It was the day of my model review. I had to finish my project review early and also catch a train at 4. My batchmates and I successfully completed the project and brought it to college that day. The review was scheduled at 12:45. We still had more than one and half hour left. The other batch of our project guide was preparing with their robot for the demo while we were busy testing our project. My job was to take a printout of an analysis and also teach my sister ‘photoshop’ through phone.
The day also marked the record-winning painting event done by my college students. The students were divided into pairs and each student had to paint on the other one’s hands and vice-versa. They had to do it within an hour. I witnessed the gathering and the work as I passed the inter-dept corridor to the stores. I took the printout and managed to come back to the dept and also managed to teach my sister what is to be done. Meanwhile, a call taxi guy called me and asked me when he should pick me up at college. He was at Mahabalipuram, so he would take just a little time to come to my college. “1:30″ was my reply and I hung up.
Everything was fine but the problem just then arised. The project was unexpectedly not working. We were trying to figure out the reason for the problem and we were still trying when the clock striked 12:45. We went to the lab where the review was held. The project co-ordinators were reviewing the other two batches present there and we were still configuring the system in my friend’s laptop. My project guide, seeing our tensed faces, asked us to be calm and to solve the problem. My friend, who owned the laptop, lost the charger. He had to go searching for it cause the laptop was on very low charge. I was getting constant calls from someone but I didn’t bother to pick it up. Things turned out well when my friend realized that the charger is still in his bag and now the project was working. The review went smoothly and when it got over, it was almost 2 pm. I told my project guide that I got to catch a train at 4 and left the place.
I went out of my department. There were no call taxis. I picked up my phone, noticed that it had only a single point charge and immediately called the call taxi guy. The guy told me that the driver wouldn’t have made it and so they had cancelled it. They had tried to call me but unfortunately, I was there in the review. I had to get out of my college fast. So after informing my mom over phone, I went for the last resort – I got to join my mom and sister in train.
It took me 10 minutes to reach my college gate. Around 20 students were standing there, waiting for the bus. I was glad that there are too many 521 (from my college) and 21H (from Kelambakkam) buses which goes to broadway, a place near the railway station. No matter what, I had to take the first bus. If I am lucky, I could get 521. If I am even luckier, I could get 521 AC bus. But a van arrived. It was a good choice especially when you are in a hurry and also when there is a crowd waiting for the bus. The crowd wouldn’t prefer the van. I got a seat, as I had expected. I gave the conductor five rupees and expected him to give me change. When he didn’t, I asked him, “Kelambakkam costs only Rs.3.50, right?”. He smiled at me and said, “Those are old days!”. Old days? These vans must be suffering a lot from recession. Lolz
I got a 21H bus immediately at Kelambakkam. I paid the money for Broadway – the final stop. Thankfully, the driver was driving fast and it was a pleasant ride. At 2:50, I had reached more than half a distance when my dad called me. Knowing that the charge for my battery is too low, he had to inform me fast, “Coach B1 11,12 for mom and sister and Coach B2 6 for you”. The next second, I couldn’t hear anything. Just then I realized that the charge had completely drained.
The driver was very tactical in driving the bus at top speed in the traffic-less IT corridor but after we reached the town, he had to adjust with the traffic and it got delayed. Earlier that day just before I started from Kelambakkam, my dad suggested me to take a call taxi or an auto as soon as I reach the town. I had that option but didn’t give a second thought about it. It was 3:10 when I reached Adyar. It will take around 30 minutes from there to reach the final stop. All this while, I had to look at the neighbour’s watch to know the time since my phone had no charge. He left at that instant and I had no source to know the time.
As the bus reached the Marina beach, I spotted a huge clock in the middle of the road. It was nearing 3:35. The long road of Marina beach, the seond longest beach in the world, had low traffic at that time and it was pretty easy for the driver to move fast. The bus finally reached broadway. I had to know the time. I asked the guy in front. He need not open his mouth cause as he tilted his hand, I noticed the watch that read 3:47. He said “3:45″. “Is he rounding it off or is the watch being faster?” was my first thought. I hoped the latter would be true and I immediately got down the moving bus cause the road was a busy one and there was a higher probability of getting an auto from there.
I found the first auto and told him “Central Station please!”. “Thirty bucks!”, he said. It is just a 5 minute ride and it was reasonable, especially because I was in a hurry. “Please hurry up!”, I told him as I got into the auto. The driver understood the situation and picked up speed. He dropped me opposite the station, otherwise he had to go a long distance to take a U-turn. I got down the auto and paid the money, not before asking him “What is the time?”. He told that its 4. “Rounding off should be banned!”, I thought Anyways, he had just pressed the panic button. Wearing my bag cross shoulder, I ran down the subway to the other end and got up the subway. I had to slow down cause there were two buses heading into the station. With great anxiety, I entered the railway station.
I looked at the digital clock hung above. It just struck 3:58 pm. I immediately searched for the digital display that showed the list of trains on schedule for that day. Mixed emotions on seeing it. The good news was that the train was still in platform no.11. The bad news that I was not sure which direction I should head to reach platform 11. The platform numbers, as I could see above, was listed in descending order. So the Platform 11 should be to the left but to make sure, I contacted one of the police who confirmed my guess.
I ran to the left to find the platform 11. The train was still there. Now that the train is there, I had to make sure whether my mom and sister are inside the train or whether they are waiting for me somewhere else. Thankfully, there was a PCO booth at the beginning of the platform. I immediately headed to it. The lady, who operated the booth, was busy arguing with some man. She might have thought that I had come there to listen to the argument as she didn’t even notice me standing for 5 precious seconds. I decided to interrupt “I need to make a phone call”. That was when she noticed me and nodded and then continued with her argument. I dialed to my mom. Line was engaged! Next to my sister! She picked up and the first question she asked was “Where are you?”. “I am in the station. Are you both inside the train?”, I asked. “Yes” was the reply. That was enough for the day but I asked the coach number for confirmation which confused her. So I had to hung up, paid the lady with a 20 buck note. She was mumbling something about having no changes as she handed me the change.
I ran towards the train. As I neared the second compartment, I spotted a police again and asked where the AC coach is. Luckily, the AC coaches were just three coaches away. But I could hear a man whistle to mark the start of the train. I spotted the coach as well as my mom standing near the door. I got into the coach and as I opened the inner door to the coach, I looked out of the window and saw the train picking up speed. I nearly missed the train by around 2 seconds!
