I remember Tom Hanks saying "Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what it has to offer" in Forrest Gump. Two weeks before, I had to return to Bombay on Monday. I had booked my ticket in Saurashtra Janata Exp. which leaves Ahmedabad at 8:40 pm and arrives at Bandra at 5:40 am.
I left from home at 7:30 pm for the railway station only to find the road jam-packed with vehicles. So the rickshaw driver chose a longer route, charged more, drove ruthlessly and finally left me at the station at 8:10 pm. Legion of migrants appearing to be from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan lay at the platform. Hardly managing to walk amongst those squiggling bodies, I somehow reached the notice board showing platform numbers for train arrivals only to see that my train would arrive at the 6th platform. It was 8:25 pm when I reached the platform. Luckily, I got a place to sit on a bench shared by 2 people already. My mind was preoccupied with thoughts about the next morning plans which consisted of reaching office directly, going to the gym and surf the net for personal use. A South Indian baritone voice was heard announcing that the train was half an hour late. The train arrived at 9:10 pm and after a long haul it left the station at 10:00 pm. I thought it would still be not bad if I reached at quarter to 7 am. No sooner had I lied down on the upper berth than I was asleep to take a nap until the ticket checker woke me up. After his waking me up, I slept at 12 in the night and woke up at 7:30 am. The train had halted at a village. Passengers said it had been more than 1 hour since the train had stopped there. Due to the Borivali-Virar mega block, this had happened. Just on the opposite side of the platform another train from Valsad was to come which could help me reach office, though late. I boarded this train and didn't know I had got to stand till Dadar like a Filmfare award with both hands raised. In the space between the door and the third row of seats from the former, there were about 40 people or even more. It was impossible for me to even see my feet or move even an inch amongst the body-smells. After arriving at Dadar, the journey to office was still to begin. I had to stand in a queue having considerable linear extent in a large hall. Since it was already time for people to go to office, the 25 minute journey was no less tiring than the one before. I reached office at 11 am, changed my clothes and rushed towards my bay.
I had reached 5 hours later than what I had planned.
