Didn’t Want To Miss the Train

I was breathing heavily standing at the station entrance. I started from Hyderabad city at 2pm. My train to Howrah (West Bengal) was at 4pm. The 127K bus dropped me at the Secunderabad station (Andhra Pradesh) at 3.40pm. 


Apart from breathing heavily, walking unsteadily, and trying to get hold of my four jumbo over-sized bags; I was breathlessly cursing the bus driver. After all he was the second person responsible for my delayed arrival at the station. Well, the first person was me.

 Standing like a clueless lost kid I thought to myself, “What is it between girls and baggage?” 

 
I could no way drag my entire luggage all by myself to the Platform number 10, where the Falaknuma Express was already getting geared up for its 23 hours journey to Howrah (West Bengal). 



I’m sure for once, may be only for that moment, I hated the fact that I’m a girl. Why were my bags so heavy? Who asked me to pack my all useful and unnecessary belongings in them? I guess some questions are never answered. 

Looking at those four big pieces of amazing creations of man, my bags, I couldn’t help thinking, “Oh, everything in them is so important to me. How could I leave even one of them back in my paying guest house? That would have been so unfair.”, then again snapping myself out of that obsessed-with-my-possessions look of mine I continued thinking, “Gimme a break, those big annoying pieces of sh** are nothing but heavy boulders and my biggest problem at this instant”. 

My eyes started searching for paid help; a coolie was all I wished for at that moment. In the crowed I caught glimpses of sad faces, happy faces, busy workers and professionals, hands driving taxies, fingers busy managing their respective idli dosas, the analyzing eyes of the ticket collectors studying every face passing by, distant muted visuals of the people bargaining with taxi drivers, hands of young lovers tightly gripping each other, an aged man still waiting for someone who hasn’t arrived, a lady desperately trying some number in the STD booth, and many more similar and expected scenes in the train station. Sadly and surprisingly a coolie was no were in the scene. 

 

Fortunately or unfortunately my helpless and perplexed face grabbed attention of a few locals. I could see few of them staring at me. “Approaching them? Huh, that wouldn’t even be the last thing I would prefer to do.”, this was exactly what I thought to myself at that point of time but I guess people change very fast, before they even realize it. Or may be sometimes they purposely ignore the realization, even if they have realized somehow. 

“Fifteen minutes left? The yellow shirt guy or man, or whatever looks sober then the rest of them. I hope he can help”, this was exactly what I literally said the very next moment. Noticed the change in me? Anyways….

He was a middle aged man, looked more like a taxi tout. In normal situations I avoid these guys, getting irritated with their cries, “Taxi, taxi…madam taxi…”

Who knows, I might have done the same to him in the past but thank God, even if I had, he didn’t remember me.

As I was approaching him, I could clearly see his facial expression changing from an oh-that-poor-girl look to an oh-she-is-coming-here-why-me kind of look. The strange combination of his eventually bulging eyes and deepening frown didn’t discourage me however. 

I just took a few steps forward, somehow dragging my four beloved blunders and stood before him. With no delay I clearly enquired if he could help me to reach the last platform, he was still holding that why-me kind of expression. Somehow he managed to come out of it within a fraction of second and uttered, “Okadi second Maedam”, took an about turn and ran towards the other entrance of the station. Him getting lost in the crowd just after saying those three words, was not comforting at all, but, don’t know why, I tried to believe him. I checked my mobile again, the time was 3.50pm and I lost all hope. 

My self pity reached the extremity, due to helplessness and self criticism, for picking a wrong person at that crucial moment. I started collecting my baggage and took a deep breath to get mentally prepared for the weight lifting and walking with it part. I was just attempting to take the first step towards the stairway when I heard the same Okadi-second-Maedam voice shouting from a distance, “Maedam maedam, coolie.”

If I had a million dollar, I would have given him all of it at that very moment for doing this favor to me. And I couldn’t help thinking, “These guys are not bad, not all of them.

Next time such taxi touts bother me, I won’t be rude to them unless they make me mad with their nags. Hang on, they do it every time. Oh whatever...” 

The coolie like a real help adjusted the two suitcases over his tiny head and hung the two bags on his shoulders. His straight face didn’t make me feel guilty for making those bags and suitcases so heavy. He managed to be expressionless consistently on his way climbing the stairs, and walking through the foor-over bridge till he got inside my compartment. However, the Rs.50 I offered him finally changed his look; as usual he was not happy. 

I finally settled the deal with another twenty bugs. Don’t know about the rates but my financial condition was underrated at that juncture. What do you expect from someone who was staying alone without a job for last two months, with all her savings almost used up, and with a big problem of not letting her parents know about her financial condition?

With a long blast of horn signal the train started to move and I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and silently whispered, “Bbye Hyderabad, for now.”

       

(Please note: the pictures in this blog has been taken from the internet to make the blog more expressive, none of them are clicked by me. However, time to time I do share pictures with my blogs or simply photos taken by me. I will be adding few of them soon.)