Invariably every week I manage to meet up with this gang of friends. We either meet for a cup of coffee or dinner or a movie. During one such meet I was whining about how I’ve been grounded for too long [2months] and was itching to get back on the road. A friend Nagarajan countered saying he had been grounded forever [since his accident a few months ago]. And that is when we decided to share interesting incidents from our trips. Couple of us took a go at it, but Nags’s story takes the cake. Here is what he went through…
The background: Nags works for a leading IT company and was being sent to Canada on work. To complete the Visa processing, he had to go to Delhi.
I was in Delhi, but was missing my home terribly since I had not been away much and was very close to my family members. I had booked train tickets for the subsequent not knowing how long the Visa processing formalities would take. But then, I was done within a few hours and instead of spending the rest of the day exploring Delhi, I decided to get back home. Alas, Chennai isnt a hop skip jump from Delhi. I wondered what would be the easiest quickest way. Flights were not an option, I had no intention of shelling out 10k to the airlines. Instead, I threw caution to the wind and got to the station and looked for an alternative.
I managed to hitch a ride from Delhi to Bhopal thanks to a physically challenged person in the handicapped compartment. From Bhopal onwards, I shared seat with zillion others in the compartment reserved for army personnel. I sat the entire journey, with not a wink of sleep. And finally I had made it to Chennai. The entire journey was with an unreserved ticket but without getting into the unreserved compartment.. I consider this quite an achievement. Who would have thought ~ Talk about Relishing the Challenge of not having a ticket but just the drive to get home 🙂
My family was surprised to see me home earlier than what I had told them and when they heard the tale, they dint know if they should scream at me for being so reckless or be happy that I persisted and got home
Hands down, this story wins admiration and applause.
I can never do something like that 🙁
Joy always,
Susan