It was a long day and we friends had enjoyed every bit of our time. Then, I bid my friends good-bye and boarded a bus to Ooty. I reached Ooty bus stand around 4:35.P.M. and looked out for a bus headed towards Coimbatore. I was lucky to get the right bus and boarded the same thanking God. The bus was supposed to reach its destination by 7:45 and that would give me ample time to take a rick to the railway station. Inside the bus, I was greeted by old romantic Hindi songs over the radio and that made me uncomfortable as I recently had a bad break up. Thus I slept through the journey. Somewhere along the way, the bus stopped and on enquiry I found out that a tree had fallen on the road and it would take a while before we moved. I looked up at the sky and smiled thinking that God had other plans. As a result, the bus reached Coimbatore an hour and a half late. I was certain that I had missed the 8PM train but I wanted to confirm that from the railway authorities, so I moved towards the station….
As I wasn’t aware in which direction the station was, I made a few enquiries which confused me even more. I thought for a while and decided to catch a rick, but the autowallas asked me to pay 100 bucks for the drop. That’s when I realized that I was carrying only a 100 rupee Gandhi note, so I began to look around for an ATM and kept walking till I found one. After dilly-dallying with a few auto drivers I got one who offered to take me to the station for 60 bucks. I reached the station at 9.P.M, found the information desk empty, so I went to the booking counter and asked for a ticket to Mangalore. The clerk issued me the ticket and told me in a weird voice “platform 3”. I was so happy that I got a train to Mangalore, but my happiness didn’t last long as I noticed that the ticket was to Bangalore. I went back to the counter and the curt lady helped me with the refund and also informed me that there was no train towards Mangalore until 7.40 the next morning. I left the station dejected and was loitering on the streets, when I spotted a travel agency. I literally ran towards it to check if they could help me, but to my horror I was told that there was no transportation available. I left the agency but went back again without losing hopes and got the same response. I went back a third time and to my surprise I was told that there indeed was a train to Mangalore but from Podanur station which is quite far. I thanked him for his help and moved in search of Podanur. After talking to many people with my funny Tamil accent, one person helped me board the right bus. There was a funny person in the bus who kept conversing with me in Tamil and I just kept nodding. I felt he was complaining about something but definitely did not look happy; anyway people always have issues so I just kept nodding.
I had requested the conductor to inform me when the station arrived but he forgot and dropped me in a dark place. In the confusion I did not realize I had to ask which direction was the railway station. It was pitch dark and I kept walking until I met an old man, who I could recognize due to the reflection of the mobile light on his face. It was quite freaky. I asked him the direction to the railway station, and he said that I need to walk in the opposite direction for nearly a kilometer. I was like wow another twist….so I started walking although there were many dogs on the way looking at me like wolves planning to strike on its prey. I just kept walking until a bus came from behind, I got in and told the conductor “railway station”, and he helped me. Finally I reached Podanur, but now I had to check the availability of a train towards Mangalore. When I asked the lady at the counter, she said that there was a train at 12:15.A.M. I looked at my mobile to check the time and it was 10:30.P.M so I had a good amount of time to wait. I booked the ticket to Mangalore and charged my mobile, and went out to get some food and water just to stock up in case my stomach craved for anything. While I was waiting it rained, (and boy did it rain!). The train got delayed by an hour making the night more long and boring, but as usual I did what I loved to do- talk to myself. Well, time passed by and finally it was the hour when the train arrived and not to mention it was as packed like match sticks in a match box. I somehow managed the train journey and it reached Mangalore around 9:30 A.M. I boarded a bus to Nitte and reached around 12 P.M. I freshened up and went to my classes- the usual grind…
