Nightmarish Night !!

An ordeal that's become an order of the weekends. More so on weekends, adjoining a public holiday on a friday or a Monday. An ephemeral mass exodus happens out of Bangalore as every lane leads to the railway station or the bus stand. Bangalore's infrastructural woes were back to haunt me last night and it was arguably my toughest day on the road.

I was culpable of yielding to my passion for table tennis, as I kept playing on and on, hoping to get back home quickly and head off to the Rly.station from there in a Rick. I was to be wrong. My ability to maneuver the vehicle through the roads didnt come handy as I was stranded at different places on my way back home. I finally reached home 15 minutes later than I hoped to. Least did I know then that those 15 minutes were going to be crucial.

It was 8:45 when I reached the BTM main road and I was bewildered to notice the big jam on the lane leading to the city(Rly.stn). I kinda sensed I was in for a big test. Test of patience and test of stamina too. Why stamina ? I could sense u guys smirking over this, wondering if the Rick was gonna carry me or if I was gonna carry the rick, to be worried about the stamina. The reason I said that is I've seen such jams before and I knew precisely what I had to do as you would see further down this post.

It was 9.00 pm and still no Autorickshaw was game for a trip to the station and even if they did, it came at a heavy cost of over 150 bucks, definitely more than double the cost that I would incur otherwise. I could feel the trepidation in my legs and frantically tried to recollect if there was any friend of mine who was there in the city for the weekend and give me a ride till the station. There were a few who came to my mind, but they were all staying too far to be of too much of help. Frustration compounded and in the meantime found a Gentleman working with Wipro, for company. He was not in any hurry though,since his train was only at 10:45, 45 mins after mine. Finally, one auto conceded to take us to the station, at 1.5 times the metre cost. It was well over 10 minutes and the auto had not even gone past BTM main road, which is not even half a km from where I took the rick. Meantime I enquire the autowalah if he would take me the Blr cantonment station, where the train was gonna reach some 10 mins after it departs from the city rly stn and much to my disappointment, he doesnt agree and I stuck to my instinct and decided to carry on in the same auto, rather than get down and look for another auto to cantonment, which may again take those 25 mins that it took for me to get this Rick. In another 15 mins, we had crossed BTM and from thereon for the next 5 kms, the driver took the vehicle through unseen, hardly thronged roads and in no time I had reached the Lalbagh gate.. I take a sigh of relief , when my friend Vasu (Gentleman who travelled along) warns me of the impending danger in the form of jams some 3 kms ahead of the station. And yeah, he was right and that circle is were it's usually clogged until all trains leaving Bangalore would have left. I slip into bad mood again. 5 minutes later, we were there at that very spot and just as we expected, there were vehicles all over, all the way till the station. For the next 10 mins, the Auto crawled through the lane. I had to take a call and decided to run down the lane to the station. The station was a good 2-2.5 kms away and running was the only choice I had to catch the train. I paid what I thought would be half the cost of the journey to Vasu and bid him a bye. With a travel bag hanging on my back and the laptop on one shoulder, I setout on a mission- "Mission Majestic" and I had roughly 10 minutes to accomplish the mission. I kept running right on the main road like a Man who walks blindfolded on a highway and still does not get runover. Midway, the traffic started moving a little and I hitched a ride on a Tvs suzuki. It went for a few yards and I get down from the bike thanking that fella and start running again. Yet again, there is a clearance and I hitch a ride in one other bike and this time he takes me very close to the Majestic bus stand, not so far from the station. I effortlessly jump over a road divider that was chest high. As I get to one side of the road, one of my legs is accidentally inserted into my laptop bag's holder and I stumble over it. Even then I make a last ditch atempt at preventing my lappy from any damage, least worried about my own fall. Least deterred by the fall, I take the big stairway leading to a pedesrian bridge that connects the bus stand and station. Half way through that bridge, I run out of steam and also hope. It was already 10 pm and the train could be leaving anytime. I restrict myself to a fast walk and finally the station is visible. I alight from the bridge, standing on the other side of the station. Taking the subway could be time consuming. Hence I decide to jump over yet another road divider. This time, an even bigger one. ah, it pains as I saunter through the station gates and make enquiries about the platform to a porter, not intending to waste time looking at the display. Platform 3 he says and I sped to the overbridge to get there. From the bridge, I try to see if the train had gone. Gawddd, I dont see a train there :-(..My mind starts going haywire and just as I am about to fall dejected, I also notice a hugeeeeeeee crowd on the platform. I slowly approach one and ask "Coimbatore Express" ? "Yeah, it's expected" he says.
Gawd, the train s late and as much as I thanked god for this, I also blamed him for not letting me know of this delay. "Testing times dont last, but determined Men do" I suddenly get reminded of this thought, as I wipe off the sweat from my face to look more presentable to the girls in the station..Ah, I never change :-)