The first of its kind Journey!!! (in my life)

That morning when I woke up, I was full of zeal and excitement; it was the day I was going back to my hometown. Meeting my complete family after a year was a blissful feeling. Since my sister works at Mumbai and I study at Pune, it was nearly 18 months we all had not been together. Getting back to those awesome moments was one elating emotion in my heart and another one was too hard to accept. Somewhere deep within, I was getting torn for leaving the city where he stays. Though being there was different in just one way that we were breathing within the limits of the same metro.
I wanted to reach home in the nick of time since it was my Sis's birthday the next day. That being her last SPINSTER BIRTHDAY (as I termed it), I didn't want to miss even a single hour of it. My train was at 3.30pm from Nizammudin station and my dearest buddy, Reeju was to accompany me in the journey. I woke up at 9am and hurried to Piya's place. Since both my best friends' were in Delhi and I had not seen Priya since half a year or so. To introduce Priya and Asmita to you, it’s enough that we are together since 14 years now and that they are more of an inseparable part of my life. Priya though is my lifeline. I went to Priya's place, met them and had a nice meal that aunty prepared for me. I left from there with a lot of time in hand, since they stayed in altogether different part of the city. I boarded the metro at 12.30 and I knew it was enough time to reach home and then to station. I estimated to reach home by 1.30 as it took 45 minutes for me to come to priya's place. The metro got stuck between the stations civil lines and Kashmiri gate. I was cool, getting through the lanes of Shimla in "Love Stories of Shimla Hills" by Minakshi Chowdhury. I got restless when my watch ticked to 1.15 and I was still stuck up at the same place. After much of panic and phone calls and tension, finally the metro started at 1.35 and I got down at the next station to take an auto. Cursing the DMRC to the fullest, I took an auto and asked him to go straight to Saket where Reeju and my luggage were kept at Reeju's place.
As I was nearing that part of the city leaving the ring road, I realised the city was all jam-packed. With not much space to move and for speed to take up, I was all in distress. Reeju kept calling me to know my whereabouts and I couldn't move in the traffic jam. I was so feeling like crying as the watch neared 2.30 and I recognized that the bridge I was crossing was not just a footbridge but the Lajpat Nagar metro station. Reeju was to arrive at the station from Noida. She kept calling me and I had nothing to answer about my location. I kept telling Reeju to board the train and leave and that I will bring her luggage. She continuously denied and that made me guilty for her as well. Though she was among the lot where I never had to be formal or casual, if she said she was fine then she was. The autovalah that I took was another nail in the coffin. He kept on reminding me of the famous taxi driver of the movie Jab we Met. He irritated me like anything merely by his driving. I called up Dida and told her about the situation, she said she knows. This was obvious that she knew before I told her because I was supposed to meet Jiju on my way to station which evidently got cancelled later, as I was getting too late. I reached at Reeju's place at 2.50 and brought the luggage three floors down the stairs in a span of 3 minutes. It was a real surprise for me that I could do that. I threw the bags in the auto and asked him to drive fast but he was an elite class driver. I kept on asking him where we were in the city and how much time more we would take to reach Nizzamudin but he said he dint knew as it was traffic jam and Diwali time. Reeju called me at 3.40 and I had already accepted that I had missed the train. She called me and said, "Jaldi ao. train ke general bogie mein kuch chaos hai. It's still there. You would make it." I again collected hopes. When I reached station at 4.10, Reeju smiled at me and said that we had another train at 5.25 till Jabalpur and we can take bus from there. Her smile made me feel more guilty. I managed to smile back and we bought tickets for the general bogie of the train Sampark Kranti.
We had some biryani which was supposed to be eaten on the train journey at the same time. We then boarded the train assigned to us. As we managed to take two seats in the first compartment of the general coach, We stared at the co-passengers we had. they were a big family of site workers. As I talked to a child in the family I came to know that all her uncles and aunts were construction workers and since CWG had decreased the prospects of much construction in the city they were going back to their village in Madhya Pradesh. I smiled at Reeju and she saw me in disgust. She had told me not to dare to talk to them as they just looked innocent and we would never know if they flew away with all our stuff but I was not to be cowed. Though Reeju is a gem of my life, I couldn't help avoiding the shine in the black eyes of that small kid, Saawri as she told me her name.
Sitting there amid all the people considered no-to-go-near types, I suddenly noticed that the crossing station was named "Muraina" and it struck me that Gwalior was near and tat both of us can get trains from there on a better connectivity. As the train stopped at Gwalior, the halt time was 1 min 5 seconds and those were quite sufficient for us to argue whether to get down here and check for prospects in our minds, decide that ok we can get down here and then ultimately manage to take the bags and jump out of the train. I got down first and as I turned back I noticed Reeju's step was on the moving train before she stepped on the platform. We laughed our arses out as we wandered on the platform and thought WHAT NEXT? We then proceeded to the ticket counter and enquired about the next possible train that we can catch. Finally, the guy at the window told us about GT Express that was after half an hour. We had some sandwich and coffee and then waited for the train. The luck seemed to be challenging us continuously that day and we were still smiling back at life. this train, too, got late by an hour and we still enjoyed waiting for another hour. There was no mark of distress on either's face. We then boarded the general bogie which was another nearly impossible task.
The journey taught me a few things undoubtedly; first, the general coach is supposed to be manufactured with the EVERYBODY'S WELCOME tag; second, the TTE would never show up in this bogie; third, To board a general bogie you must learn how to push away the people in front of you; lastly, Thanks a ton to the Indian Railways, we can travel anywhere without a prior ticketing done. Apart from the learning’s, we kept standing for good fifteen minutes and then someone showed pity on us and offered me a seat to sit on the upper compartment along with already sitting two guys who stinker like hell. But I was really tired. I stuck my bag in between the guy n me and sat there. Reeju found a place on the lower side seat which she shared with a slim Mr. Nobody kind of guy. We both gave each other nice "WOW What an experience!" looks and smiled covering our tiredness. I was still feeling the guilt about why she didn't board the train we were supposed to take. I took a nap of good half an hour and then the guys on my seat got down at Jhansi and we took over the berth completely. Reeju climbed up and I made her sleep on my lap. I m so comfortable like that. She always teased me for my motherly concern and she said I had that. I never felt it though. She fell asleep in a few minutes and I kept wondering about a few things. Obviously, I was missing him too. What would I take home for Dida? Why did Dadi leave? In the race of life when we keep thinking about, what profession is he in and compatibility and all, there is a group of people who just get married because its a duty. they hardly get time to think about compatibility, love and care. All they are left to focus on is earning the livelihood. While I was travelling the course of my thoughts, found myself humming, "anjaanaa... kehne ko hi tha.! mera tha vo, jo bhi tha...." when the train stopped at some xyz station and people flocked in like anything, I looked at Reeju's wrist watch and it showed 9 am. We hooked on to our novels and a few hours passed silently. While I was busy setting up Ravinder’s story in “I too had a love story”, Reeju was reading “The notebook”.
Finally, much awaited Nagpur station was visible and I got down there. Reeju called her mom from here and told her that she would reach in another 3 hours. I stayed there until the train left and as it started moving I left for home, all excited. She continued to her station Gondia where this train never headed to. This was the last stroke destiny could play. To add in to this, Reeju came to know about this after I had left. The tiring and adventurous journey didn’t allow my phone battery to be charged. She couldn’t contact me. She ran down to the bus stand and then came back to station sine the bus frequency was quite low. She then took another train home and reached home by 7 in the evening.
Reeju was a great companion in the trip. We both enjoyed the trip a lot and learnt a lot too. Any other ooh aah ouch type girls wont dare this I suppose, but we enjoyed! Parents were all red in anger as to how can we even think of getting on a general class coach as it was shear unsafe. But we did and safely reached home. Though they are correct and good luck doesn’t come always but I just know one thing, “World isn’t that bad!! Though it’s not white but it’s not black either..! The shades of grey need to be tested every now n then...”
Waiting for another journey to beat the adventure of this one! ;)