The Day Of The Jackal!!!

Of course, the jackal here refers to none other than myself. After a long time I decided to meet my close friend. I called her surprisingly and informed her that I will be coming to her home. Since her mom was in my area she asked me if I can pick her mom also on my way. I called her mom and asked her where to pick her up. She said that she would be making to the picking place in 20 minutes. I went to get gift for my friend(it was her birthday in two days) and fueled my bike and went to spot earlier than I guessed. So I had to wait for some time for her mom. Her mom arrived and we started towards their home. Without realizing it was a holiday I took a wrong route to her home. I picked up one of busiest route to her home. What an idiot I am!!! Usually it will take me 20 minutes for me to reach her place. May be 30 minutes if I have a pillion rider with me. Guess what it took me 2 hours to reach her place. My palm started to ache and some parts of my body started getting numb(I don't want to mention). Then my neck started to pain due to helmet and fingers due to braking. I was totally fed up but was glad to meet her.

Things does n0t go well for some. I guess I am one among that lot. Another friend and her relatives also came the same day. So she was not able to spend lot of time with me. But I was okie with it. Then she got a call from her colleagues asking her to come to a restaurant. My God. I never expected her to be so busy. Myself and her friend played our part and didn't allow her to leave top meet her colleagues. After some 2 hours she started feeling so bad that everyone had come the same day and she was not able to spend the time properly with particular person. Then I decided to leave. On the way I dropped her in the restaurant. I was glad at least I could meet her. While returning, for the first time in my life I violated a traffic signal. I took a U-Turn inspite of a red. Actually when I crossed the stop line it was yellow so I took an U-Turn. I thought I should not stop after the stop line which would not be proper. Guess what??? Traffic police caught me. Right in the middle of the road he yelled at me for violating the signal. The best part is that he was shouting for the sake of pedestrians. I took a good care that I didn't hit anyone. I just stared at him and apologized. After 30 minutes I reached home and was wondering what a day I had.

The thing that was left for me for the was body pain and more than that I was thinking why the hell did I violate the signal. I have seen people doing it and I have even shouted at them. For the first I time was shouted at. I have even seen the police violating the signal. But I guess it was my day to be caught.

Race In The Railway Station (Irresponsible Railways)

Last week my parents left on a pilgrimage trip to Haridwar. It all began with booking of tickets during the starting of the August. Since there is only one train in a week to haridwar the tickets were not available. The tickets were available only as waiting list. I wanted my parents not to take a chance but my dad did take a chance. He asked me to book the ticket since there two more months left. As the days passed we all got worried since the tickets were in the waiting list. Two days before the travel date we found that my cousin knew someone in the railways. We made a request to move the tickets through energency quota(EQ). My parents ticket got confirmed but my other relatives' ticket didn't get confirmed. The day arrived. Two more tickets got confirmed. There were two more left. When we checked the status it gave us a waiting list. So we did took a chance since we didn't have any other choice.

On the day of journey me and my cousin decided to send them off. As soon as we reached the station we left everyone in the corresponding platform and went to check the RAC list(actually double checking). We found four tickets to be confirmed. The ticket which was in the waiting list was no where to be found in the list. We were shocked but we thought they might have missed out in printing. We actually went an hour early. After some time we again checked with the system and it showed the two tickets to be in waiting list but not in the chart. We waited for the TTE to arrive. When TTE arrived my dad,myself and my cousin went to check with him. He said that those tickets are dropped and they are not to travel in this train. My dad got furious and started questioning the TTE. I told my dad that there is not point in arguing with him. I checked with TTE if there was any other way to travel. He asked me get open tickets for them so that they could travel in the train and pay a penalty later. Penalty is for traveling in sleeper class since you can travel only in unreserved with an open ticket.

Here comes the best part. My dad left his wallet with my mom who was in the compartment. The time was 9:10 and the train would be leaving around 9:40. We didn't have much time left. We all raced to get the money. Lucky that we had relative in the compartment which was prior to my parents' we lent some from them and myself and my cousin raced to get the ticket. We didn't know where to get the ticket. I started running but soon was short of breath. I gave the money to my cousin and asked him to run as fast as he can. When we inquired where to get the ticket we found that it is issued in the next building. OMG! We were really tested. My cousin ran as fast as he can. I started jogging. In the next building we went to the first floor and found that the ticket was given in the ground floor. Gosh! By now the time was 9:20. Luckily there was no crowd in the counter. Then we found that there is possibility to get senior citizens ticket. Since the passengers where senior citizens we decided to take it. My cousin asked me if I have the proof and you should have guessed now. I didn't have it. We took chances and the ticket provider didn't ask for any proof. Good, we got the ticket. Now the time for running again.Time was 9:30. My cousin ran ahead of me to give away the tickets. We reached by 9:35 and gave them the tickets. For five minutes we took long breaths. But before that I had a word with the TTE to provide them berths if possible.

IRRESPONSIBLE RAILWAYS:
1. They never sent a mail that the ticket was dropped.
2. If the ticket is dropped why the hell is it shown online as waiting list.
3. There is no way a person can know if the ticket is dropped until 3-4 hours before the travel.
4.When I have a ticket why should I pay for an open ticket and later a penlaty.

The railways should really take proper steps. If myself and my cousin had not gone my dad would have raced and he definitely would have missed the train. There should be at least prior information. At least 2 days before the travel so that proper alternate arrangements can be made. I don't know when the railways are going to learn.