you only get what you deserve....

Tring Tring.. Tring Tring.. tringtringtringtringtringtringtring...

Oh crap!!! The alarm was ringing, and it brought my dream to an abrupt end. The time was 4 AM, and my Shatabdi train to chennai, was scheduled to depart from Bangalore City Junction at 6 AM, and hence I decided to have a short nap,and planned to catch the 5 '0' clock BMTC bus to Majestic.

allllllah ohhhhhh akbaaarrrrrrr...... (I live close by a mosque, and the prayers had just begun.)

What'sss the time??????? It was 5:28... Oh no.. I just have 32 mins, can I make it to the station.. I just went out, and asked my roomie, if he could drop me to the station in the bike, and he had just got up and wondering what was happening, and he really didn't know the route, so i decided to take an auto.. I was sure that i would miss it, but what's wrong in giving it a shot.. Efforts Never Fail..

I took my e-ticket, id-card ( last time I wasn't allowed to travel in Shatabdi, because I forgot to take my id-card along with me, and the TTE demanded to me pay the entire fare, which incidently I didn't have and hence did not board..)wallet, and just washed my faced and ran down the road.. It was 5:34...

An auto came by, and the driver was a pretty old man, and I thought he will never make it to the station by 6 AM, and hence waited for another auto to come by. another one came, and it's driver was a man in his mid 30's and he initially demanded half-my train ticket fare, and then we settled for the auto meter to give the final verdict on the fare. It was 5:38..


I told the autowala, that I had to catch the train in 20 minutes, and luckily he took it as a challenge and accelerated as much as he could, while I was guiding him on the shortest route he had to take.. He flew over the bumpers,pot-holes, and I felt bad that the auto was getting hit because of my stupidity/laziness. I remembered that Shadabti stops at Bangalore Cantontment too, or is it only the trains that go towards bangalore City Junction stops, and not the ones that leaves the City Junction.. I asked the autowala to wait for a second, and took some 5 seconds, and decided to go to the City Junction.. It was 5:42..

With the speed at with the autowala was going, I could caculate that he would reach the Railway Station(which is 13 kms from my place) in a whopping 20 mins, which means I would reach the station around 5:58, and I might just be able to catch the train. But when we reached near Lalbagh, a stupid TN bus, stopped the bus in the middle of the road(he could have stopped it on the bus-bay instead blocking the entire onward going vechicles.), and the passengers were getting down, and that wasted my 30 precious seconds.. It was 5:48..

I initially agreed to the auto driver that I would pay him 1.5 times the amount shown in the meter, and I decided to pay him twice the meter amount for his effort, and acknowledging the fact that if I was to ever catch the train, it would solely be only because of him.. Now the pressure was mounting, will I make it or not.. 10 minutes earlier I had no hope, but now anything could happen.. It was 5:52..

Now I was wondering as from platform will this train depart. History told me that it was platform 5, but I wasn't too sure, hence I had planned to ask a Porter( this would save some precious seconds from getting the same info from the Display system available at the station). I also planned to take the sub-way to platform 5 rather than the over-bridge as the sub-way would take me to departing end of the platform, and if ever the train was moving, it would come towards me, and i could just hop into the train. If i take the over-bridge then i would need to run behind the train.. It was 5:54..

The money was out from my wallet much before we reached the station, and as the auto reached the station, I gave him the money, and thanked him and told him that if ever I catch the train it would solely be due to him.. Even though I was in a hurry, those 5 seconds I took, made us both feel happy. It was 5:57..

I ran(for 500 metres) like a mad guy, shouting for people to give me way, and on the way I checked with the porter, and he told me Chennai Shatabdi was departing from platform 6. Now I was confused, hence decided to look at the Display System, which showed me that it was indeed departing from platform 6. It was 5:58..

hold on..............

But the clock on the station showed 6:00.. Crap!!!! and I heard the announcement of Shatabdi departing from platform 6 while I was stranded in platform 1. I made another mad rush towards the subway.. My heart was pounding very heavily.. Will I make it or not... I climbed up the stairs, and was in platform 6 now.... Forget the time, it no longer makes any sense.

dhak dhak... dhak dhak... dhak dhak...

As I climbed up, the train was moving, and I could only get to the last carriage, and I asked the Guard who was busy waving the green flag, whether it was the Shadabti train, and God knows what he heard, he pointed his finger towards platform 7, and my heart just sanked in immediate depression.. and as that train moved away, the guy next to me told me, the train which I just missed was indeed Chennai Shatabdi, and the Guard pointed towards platform 7, thinking I was asking for Jana-Shatabdi(which was scheduled to depart a few hours later...)

I was hoping that Mother EARTH would just swallow me, and was wondering where I wasted those precious 5 seconds..So close yet so far..