I was alwayz fascinated by train journeys .. especially by the ones that that our heroes or heroines go on in our movies ... and so i was alwayz aspiring to go on such journeys .. that was one reason for my dream to be a journalist .. they get to travel a lot na .. but then, as usual my parents had an entirely different idea .. :( ... nywayz, coming back to our topic, so i wanted to travel by train .. esp., on a long journey and not with my parents but by myself .. ;) .... but of course, i never got to go on such a loooong journey till date .. (and thank God for that!!! )
but in my school days, that was one of my biggest dreams ... :) .. and once i entered college, my parents let me travel the short three hour journey from salem to coimbatore (my native) by myself ... but i was a lot disappointed when i saw the trains .. our trains here r soooo filthy that it revolted me ... i felt very uncomfortable to be seated in those seats ... and the mosquitoes that accompany during the journeys are added kerosene to burning fire .. and the co-passengers wre no consolation either ..
after college, i landed up in a much-appreciated (no .. not by me .. but everyone other than me) software job ... and i was posted in Chennai much to my ecstacy ... i was praying that i wudn't be posted in some part of india which was not easily accessible from home .. thus, the saga of my train journeys started on a bigger note .. i missed home sooo much that i used to go home every weekend ... and my admiration for the train journeys detoriated ounce by ounce every time i made a trip home ..
nywayz .. when i think of all those toy bogies and engines that my parents bought for me and my bro when we wre kids, i feel gud inside inspite of the bitter experiences ... yeah .. thats exactly wat it is .. a bitter experience .. and whenever i think of train journeys, i never fail to remember that one journey during my first months of coming to Chennai ...
Office was declared a holiday for some festival and as is obvious, i was headed home ... a few of my collegues are also from coimbatore and so v wre travelling together .. t'was a long nite wat with all of us chatting and pulling each others legs ... v wre havin fun until one Thaatha from the next coach started cursing us ... he was not able to sleep b'coz of the sinlge light that was on and also b'coz of our laughter .. so we had no choice but to hit the sack .. t'was fine by everyone except me as all of us had a very gruelling time at office and wre tired to the bones .. but , alas, for poor me .. i never can sleep in the filthy, smelling berth .. i never sleep when 'm travelling ... so i sat up in the side lower berth and started lookin outside at the vague, dark, occasional images of fields and trees and stuff ... t'was starting to become sorta cold but if i close the windows, then the ever frenly mosquitoes wud decide to gimme company .. so, i decided that the cold was better company then the mosquitoes .. i was running a low fever and the cold made me feel worse .. throat started hurting soo much and i wanted very badly to drink s'thing hot .. i had promised my pals that i wudn't at any cost get down from our coach without one of the guys accompanying me .. so in the next station, i cald out a name or two of my pals who wre snoring away to glory .. but none stirred .. and train stops only for five minutes in that station and god knows how long t'll be b4 the next station .. so me the ever brave lady got hold of my wallet and went to the door of our coach ... there wre only a handful of ppl who got down in that stop .. i was jus lookin around not sure if i'll get down or not when i saw s'one get down from my next coach .. my curiosity kindled, i leaned forward and looked at the person and in the process dropped my wallet ..
and curse my luck, it fell in the gap between the train and the platform onto the tracks .. the gap was so narrow that i cant get down and get the wallet and my arms wre not long enuf to get it standing on the platform ... i jus stood there blinking like a moron .. all the bravado of the past few minutes had vanished and i stood there like a lost school kid unsure of wat to do ... and there wre jus two few precious minutes left for the train to take off again .....
thats when i heard a voice , "wassup?" ... i looked up to find the person whom i was straining to look at jus a min back ... he was a smart guy :P ... "Nothing"- i told him ..
he started laughing and asked "so u dropped ur wallet eh?!!" .. :-/ .. so if u knew, then wat the heck wre u asking me again for u smarty-pants .. "yeah .... " ...
"hold this " - he gave me his duffel bag .. i got it dutifully from him .. he removed his sneakers and socks and put his long leg between the narrow gap and took out my wallet expertly .. :-) .. i thanked him and he then asked me wat i was doing at that time near the door with my wallet .. i explained to him that i had a sore throat and wanted to drink s'thing hot to ease my poor throat ... he then went off and was back in a few sec with a steaming cup of coffee ... i was so grateful i jus took the cup from him forgetting to thank him ..the train started moving and only then did i realise i didnt know that guy at all .. i jus handed over his bag and extended my hand with a five rupee coin in it .. money for the coffee .. he didnt take it .. he jus smiled at me and told me to get inside and not drop it again .. and the train started gaining speed and he disappeared from my view ..
today, i dont even remember that guy's face .. if he stands rite in front of me, i wont recognize him .. but i still 'm very grateful to him .. he made my day that day .. :) thanx for some gud souls, i dont hate train journeys that much after all .. :P