The Eleventh Hour Adventure!

10:46 pm

Feb 07,2011

Solapur.

It was the wedding night of Nishit’s mota bhai. After regalling on around fifty items of mouth-watering (..perhaps ‘tongue-melting’ ! It was a typical Gujju ceremony afterall.) ambrosia, we were all primed to return back to Pune. Nishit, by all his flaunting, made sure that he remains to be a bothered host till the moment he greets adieu to our overstuffed bellies. So he arranged a car for us to the station. Throwing our bags into the backseats, we crammed ourselves in the fronts. To mention, we were seven plus one the driver (aka Dragon!!!). Arpan (Netaji), being the last to enter in, promptly placed his right butt on my left thigh & his left on Ankit’s right lap. Resisting this surfeit burden, Ankit & me shared a glance and punched into Arpan’s bums-almost simultaneously! Our train was scheduled to depart at 11:30 pm. So the obvious discussion in the car was how to spend that half an hour at the station. In goes that tobacco in driver’s mouth and there starts the car!

The car once started and just kept on accelerating, as if it’s not going to halt till it notes on its account an incredible Hollywood-style accident. The turns that the driver took were so sharp & sudden that it could have demoralized any NFS freaks around.

‘Fuck! Is this driver drunk?,’Ankit exclaimed.

I gently patted his head and assured,'No dude, we all are in our last stage of pregnancy and the driver is rushing us to the Hospital!’

By now, Arpan had unknowingly started giving me a nasty lap-dance. I threw him off in Ankit’s lap.

I was terribly frightened. I asked Rishi to talk to the driver before he settles us into a ‘Wrong Station’.

‘Uncle, we are in no hurry. It’s OK if you just slow it down a bit..,’asked Rishi in the most careful words.

No answer. No effect.

Not being able to control, I screamed hitting the driver’s shoulder,’Uncle..are u listening! Just slow down !!!’

He didn’t. But my high pitch somehow succeeded in breaking his deafening silence. The driver cursed in frustration that he was already late to reach his boss by complete one hour, plus to add, an extra burden drive for us to the station. He banged his grip on the steering before demonstrating us how to make a right angle on a fortunately vacant turn!

The fact that we now were just few kilometres away from the station gave us a much needed relief from the terrifying fear and the futile efforts of pacifying the Dargon!

‘Just check the tickets and the timing before we get down once,’conveyed Shahbaz.

‘Don’t worry..,’ replied Prasanna’s voice.

That implied the tickets were booked by him & the tone suggested that it was just too foolish to question his credentials. But you never know when the smartest can slip. Pulling out his wallet, he threw the tickets to Shahbaz.

Last three kilometres to the station.The only thing running onto our minds was to get out of this die-ride as soon as possible and show some middle-finger-gratitude to this maniac driver. And all to our surprise, Shahbaz screamed,'Guys fuck!! The train departs at 11!!!’

‘What! Elevennnnnnn!!! ,’we all shouted together in utter astonishment.And it was this moment where the drama all began.

Shahbaz and Prasanna shared a look.

Prashant snatched the tickets and read in ‘speed-drop’ silence,'Solapur-Pune. . . .Platform 5. . .11:00 pm. . .Fffffffff!!!!’

I pulled and twisted Prashant’s wrist to see that it was already10:58:09.

Before we could react more, I shook the driver's shoulders,with both hands this time and yelled something he might had least expected from any of us. I screamed,'Uncle fast! ..aur fast!! The train is leaving!!!’

We were all set like a cat ready to jump as the driver put in the entire boost.

Breaking the permissions, the driver took us directly into the corridors of the station. The doors opened well before the car halted. Pulling our bags out, we rushed out of the car. I was the last to exit. Though in hurry and despite of suffering the earlier blows, I couldn’t resist thanking the driver for his excellent job and obedience at the end. Would he be the Saviour for us, time will decide, or precisely, next 52 seconds...

Shaking the driver’s hand, I followed the shouts,’Gaurav move..fast!’

Climbing onto the stairs,we ran past the platorms, getting down on the fifth. Hell! The train was not there on the platform. The train had already left and all we could see were just the last few wheels of the train. It was speeding-up quite faster than usual.

‘Guys! I say RUNNNN!!!,’ clamoured Prashant, and he had already begun the catch.

We all ran towards the last bogie-the Guide Bogie, as if we were rescuing ourselves from some wild tiger which was not following us. We were reaching the bogie but it kept on moving ahead, almost every time. A bald man in blue coat, with his stern look & posture appeared at the entrance of the bogie. He must be the Guide of that bogie. After realizing the panic we were in, he signalled us to be careful & waved a green flag for getting in. Prashant jumped in first & he stood at the door to fetch us in. One by one, we all got in, as the train by now,had picked up real fast.

Uhhh...What a moment that was! What a feeling!

There was a laugh on every face panting for breath. I gave Prashant a big high-five & hugged him tightly. .what followed next in the bogie were more high-fives, and more hugs! We never dreamt that the night was going to be this thrilling and adventurous for us. What a sense of achievement it was! For the next few minutes, we just laughed looking at each other. J

I stood near the door and closed my eyes. The breeze dried my sweat splashing a cool wave through my body. I was letting in that moment to seep inside my nerves and keep that youth alive for the rest of my life. It was simply amazing how the minutest of negligence can end up gifting you the most cherishable moment. It wasn’t the moment to recall that ‘we would have missed the train’ but to cherish ‘we would have missed this adventure if we were another minute late.’ Should that fast & ferocious driver be blamed now? What if Shahbaz was not that careful to confirm the timing? What if he was a minute late to recheck the tickets? A giggle played on my lips when every laughter around ceased. I opened my eyes...

Next morning, as we reached Pune station, I saw Nishit’s message flashing on my cellphone’s screen.

It said, ‘Hope you guys had a great time.’

The sporting smile on my face said it all. . .