An Unforgettable Journey!!! (which will soon b forgotten)

Sometimes I wonder whether I find trouble or trouble finds me. But then I stop wondering coz what’s the point…ki farq penda hai!! So here I am unrevealing the secret (BTW its no longer a secret…it’s a well known fact that all my travels are jinxed at the beginning)

Ok. So it was Friday, the 24th of October 2008. This was the day when I was supposed to travel to Ngp to celebrate Diwali. Considering the global slowdown, the job cuts, the inflation, and all the other financial jargons, I decided to travel by rail. I booked the tickets some 70 days in advance but still there was a waiting list and my number was some 70! But I was confident. 70 days and 70 WL, a cakewalk! When it was just one week to go, the WL was still at 60. Now, I started getting goose bumps… I desperately wanted to go home. The flight tickets were so expensive that I couldn’t think of buying them.

Then I started working on Plan B which was…go to Hyd by bus on 23th evening, reach Hyd on 24th(12 hrs) work from Hyd office and then take another bus to Ngp on 24th evening to reach Ngp on 25th Morning(another 12 hrs journey!)… seemed simple (BUT only on paper!!!). Since I had no other option, I booked the tickets through redbus for Hyderabad…and then tried to book from Hyd to Ngp…but… but… but… there weren’t any tickets available L I tried to get help from my friends, family…but no good …so plan B was almost failed. One of my friend was supposed to go from Hyd to Ngp on 25th, but her plans weren’t confirmed. So I couldn’t take the risk of going till Hyd and then not able to make to Ngp. But still I didn’t cancel the tickets….just in case!!

Then on 22nd October, I finally decided to book flight tickets, just one day before Diwali ( that was the only day, when the tickets were available as comparatively a low rate)… so I logged on to the travel website, I clicked on book, suddenly I saw the fare go up by Rs 1k…in just a matter on 1 minute! I was again indecisive. Should I book the tickets? Is it worth? After some 2 hrs of continuous debate within myself I decided to go ahead with it…and olaaa!! My fate….my server was down and I wasnt not able to open the page!!! Urggghhh!!!! I called up my friend, and asked her to book the flight ticket on my behalf. She did, and finally I was sure, I was going home!! Yippee!!!!

A day before the journey, my mom calls me up and told me to pack my bags. I was sure that the train tickets aren’t going to be confirmed, so I decided not to pay her any heed…after all, it was less than 24 hrs and the waiting list is still some 50’s! So the next day, as usual, I got up and went to office. My dad was sure that there will be an extra bogie attached to the train and that my reservation would be confirmed. Then at around noon, I suddenly wanted to go home on that day itself, so I decided to leave office at 2.30 and reach the railway station. When I left office, it was pouring heavily. I boarded the shuttle and by the time I reached the dropping point, it was pouring so heavily as it was the peak monsoon season. I was totally drenched. There wasn’t a single rick at that time. My home was still 4-5 kms! And for the first…mmm..no second time in blr, I boarded the state bus! It took Rs. 7 and dropped me around 500 mtrs from my home…totally drenched (even though I had an umbrella) some how I reached home and then started to pack. In about 1 hour, I was ready to go! There was only one small problem. The waiting list was still 31!

It took me some 2 hrs to reach the railway station. I was there by 720pm. My train was at 1020pm! I didn’t want to take any chances and hence left home quite early. At around 8 pm, my train came to the platform and I was surprised….more than that I was scared. Scared to the core. This train just had 2 AC 3tier bogies!! That means no additional bogie…that means no confirmed ticket…that means no going home??!! I called home, spoke to my dad. In the meantime, my cellphone battery went dead! So here I was, alone around 25kms from my home, at 9 in the evening, with no cell phone and NO TICKETS!! Now I lost hope! Meanwhile, I called my dad a couple of times from the STD booth and he assured me and told me to wait till 10pm. From here I charged my phone. For 30 minutes, he asked for Rs. 10. But god knows what happened, but even after 30 mins. My phone wasn’t charged <[:(]> . then I learnt that there are charging points at the waiting room. So I went there and charged my phone for almost an hour…hah..what a relief it was!! Now, the charts which are supposed to be put at the station 2 hrs before the departure of the train were nowhere to be seen, even though it was just 20 mins for the train to depart. I went to the enquiry counter a couple of times, but was told that the charts are getting prepared! Then I met a couple at the waiting room, who too was waiting for the charts to be put up. Then they suggested to go into one of the bogies and wait there, coz it was almost the time of departure of the train…so I went there and sat at one of the bogies. Strangely enough, the bogie was all empty. Not even a single person was in. then I saw two waiters there and asked them… “extra bogie nahi laga hai kya?” and one of them said… “yeh extra bogie hee hai” and WHAT A RELIEF! YEH EXTRA BOGIE HAI!! I immediately called up my dad and told him that there was indeed an extra bogie! After 10 mins, the chart was displayed and I was told my berth…thank God…after much await and tension I was finally going home with a berth!!!!

The twists and turns are not over. On the way back, when I went at the station, the WL was 1!! I went to the station assuming, that WL 1 wasn’t difficult. When I could get into train with WL 31, then WL 1 kis khet ki mooli hai?!?! But when the train came, none of the TTs’ was ready to allow me to enter the train. The train was jam packed….I begged the TT (afterall how much space will I occupy… [:)]). The train started moving and I was running along the train, without being allowed to board the same. Finally, the TT asked me to get into the train. After 10 minutes, he told me to sit at a berth, sharing with another person. He told me that I will get a full berth only at Secunderabad, which was 10 hours from Ngp. I had no option but to agree. So, at Secunderabad I got a berth and then slept off, just to get up in the morning at Blr Central railway station!

Travelling alone in such circumstance…gosh, I can’t believe I have done this!!!