If it has to, It will... who are you to Stop it :):)

This incident reminds me of a famous Rajnikanth's diaolgue

"Dakkedi dakkaka Maanadu... Dakkanadi ennatiki dakkadu"

(If you are supposed to get it, you will get it...if you are not, you will never get it)...

Getting train tickets / bus tickets to Vizag on weekends is always a problem and more so if it is a long weekend ( 4 days)... One such weekend was the August 15th weekend. As expected all the tickets were booked long back and the waiting list ran miles..(courtesy my adhoc planning too)..Now comes TATKAL the Saviour...But but ...what is the use if I forget on the D -day...a day late and booking was closed :(:(.. I had to latch onto some of my colleagues who have confirmed tickets and luckily whose travel dates also coincided with mine....

"Neelu, Can I also come along with you people???"

"Oh!! With pleasure Bandaru we will adjust and go".. Hummayya, solved ooochhh..

Now what else , All I was needed to do is take a general ticket and board the train along with them..Wasn't it so simple ??? If that is the case then why the hell am I giving this prelude....Till now happy.. now starts struggle...

The journey day arrives.. I haven't packed my bags yet.. Here is the plan..

Godavari departs at 5:50 P.M. in Secunderabad.. So, me to leave office by 4:00, reach home by 4:40, pack bags by 5:00, reach station by 5:30.. WOW!!! what a cool plan naaaa....

We went for an outside lunch and were coming back happily at 2:30 when Neelu confronted me and asked

"Why are you still in office? When are you planning to move to station??"

I said.. "I will leave at 4:00, go home and come to station"

"But will you be able to make it as the train will depart by 5:00"

Me - "Come on stop kidding Godavari leaves by 5:50"

"But we are going by Visakha and not godavari"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the Heck??" (Sheer carelessness from my side - assumed quite a few things:(:( )

All my plans went for a toss and now I had to rush fast as I already lost an hour....Went to my cubicle and opened my mail box..."Call me to discuss" read a mail from my DM in reply to my mail in the morning..Its already 3:00 but its DM .. what to do??? Decided to take the call on my mobile (What a brilliant idea sirjeee :P:P ) and left the campus promptly by 3:15 ..Was at Mehdipatnam by 3:30 until I got struck in middle of that traffic jam --(Why should everyone hit the roads the same time??)..Took me 20 minutes to cross a stretch of 100 m :(:( ..Forgot to mention - in the meanwhile I called up Neelu and asked her to stand in the queue for my general ticket until I reach station...with my bike on full throttle I zoomed past everyone and was at last junction before my house...Someone hit my bike from behind and went away..No time to even settle scores with him...Lifted my bike and went to my house...I was at my home by 4:05..

Five minutes packing and I was again on road to catch an auto..After waiting for 10 minutes I finally got one and boarded it and sighed relief that I was on time...Is that it??? there is more to follow folks...

While I was on my way, the auto came to a screeching halt at Spencer's Plaza.. Why??? But Why???

"Sir, Gear wire tegi poyindi (Gear wire broke)"...Come on give me a break yaar.. you can't do that to me..He was helpless and so was I...I was very lucky enough to hitchhike on to someone immediately who is going to the station itself.....When I was about to take my wallet out he stopped saying

"No No, What are you doing???"

"Boss, don't worry here is my visiting card and you can contact me whenever you need anything.. I am very grateful to you" --- Googly to him :P

So I was at station at 4:40 PM... I went to the ticket counter and saw long lines..I patted myself for being clever enough to ask Neelu to stand in queue before hand...

Picture Baaki hein Mere dost....

To my utter disbelief she was not there in the queue. On inquiry I found out she never even cared to stand as they were all gents.. Now what 20 minutes left for train's departure and 30-40 people in queue. It was probably for the first time I was sincerely hoping that the guy at the ticket counter is the most efficient person on earth.....If that was not enough , to add to my woes
someone was bickering over 1 Rs or 2Rs change at the ticket counter......Some 20 odd coherent shouts shooed him away...Now its 5 minutes and 10 persons left...The clock struck 5:00 , 5 more persons left and I got a call saying the train is about to move...I requested all my front queue mates and jumped the queue..Put my hand in and almost snatched the ticket from the person.... I ran in full steam with all my luggage and finally boarded the train...As soon as I stepped into the train the train moved....

The irony or rather should I say the Icing on the cake was that the TT never checked my ticket and I landed in Vizag for a cost of 151Rs