Jab we left the train………..Almost :)

I can never forget this journey that we did recently while going home on Dussehra holidays. We had to catch a train from Old Delhi station for Haldwani. The train was scheduled to depart at 4:00 PM.

Me, Adi (my husband) & Sindhuja (his Sister) were together. It was a Saturday evening, we were roaming around in Delhi since morning and did some shopping and got free at 2:00 PM. We had decided that we’ll leave for the station at sharp 2:30 PM else we won’t be able to catch the train. We reached Sindhu’s place at 2:00 PM, collected our luggage and left to lookout for an auto. We waited around 15 mins but it is really a big problem to get an auto in Delhi especially for old Delhi station. After 25 mins finally we got the auto and time was already 3:00 PM.

Now that one hour was one of the most exciting hours of my life, I had this fun after a long long time. The second main problem is the traffic jam in Delhi. If you can reach a place in 1 hour with normal traffic, take it as 2 hours minimum for Delhi. It was 3:30 PM and we were still 10 kms away from the station. I and Sindhuja started saying “shit yaar” in tension again & again. The funny part was we were chanting “shit yaar” like a mantra, one after another, me followed by her and then she followed by me. We spent 30 mins in that tension and it was 4:00 pm already. Still we were around 1-2 kms from station and roads were fully packed with people as it was Navaratri time and people were enjoying ramleela and other exhibitions, which are quite popular in old Delhi.

It was 4:01 PM now and we were exactly at the station gate, we literally jumped from the auto with our so heavy bags and started running, cutting the station crowd, to catch our train. To me it looked almost impossible to catch it now, as the scheduled departure was at 4:00 and we were trying to catch it after 5 mins, although in India you can still be optimistic coz trains are generally late but as this was the origin station, the hope was dim.

Finally we were at foot bridge just over the platform where our train was supposed to be standing, we were almost exhilarated to see the train there but it was momentary as we realized train was actually moving!!!!!!! Very slowly. There was no way we could catch it. By the time we would run down the steps, it would be gone. Without luggage perhaps, but with 3 heavy bags it was out of the question. I looked at Adi’s face and said “shit yaar”, we missed it L and we just stopped there itself looking at the leaving train, with heavy heart. We missed the train by few seconds. Our minds were already planning out the next steps, we were thinking of taking a taxi to the bus stand then taking a bus in the night. We were already so tired and on top of that a tiring bus journey, nothing looked worse than that. And I was thinking about fare of 3 AC tickets, which I was supposed to pay in my next credit card bill L……………………….

Then suddenly something miraculous happened and the train stopped, we ran like mad people down the steps with new hope.

Finally we stepped into our coach and got our seats. Later we got to know someone like us was stuck in the traffic jam and people waiting for that person in the train have pulled the chain. Throughout the way we were discussing about the whole incident (that 1 hour) and really it was so fun that we didn’t even realize when we have reached our destination. It was around 6 hours journey and we felt like we finished it in 2-3 hrs. Today when someone says “Shit yaar”, a smile comes to my face.

Sometimes when you look back in your life, the worst days are the ones that bring the biggest smiles on your face………………………