Finally, I'm @ Home

Burnt left hand fingers of mine…Uncertainty on the train ticket confirmation… Work in the office… Power cut in my room… PNR status machine… stunning twists in the railway station… all of these had given me an unforgettable day of my journey to home.

I rushed to my cubicle in third floor of our office as if I had an urgent mail to send or an important meeting to attend! Yeah, of course it was important, but not office work. I had to book a Tatkal ticket, which was known as the hottest cake early in the morning of any season. I kept almost all of my efforts in making my dream of getting one confirmed ticket, but finally I ended up myself with a waiting list 2.

I was in a mood to go home while cooking that night, of course, thinking about my unconfirmed ticket. On the other side, I was completely involved in the on going Indian Idol show on Sony TV. I was imagining another beautiful season of Indian Idol. Eventually, I didn’t take much time to learn that I actually touched a hot plate beside the stove. What next? Washed my hand with cool water; applied tooth paste on the burnt fingers as if it was the only alterative I had; then applied the coconut oil as well; I almost cried!!! Finally, I got the sensation of little less pain and itching only on the next morning. Even that morning welcomed with an unmoved waiting list status.

I could not sit in the AC room with those burnt fingers as they enjoyed irritating me much. But what else I could do other than sitting there? I was left with no other option as the discussion was even more interesting. I didn’t even dare to count how many times I refreshed my unmoved PNR status e-page.

Now it was 3:45 PM and the day of my journey. I had to leave the office if I was supposed to catch the train, though the ticket was still unconfirmed. The chart was supposed to be prepared by 1’o clock itself, but to add to my tension it wasn’t. Still, I strongly decided to move out of Pune that night in any case. I forgot to mention, now the status was waiting list 1.

Booked a cab and reached home. My mobile was not properly charged that morning. I had to keep it ready for any urgent calls I would get regarding the confirmation status. Many of my good friends had already taken the PNR number to keep me informed. I really thanked them so much. As I switched on the mobile charger, it was dumb. Then only I got realized that there was no power in my room. The drama continued for another half an hour. By that time my mobile was charged for only last fifteen minutes as the power had come to assist me.

I strictly decided to go to the railway station or to bus stand to leave to Hyderabad. As I entered I found a PNR status machine welcoming me. I had been there many times earlier, but I could find it only now. May be, “necessity is the mother of invention”; in my case here it was not for any invention, it was for a discovery. After many days it happened that I could not believe my eyes as the PNR machine had displayed the status as S7, 18. Ticket got confirmed!! After getting it doubly confirmed, I went to the platform announced.

As soon as I reached there, there was a loud noise from a train which was about to start. People were crying a lot, police were on their way. I feared if I would see a gunman coming out of the train similar to the 26/11 attacked. I planned to lie on the floor to be safe from the bullets. It was confirmed that mine was a false imagination as soon as I saw a woman and two men were coming out of the train while screaming at each other.

I was satisfied when I heard people on my platform saying “… Chart was not prepared”, “…waiting list was not confirmed”, “…PNR machine…just now”, etc. I though I too had great colleagues.

Hmm… I smiled on seeing the approaching train. I thought “Hurray, I’m going home finally”… After a journey of almost 13 hours, I said ‘Hi’ to my mom. Now I’m at home, enjoying the food and bed of love.