5.58 pm
Cell phone shows "Shailu Calling".
Shailu:"Sunny, tu office mein hai?"
Me: "Yups... ssup?"
Shailu: "Oh good, IRCTC ki site khol".
Sunny, though, is busy playing Pathwords on Facebook.
Me: "Haan yaar... (while I make another pathword)... khol raha hoon... umm... ek sec"
1.43 mins left on this game.
I realise it wasn't going so well.
Game kaata.
Flashback.
Abhinav Somani is getting married this Tuesday.
The first of the inhabitants of Suite-16 to get married.
:-)
I'm unable to go coz of a misalignment of the planets in the Solar System.
Shailu decided on Thursday that he's going.
Booked tickets.
Azad Hind Express for today, Saturday, on waiting list.
Spicejet for Tuesday morning confirmed.
Shailu: "Ghar pe power cut hai. Site dekh ke bata ki meri ticket ka kya status hai".
I open IRCTC's website.
Shail gives me his login, password.
Says the train is for 6.25 pm.
Its 6 pm right now.
We're cool, Honeybunny.
We're cool.
He basically wants to ensure that he's still on the waiting list so that he can cancel his ticket.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Site shows a change in ticket status.
Ticket confirmed, seat reserved.
Shail: "Oh!"
Shail: "Toh... should I go?!"
Adi from next room:"Ticket confirm?! Toh jaaa!"
Shail:"O teri... !"
First hiccup.
The e-ticket hasnt been printed yet.
25 mins.
To pack bags.
To print ticket.
To reach station.
To catch train.
Divide and conquer.
Adi goes to cyber cafe to print ticket.
Shail packs.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Power cuts everywhere.
Cyber cafe has no power.
I try calling Railway station to see if they allow passengers without printed ticket and just with valid ID card.
Its ringing.
No response.
6.10.
15 mins to go if the train's on time.
They're headed to the station on Adi's bike.
But...
There's many a slip...
Second hiccup.
Adi's bike has a UP registration number.
Traffic policeman stops them.
Asks for papers.
They dont have the papers on the spot.
Ragda+makhhan.
"Jaaane do sir"
"Train hai sir"
"Mere do bemaar bachhe hain us train mein sir"
Policeman: ?! ?!
"Zindagi aur maut ka sawaal hai sir. Jaane do. Upar waala aapka bhala karega"
The works.
The policeman tells them to submit the license and PUC papers and come back from the station with NOC to retrieve them.
Meanwhile, I narrate the story so far to Dot Lal on gchat.
Dot lal:Wanna bet?
Me: I think he's screwed
Dot lal: I think so too.
Me: We need to find someone who's willing to bet he ain't screwed.
Dot lal: That would be Shailu
6.25
I desist from calling Shail or Adi.
I expected them to be on the bike frantically trying to reach the station.
6.30.
Phone says "Shailu calling"
I fear for the worst.
Me: "Kya hua finally?!"
Shail: TRAIN MEIN HOON!"
And he tells me the whole story about printing the ticket and the traffic police guy.
Screw clothes, he also packed Shantaram and his lappy.
The only thing left now...
Shail: Ab yeh Spicejet cancel karna hai
:-)
Cell phone shows "Shailu Calling".
Shailu:"Sunny, tu office mein hai?"
Me: "Yups... ssup?"
Shailu: "Oh good, IRCTC ki site khol".
Sunny, though, is busy playing Pathwords on Facebook.
Me: "Haan yaar... (while I make another pathword)... khol raha hoon... umm... ek sec"
1.43 mins left on this game.
I realise it wasn't going so well.
Game kaata.
Flashback.
Abhinav Somani is getting married this Tuesday.
The first of the inhabitants of Suite-16 to get married.
:-)
I'm unable to go coz of a misalignment of the planets in the Solar System.
Shailu decided on Thursday that he's going.
Booked tickets.
Azad Hind Express for today, Saturday, on waiting list.
Spicejet for Tuesday morning confirmed.
Shailu: "Ghar pe power cut hai. Site dekh ke bata ki meri ticket ka kya status hai".
I open IRCTC's website.
Shail gives me his login, password.
Says the train is for 6.25 pm.
Its 6 pm right now.
We're cool, Honeybunny.
We're cool.
He basically wants to ensure that he's still on the waiting list so that he can cancel his ticket.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Site shows a change in ticket status.
Ticket confirmed, seat reserved.
Shail: "Oh!"
Shail: "Toh... should I go?!"
Adi from next room:"Ticket confirm?! Toh jaaa!"
Shail:"O teri... !"
First hiccup.
The e-ticket hasnt been printed yet.
25 mins.
To pack bags.
To print ticket.
To reach station.
To catch train.
Divide and conquer.
Adi goes to cyber cafe to print ticket.
Shail packs.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Power cuts everywhere.
Cyber cafe has no power.
I try calling Railway station to see if they allow passengers without printed ticket and just with valid ID card.
Its ringing.
No response.
6.10.
15 mins to go if the train's on time.
They're headed to the station on Adi's bike.
But...
There's many a slip...
Second hiccup.
Adi's bike has a UP registration number.
Traffic policeman stops them.
Asks for papers.
They dont have the papers on the spot.
Ragda+makhhan.
"Jaaane do sir"
"Train hai sir"
"Mere do bemaar bachhe hain us train mein sir"
Policeman: ?! ?!
"Zindagi aur maut ka sawaal hai sir. Jaane do. Upar waala aapka bhala karega"
The works.
The policeman tells them to submit the license and PUC papers and come back from the station with NOC to retrieve them.
Meanwhile, I narrate the story so far to Dot Lal on gchat.
Dot lal:Wanna bet?
Me: I think he's screwed
Dot lal: I think so too.
Me: We need to find someone who's willing to bet he ain't screwed.
Dot lal: That would be Shailu
6.25
I desist from calling Shail or Adi.
I expected them to be on the bike frantically trying to reach the station.
6.30.
Phone says "Shailu calling"
I fear for the worst.
Me: "Kya hua finally?!"
Shail: TRAIN MEIN HOON!"
And he tells me the whole story about printing the ticket and the traffic police guy.
Screw clothes, he also packed Shantaram and his lappy.
The only thing left now...
Shail: Ab yeh Spicejet cancel karna hai
:-)
16 comments:
nice :)
Welcome back!
I missed the centered posts that were so long my Firefox window crashed every time I tried scrolling down...
By the way, can train passengers actually get in with just valid id??
no you cannot but the fine is only 50 rs so if the case is urgent, you have to shell out that much xtra for ticketless travel.
i say its fair deal!
Kaafi cool incident tha!
Everything depended on you picking up the call and deciding to stop playing the pathword game...nice read :)
sometime earlier today i remember someone having a status message on gtalk/facebook (irctc.co.in) can't remember who though
that has something to do with your story?
vintage sunny style though...nice
Wht a story....yeh kewal shailu hi kar sakta hai...lekin is baar bhi har baar ki tarah uski baju wali seat pe banda hi hoga....
In case u wondering...its
Ladha
@ Bigben: Thankew :)
@ Shishir: Does that mean you're still on 128 MB ram?! Ewe! :P
@ Saswata:Sahi hai... web 2.0 works ;)
@ Aditto: Yah!
@ Prao: We can so create a 'for want of a nail, the war was lost' type thing here ;)
Na light jaati, na woh idle hota, na uske dimaag mein aata ki ticket check kare, na woh mujhe call karta, na mera game kharaab jaa raha hota... :P
@ Sandy:
Not anyone on my list. Come to think of it... I dunno why anyone would put that link in their status. Not that there's anything wrong with it :P
@ Ladha:Now we need to find someone who is willing to bet ki uske baaju mein banda nahin baitha hai :P
Sunny, blog main ek line ki kami hai...
"Thats how we do it" :D
Ewe ewe....
heres a live witness to this rush hour reporting.. yup i was in office too that evening and i saw it all happening.. while i was browsing thru the 182 errors on my screen..
correction. (heard it all happening).. and also it was too interesting/distracting to pretend i wasnt listening..
it seems thoda mirch masala lagaya hai.. especially about that traffic police and all.. its theoritically IMPOSSIBLE to get rid of a tp in 15 mins with a UP number plate.. leave aside reaching the station.. in pune ka crazy terafic on saturday ki sham
but still.. was fun readin!
@Sunny and Ladha ::
Dosto paas main na banda tha na bandi .. bacche the 3-4 .. bahut pain maara unhone uncle uncle bol bol ke :(( ...
uppar se chacha chaudhari ki comics bhi zor zor se bol kar padh rahe the !!
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