Tiresome Journey

Since my family resides in Chennai I often travel to Chennai which is lot closer to Bangalore than other inner state cities. And moreover large number of software professionals and BPO employees are from Chennai so the number of trains between Chennai and Bangalore is more than average. And there are numerous trains from Mysore also. Eventually it's easy for me to book my ticket as I would have lot to choose from. Habitually I travel by the brindavan express which departs Bangalore just about 2:30 pm and arrives in Chennai at roughly 8:30pm.

It was about 2 weeks well before Diwali of 2008 , I was careless and din't book my ticket till I got a call from my parents asking me when would I be coming to Chennai. So casually I replied I have not yet booked the ticket and so my dad told me "all the best" instead of "happy journey". I kept wondering why, until the coming Sunday when I found myself standing in a sea of people waiting to check the sea availability in the busy Bangalore Railway station. All of a sudden like a lightning strike I thought of internet a medium I could use. Finding my path through the crowd I found the entrance, I wander in the rare Bangalore's scorching sun and in vain I find no internet cafes. What do I do I lost my place in the never ending queue and I had no power to go back in. I call my dad who checks the status and lets me know that I have no hope of getting a seat to Chennai. So I return back to my room without any ticket. As I was chatting this with my friend I got to know about kengari railway station, a small station near my room. I was like OMG every possibility of ticket booking as so near and I sweat it out in Majestic. So finally I get my ticket an unreserved one though and it took me only 75 bucks. So the day of journey I was extra careful as I had to get into an unreserved compartment I left my room early as possible even though I reached Majestic at 1:30pm the train arrives from Chennai at 1:20pm and departs to Chennai back at 2:30pm. So the platform was filled with people arriving and the people eagerly waiting to grab a seat for their family in the unreserved compartment. Before I could make my way to compartment s it was full. By full I mean I had no space to walk through and I see amazingly a family of five people seated on a seat meant for one. The parent's share the seat while the strong legs of the dad serves for 2 kids while one hangs around the mom and the window. So next I had my lunch and decided to get into the reserved compartment. I find the same amount of crowd even in those compartments as guys like me preferred to get in reserved ones. So wander about to find the least congested bogie and got into and was lucky to find a suitable place not for me of course it was for my bag. Finally I settle myself hanging near the door for fresh air and began my journey. As stations passed and my radios signal weakened I remove them to hear the voices of the train and its people. Mostly travelling were tamilian families with their old parents then students like me and worker of every aspect of Bangalore. To my surprise I didn't see even a single single girl in my bogie. I started observing things around I find a lot of people letting their near and dear ones know that they have safely boarded the train. Even I do my part i miss call my mom to let her know that I am safe. I see mostly people using china sets and nokia' s basic handsets and the costliest mobile I see is a nokia 6233 .As I put back my phone I see a heated argument was erupting and the reason being seats. It was so funny, not to them but to me as communication was the problem between them and I understood both the languages. The problem was that 2 seats of a Tamil family was reserved and also reserved for the northis. So the northis try to convince the tamilian in their little know Kannada and the tamilian was busy listening to his wife's blah blah. Finally a semi old man comes from behind trying to solve the issue; he was a Tamil with little knowledge of Hindi. So he manages to get to get both their ticket to verify and finds that the seats where indeed reserved for both of them but the dates were not. The Tamil family had boarded the train a day before and the mob that knew what was going burst into laughter and now the it was the turn of the head of family, he publically started saying please all bachelors please don't ever get married. All the wife did was stand dumb and listen to him and his sayings about marriage. As things settled down and people retired to sleep one thing that didn't cease were the caterers. They kept moving along the train. Right from tea, coffee and meals in the afternoon then snacks like cutlet, bhajji, samosa in the evenings along with tomato soup then dinner. All comes within the price range of 6 – 30 rs. They had all that a customer could ask for. Then there are the local sales. As one enters Andhra borders one can get any Tamil, Kannada latest DVDs for a bargain rate of 30 rs. Then toys, books, necklaces, flowers, fruits, and nowadays they sell vegetables also. These people remain active till their destination and then jump out taking the train back to their places. I almost spent 5 hours on my legs then somehow I managed to get a seat, the rest one hour's journey to Chennai I don't remember what transpired coz I was asleep. And never before in my life was i so tired and slept in a journey.

--

Axewood