there my sister got me to her place. I was full upset and tired with the journey. All I wanted to do was go home, and I was stuck in Mumbai. I am still in Mumbai.
Don't have many options now. Flight tickets costs 13,000bucks and I am not paying that much to go home, come what may. Dad has booked another ticket in tomorrow's train. He is trying to get me a seat through some VIP quota. (Badly badly hope this thing works out). Else might go to Jaipur through flight (but I like an idiot haven't got any photo-id proof with me. Got scoldings from dad for that as well. So, probably this option is also gone.). So, might go to Pune and spend my holidays there if nothing else works out. But I badly want to go home. So, please pray that I get my tickets confirmed tomorrow and reach home safely by day after.
Will post what happens tomorrow, later. Till then praying and wishing myself luck. Good night world....
This journey back home is becoming some crazy experience I must say. Now I am laughing at it but the tension I went through was miserable - 'train milega, ki nahi milega....'. Finally ended up missing my train.. The story goes something like this -
Yesterday evening while I was in the cab to Panjim to catch my bus to Mumbai, I should have understood that my journey is going to be very interesting and full of excitement. The start was itself not so good with the terrible headache that I was going through. But these signs are too minute to be understood. It all started when the bus suddenly came to a halt at around 5ish in the morning. I thought that probably the driver is taking a tea break and slept off again. But surprisingly the bus didn't move for next one hour. And when it moved, it moved for some 5mins and again came to a halt. That's when Sneha woke up Hitesh and asked him to check whats going on. He also, like me took things lightly and slept off again. So Sneha, all determined, went to check what happened, went out. It was around 7am at that time. And then she comes back with the news that the bus is not going to reach Mumbai before 3pm. It was because of this terrible landslide and hence a traffic jam due to it. We freaked out. Went down to check. I could see this never ending line of buses and trucks. This other bus driver in front of our bus told us to take a lift from some small vehicle, because apparently smaller vehicles have enough space to go. By the time I could speak to Hitesh and Sneha, Hitesh was already speaking to this guy in the van. He and his family were going to Panvel. Reluctantly he agreed to give us a lift. So, we took our luggage and hitchhiked this guys van hoping that probably now we would be able to make it to our flights and trains. But within no time this guy turns around and starts moving in the opposite direction. I again freaked out. Was on call with my father, so couldn't freak him. After the call I got to know that apparently there is this other route which is less crowded and we were taking that route. But through that road we had to travel 90kms extra, and it was pathetically maintained and yes, there were traffic jams here also. It took us 5hours to cover around 200kms. Such a waste of time and energy! Anyways, while we were en route, others started canceling their flight ticket. I still had hopes. My dad was going crazy in background as well. He had already made a zillion calls to my Uncle and Sister in Mumbai. But the best part was, the train was on time!!! Indian trains are never ever on time, and this one time when I am running against time, the bloody train has to be on time! My Uncle had come to Panvel station to pick me up and drop me to Bandra station. But, the tragedy of life. When everything was going fine and I had full hopes of making it to the train and have the most dramatic train catching experience of my life, we reached a traffic jam. Yes, a traffic jam!! By the time we got out of that one, the road condition deteriorated and unlce started driving slower and slower. And then the second traffic jam. It took us more than one hour to cover the last 25kms.. It was 12.45 by the time I reached Panvel station, and my train was supposed to leave Bandra fat 1.30pm. And it takes a minimum of 1 hours 45mins to reach Bandra from Panvel. Thus, I missed my train. :(
So, having left with no option I go to my Uncle's place. Finally get a chance to brush and take bath around 2pm. And then I hog like anything, because 1) Its home food 2) I was starving 3) Finally I get to eat some home food.. :D Then from there my sister got me to her place. I was full upset and tired with the journey. All I wanted to do was go home, and I was stuck in Mumbai. I am still in Mumbai.
Don't have many options now. Flight tickets costs 13,000bucks and I am not paying that much to go home, come what may. Dad has booked another ticket in tomorrow's train. He is trying to get me a seat through some VIP quota. (Badly badly hope this thing works out). Else might go to Jaipur through flight (but I like an idiot haven't got any photo-id proof with me. Got scoldings from dad for that as well. So, probably this option is also gone.). So, might go to Pune and spend my holidays there if nothing else works out. But I badly want to go home. So, please pray that I get my tickets confirmed tomorrow and reach home safely by day after.
Will post what happens tomorrow, later. Till then praying and wishing myself luck. Good night world....
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