The Journey - 2: The Train, The TT & The Chutney

The Journey - Part 1 : Here

Clairvoyance...
Now whats so special about this station? The Idli-Wada here, more specifically the chutney is in the creme-de-la-creme range (Chutney-de-la-Chutney anyone???). You wont find a hotter/spicier chutney(good not good is a perception) in the big wide world . I had to act.

As it was not my usual train today, the idli shops were still open when the train reached here. And I was hungry too (Mr.Pinocchio, you had just gobbled down a plate full of Biryani 10 min back!You were not hungry!)Usually I am not good at prioritizing things, but with this heightened sense, your clarity of thought increases tenfold. The lost-ticket issue quickly got stored as meta-data in the brain,to be retrieved at a later time; all the brain cells focused on the job - the get-idly-chutney mission. The body then quickly responded, got down the train, got a pack of idli-wada and got back in the train with a sense of accomplishment . Done. More to exhibit some normal human behavior than any worry over the lost ticket, I reluctantly kept the pack aside and searched the bag for the ticket. Two whole minutes of searching proved futile. I opened the idli-wada pack and started savoring the yummy idli- chutney (Eat eat, you Bakasura!) . Mmmm...The taste hasn't changed even after 7-8 years. Few things just don't change :) .

So I waited and waited for the D-time (like D-day, you know)...... The guy never appeared. To keep my mind occupied, I went about the most logical thing to do - think about how to convert this into my next blog post, without actually knowing the ending. Its actually like yourself being in a suspense thriller! 9..10..10.30...10.45...10.50.... Then suddenly,as if to mock all my sense of caution and foreboding , simply out of thin air, appeared the TT -"Aapka ticket dikhaiye"... I gingerly produced my PAN Card "Sir, mera e-ticket ka print out kho gaya".... Without even speaking a word, he turned to the next guy and asked for his ticket and the person next, leaving me wondering .

Finally he came back to me."Sir, mere paas ID proof hain..." I showed my PAN card trying to twist my face to make it look like the one in the PAN card. He examined the PAN card for a few sceptical minutes, checked the list and repeated the same steps all over again .Then he promptly asked me to cough up Rs.50.Sigh!!!. He even gave me a receipt for the same. So it was once again Triumph of the Absent-minded. And, if I must add, the suspense thriller had turned out to be an anti-climax in the worst sense...

And then it struck me (Remember, all suspense thrillers have a flash back of shocking revelation at the end). The cyber cafe! I had taken a print-out of the ticket at the cyber cafe and kept them in the my back-pack.Then to make sure of the train time, I took the ticket out only to find out the time is not mentioned there. So I put down the print-out on the table (camera zooms on my hand..slow motion starts), check the timings in the website and walk out leaving the ticket BEHIND!!! Ahhh...(cut to the present) I am staring right into the face of the TT who has transformed into a hideous looking zombie with a scimitar in his hand....(Axe is passe) and I look around... the compartment is full of zombies... I scream ...and then....SLAAASSH....

(Don't bother guys, just another flash of my 'imaginary brilliance'....I mean...Ok just forget it...I reached Hyd next day morning 4.45 am,got down at the station,smiled & walked off into the mundane...)