The following narration refers to events occurring between 27-8-2007 and 28-8-2007
A habbit (both my friends and family would positively concur with) i have is this that i tend to forget things at the start of any travel…
I can still remember when me and Dhruv were travelling to Aani, to meet Sheetal at her home, i forgot my bible at Pastor Prem Chand’s home in Simla and that led to delay.. Certainly an adventure that i’d hardly like to forget.. We had to travel from the bus stand in Simla to the famous Mall Road( believe me its one hell of a climb). Half way up we decided that we were anyways going to come back to Simla to get back home and we’ll get it on our way back and the time was 915hrs. The bus to Aani left in 15 minutes from another bus stand (lakkad bazar).
and that was one thing i didn’t want to miss cause i had no idea on how to get to Aani by any other route and with a Rookee by my side i didn’t want to take any chances. Guess what?? We missed the bus.. Anyway, we got to our destination.. But that’s another story..
On another occasion, we had gone to Spicer Memorial College, Pune, for a Youth Congress in i think October ‘99. We ( a small group from my School) had been there for a week and that was my first outing without my family, a memory i’ve never looked back since.. whatever… i forgot where i kept my wallet on the last day after packing all my bags. I was in a very embarrasing position.. from then on i’ve developed certain extreme measures for keeping my cash safe…
The same was the case when we were going for our semester holidays during the 1st Semester break.. We had 9 days to enjoy, away from college and Pestering staff.. that was a plus.. What happened there was even more outrageous… May be it would be Christo who’d probably remember it more than me… For it was he who bore the pain.. Well it was not a pain.. just an extended session of momentary tension … That was when He nearly missed his train home…
Another hopeless event that i can never ever forget is when i was both the initiator and the victim of my bad habbit…
This was the time when we were going to Wesley’s place in Madurai… the 5. Bennet, Christo, Wilfred, Wesley and Me. i had forgotten my wallet..(Oh NO!! not again).. at least i thought i did.. and we were at Lena.. and i had to go 4 or 5 times between college and Lena.. (that would be 2kms.. at least). I know the other 4( if they’re reading this), would laugh their brains out. Those “Wiseheads” found my wallet in my bag and then made me think that i had lost my wallet. AND. Assured me that we’d put a complaint for the Lost bank cards.. and my precious coin collection(to whom??)… not to mention i had to put up another round tothe college to make sure that i had not forgetten it somewhere else.. That was nothing.. The height of it all reached when they tried to assure me that it would be all right.. Especially Christo.. On reaching Wesley’s home the climax came when his Dad told me to check out his new TV ( a Sony flat screen WEGA) when i was trying to explain my misfortunes to him. I found my wallet on top of the TV. Laughter Followed a Sheepish smile..
On this occassion, i was scheduled to start from home at around 500hrs on 28th.. i got new pantaloons and deo and then started choosing the clothes that would travel with me to college and from then on who knows where.. i had a chat with christo in the night then again resumed packing. He was going to reach there on the 31st. i finished packing at 130hrs and then decided to have a shower and shave. it was 230hrs when i finished and then decided to stay awake upto 5. That didn’t happen. I slept off after calling Elvina (who in her sleep had no idea who was calling.. I gave up).
Well i got up at 530hrs and by the time i got ready it was 630. It takes 5 hours to get to Delhi on a good day. This was far from it. Me and ashu were going to travel together.. He would accompany me till Bhopal, then on i was all alone.
But alas!! we were on the bus.. Got a call from home.. I had forgotten my wallet at home. In it was my Ticket. The TICKET!! When i heard that i didn’t believe it… i searched for it in my bag and it wasn’t there. Well i had to get down at a place called Gurukul. wait for my parents to come and deliver me “my wallet.” After checking its precious contents again and again.. and finally after being satisfied i resumed my journey.. Seperated from my brother who had taken the luggage, i travelled alone to Delhi in an AC bus. I started from Gurukul at 800hrs. i reached Shadra at 1330hrs.. it was a taffic jam.. extending every where (in my lane alone) till my eyes could reach.. Fortunately for me, the Metro station was nearby..
I went over to the metro station and what do I see there?? The Queue was so long it would have taken me at least 45 minutes to get to the ticket counter. There were 5 counters but two of them were shut down. And half the people caught up in the jam were lined up on the other three counters. This was 1350hrs and my train was at 1500hrs from New Delhi Station. What could I do?? I had no option left but to stand in the Queue.. after standing in the same place for over 10 minutes I had begun to think that my plan to go off to college and subsequent migration plans to the south were not in any ways sane enough to materialize. Well, in such a case I know only one thing to do.. As I finished praying, one of the counters, which was earlier shut down, opened up and I was in the queue adjacent to it.. I suddenly found myself within 10 feet of the counter.. I hope that there would be a perfectly logical explanation for it.. It was 1410hrs. I got my RFid Coupon for the Metro in the next 15 minutes and was on the New Delhi Station Platform. It was 1445hrs. Ashu was already waiting for me there…
