I'VE A STORY TO TELL

Hello Friends,

It's been a very long time since I published my last post. I won't lie that I didn't have enough time because TIME is precisely what I've been continuously having in great abundance after joining NTPC. Probably the place has sucked up all the traces of creative juices I thought I possessed or my laziness has kept me away from writing. I resist publishing personal blogs because I believe in one of the orkut promotions "I don't write personal blogs, because I too get bored of them". But the sequence of events that took place few days back had a great impact on me & forced me to think about an imp. difference between FICTION & REALITY. Fiction has to make sense because reality doesn't !! Having said that, I wish to share a real life incident which happened with me on 13th & 14th feb 2010.

It all starts with my willingness to attend my cousin's marriage on 15th feb at Faridabad. I had done the tickets a month back but on 12th, a day before I had to leave, our training incharge (let's call him Panju) informed us of a test to be held on 13th which forced me to cancel the confirmed tickets. This Panju is a sadist to the core and this wasn't the first time he had done this. Anyways, I was determined to go, so I did 3 Waiting tickets of 13th and a confirmed ticket of 14th so that atleast i reach just before marriage. Luckily, 2 of my colleagues (let's call them Puja & Riya) were leaving on 13th for Delhi by the same train as mine. It was decided that I'll share seats with them in case my Waiting doesn't get clear.

Our train was from Mughalsarai (MGS) so we took a taxi from Singrauli to MGS. I was kept informed of my ticket's status by dad at Baroda. When the chart was prepared, our train showed 5 hrs delay but that enabled my waiting ticket status to get cleared & even upgraded to 2nd AC. So, I got all my other tickets cancelled. Now, Puja got a call from her friend (let's call her Sonia) that she's at BHU hospital, Varanasi for her sister's delivery. Since Varanasi is very close to MGS and our train was delayed, we decided to go there. Meanwhile, we got info about blast at Pune. The delivery wasn't smooth & a Caesarian had to be done. The milieu over there was very tense but it turned out fine. For the 1st time I witnessed a nascent baby. She was really a cute angel !!

The news of Pune blast was disturbing Sonia because she was unable to contact her friends at Pune. She was informed that 3 of her close friends suffered major injuries due to blast & were hospitalised. Two of them were Puja's & Riya's friends as well. Delhi was declared high alert. Puja had misinformed & Riya hadn't even informed at home that they were going to Delhi so now they were apprehensive about going to Delhi. Sonia advised Puja not to go.

PNR status showed that train's delay was reduced by an hour, so we decided to move to MGS. At MGS, We cleared the taxi driver's payment & he left. But on reaching the station, we got to know that our train was delayed by 8hrs. From 22:10 on 13th it was now rescheduled on 6:00 on 14th. I called the driver back so that we may be able to move to some hotel or as a last resort go back to Singrauli. Hardly 20min had passed, but, to my utter dismay & surprise, even on promising him extra money he refused to come back. We were stranded at MGS stn. All retiring rooms were full, so were the hotels. All sort of bad omens were to be seen on 13th. A black cat crossed our path during our search for hotels. The girls were scared. Also, people staring at the girls at midnight didn't present a favorable picture. We decided to spend the night at the waiting room. Valentine's day had started. We had forgotten to even take dinner. What a start to 14th feb- I was in a room full of ladies including 2 foreigners. On paper, it sounds awesome, but it sucked (It was the upper class Waiting Room!!).

We were KIMKARTAVYAVIMOODH, a Sanskrit word meaning What to do, What not to do (just wanted to show off !! leave it). Now, my parents also had a train from Baroda (BRC) to Delhi which got delayed by 4hrs. So, Me & my parents were waiting for our respective trains at MGS & BRC respectively. They boarded the train at 2:00. My parents hinted me not to come as it was getting way too late but left the decision on me. Now, we three at MGS were to decide if we shall go to Delhi or not. Just when we decided that we'll continue, our train timing was rescheduled to 7:30. Puja was very sure she won't go ahead, Riya wasn't but she also decided to go back. Personally I had no qualms but I thought, seeing the chain of events, it would be unwise of me to leave them alone. We didn't want to leave the station at 3am, so spent a couple of more hrs there & took a taxi for Singrauli at 5:30.

On our way, Puja got a call. She came to know that her friends at Pune had died on the spot on 13th. Sonia & Puja were misinformed earlier to avoid panic. I was shocked to learn that the 2 out of 3 girls who died were Sonia's company-mates & flat-mates. Sonia could also have been with them at the fateful German bakery had it not been for her sister's delivery at Varanasi. Earlier, she wasn't going to Varanasi as she had imp. work at her company but fate was on her side; she left for Varanasi 2 days before the blast. The newborn baby was like a God sent saviour for Sonia. But the 3rd girl who died was all the more unlucky. She had come from Mumbai to meet her friends at Pune. The three of us were SHELL SHOCKED on learning this.

To add misery to woes, our taxi also broke down in the middle. By now, we had had enough of this, so we were prepared. We took a bus and reached Singrauli. So, 24hrs later & few thousand bucks poorer we were back to square one. These difficulties appeared miniscule in front of what Sonia's frame of mind would be. She has to return to her job by 16th minus her very close friends.

For the first time I have found that reality is stranger & darker than fiction. They say, life is the best teacher. My tryst with destiny couldn't have been anymore self explanatory that the odds of my attending the marriage were against me. So be it !!

Signing Off, 

Anurag Gupta

(Written on 15th Feb,2010)