Great Escape

30th April09 – D-day to come home
I was waiting for this day to come for past 2 months that’s when I booked my train ticket. It started from then that I counted the days left…..
Still this worried me a lot; because my tickets were not confirmed,
I checked for the status daily with subtle hope that I will be getting a confirmed berth;
but the situation remained the same I was desperately prayingfor the things to change…..
In the company; When it was a week left for the journey some mild feeling always said don’t work…don’t work but…nay…you can’t do that…..
Counting all these days was pushing me to the den never wanted to go to work and when the days passed I was submerged by the worry of the ticket; it was still not confirmed. I was left out with no option rather than waiting and waiting for the ticket to get cancelled. I said to myself don’t worry will go some other time. But this was not digestible I had planned very early still I am not getting the tickets…? Its not fair.
My train was scheduled at 10.30PM and I was making enquiry every 2 minutes from morning to know the status of the ticket. Nevertheless nothing changed; despite the fact that I had everything packed ready for the journey.
I had lost all my hopes of going home this summer. It was around 2000 hrs that I checked the net for the status I was shocked I had got RAC seat. The next minute I see myself in the Auto rickshaw (I know all the gals will be wondering how to get ready within 2 or 3 mins?).
It took exactly 90 minutes to reach the station; I kept seeing the Auto meter as I travelled in the mild light that hovered inside the Auto; The last time I travelled on this train was on 10th July 06 when I came Mumbai to join M & M.
I managed my dinner with a sandwich and fruity. The train was on schedule. The only thing that lingered my mind was to sleep, sleep and sleep on the whole journey till Coimbatore. Some unsaid feeling kept me happy and awake for that night. A book gifted by my colleague “The kite runner” and i-pod kept my time-ticking well. I slept by mid-night sharing my berth with a defense person.
The whole journey till Coimbatore was filled with lot of memories;
There was one kid and her family; her brother spoke in English, Mother spoke in Hindi while her granny spoke in Malayalam and aunt in Tamil. I observed for a long time for words to come out from her mouth in some unknown language….i was confident that that kid is gonna speak Marathi…but no…she spoke in all English, Tamil, Malayalam & Hindi.
PS: Where are you going was the thing her brother asked?
Her: “ Avide(mal) seat-lu(Eng &mal) utrkaraporen(Tamil) kya re?(hindi)
I couldn’t stop smiling listening to this conversation. She spoke in bhramin slang.
Again this time I was not able to sleep not because of the “feeling happy” thing but because of the kids in the train. This time I was saved by the TTR who confirmed my berth to a better quite place.
I felt the halt of the train in some station. It gave me a feeling that why the train is not moving further, only to realize that I have reached Coimbatore and the train was empty. I checked for my luggage and came out; At first I had a feeling if I have really come to Coimbatore. It was clean and not much crowded as before. it gave me a fresh feeling, as I reached my home there was no one to greet me but to my relief our Doggy greeted me with a wild grin and a loud bark(Thief...thief...thief!!!). There was a new entry in our family a Duck just week old.
My brother, My dad were busy in their own work; no one saw me…My sweet mom didn’t know I had entered the house. I went and stood behind her...just as she saw me she was about to scream but with a loud voice…”Sriram you have reached”. Ho my god neighbor’s would have heard that……I felt “Heaven”.