Delay…Surprise…and negligence….

There was still 5 whole minutes on my left hand for the train to arrive when I reached Cantonment station last Sunday. There was a huge battalion of passengers waiting for the train and a hoard of stray dogs waiting to give them a tumultuous send-off.

I looked at the hanging clock on the platform, the minute and hour hand was still energetic and busy chasing each other at 11 PM. I casually reached out for the e-ticket that was tucked in one corner for my bag. Surprises, changes and delays are way of life in India and I was not sure if there were any for today’s journey. I had hardly finished thinking and there it was delivered over the PA system.

The announcement of the arrival of Lokmanya Tilak express on the same platform I was waiting on pushed me back but the train number, coach number and berth number were still hanging from my finger tips. Sipping a cup of hot coffee my mind was busy chalking out my schedule for the next hour and the next day. Immediately I memorized coach number and berth number stored them in an erasable corner of my brain and put my ticket aside. I must tell you that surprises, changes and delays come earlier than the much awaited Chennai express.

In the meantime an old diesel engine not as old as the name Lokamanya Tilak honked and made a grand entry into Platform 2. Over the next few minutes there was a lot of commotion, people boarding/ alighting and some running back and forth to board their respective coaches. Then last ritual before the departure then unfolded. Passengers vehemently waving their hands to their loved ones and of course the guard on the last carriage waved the green flag, L. Tilak was out.

So far there was no other surprise other than a 15 minute delay in reaching Chennai, and a fellow passenger besides me was even confident that the driver would make-up for the delay. Indian Railways hmm….I sighed.

The PA system was back and working, the LED displays went blank for a few seconds but soon came back with the details of the next train number and coach numbers and passengers shuffled back and forth to position themselves outside their coach. The next few minutes were dynamic. And the much awaited Chennai Express arrived on Platform 2.

I didn’t bother to check my name on the half torn reservation chart printed on a dot matrix printed and pasted on the side of the bogie with the same “Maida” that is used to make the pizza crust. Half the lights in the compartment were shut, people were already settled in their respective crevices, and roaches were busy doing their night surveillance. Before I found a safe place for my bag and footwear I inspected my berth. Surprise was already tucked in the linen with white in-sheet stained with Robin blue and a pillow for the head. Huh?

Without letting my emotions light up the dark passageway I checked the berth number on the seat and matched with the one on the ticket. Yes, my berth was occupied. I gently touched Mr. Surprise and woke him up. His eyes lit up with another surprise, and asked him for his berth number. He said his was 62, but I told him mine was 64. I politely smiled and I waited for him to get out of the berth. Then I requested him to take the used bedding with him.

The blue night lights in the passageway made it look like the dark room. I reached out for fresh linen stacked on the berth across and flung my laptop on my berth and found a cozy corner for my bag and shoes. It was a long day I was ready to stretch myself in that 6 feet by 3 feet cushioned den.

The train had crossed Bangalore East and was nearing KR Puram, and it was time to rest my eyelids and mind. As the last ritual I pulled my wallet, paper ticket and mobile phone hidden safely in my trouser and put it besides my pillow and snug into warm the blanket. Do you think it is over? Nah! Just wait…

I thought it was the Ticket Inspector who called me, but to my surprise it was a passenger. Remember, what goes around comes around. Sometimes in less than 10 minutes. He asked the same questions that I asked the guy who occupied my berth earlier, and he even said his name was there on the maida glued reservation chart. I could not resist eviction anymore, before he asked me to take the used linen off the berth, I gave him fresh bed linen and walked in search of the Ticket Inspector (TI). That was Mr. Surprise.

Like the scampering roach I went to the next bogie in search of the inspector. I poured my anxiety and told him about another passenger for the same berth. He patiently heard me and agreed to walk with me back to my evicted berth. To his surprise the name, PNR # and details of the passenger matched with one on the chart and the TI completed his ritual and ushered me outside. My heart was pounding, but I showed calm and composure and explained my stance and innocence. Neither of us had an answer for this situation.

I pictured myself back on the platform and calling in sick to work the following morning. In parallel I was trying to create plan B. TI scrutinized my ticket again and was confused how something like this could happen and without asking me to buy another ticket he offered me a berth to retire for the night. It was a big surprise to have vacant berths and have a TI offer it on a platter.I did the ritual again, moved my baggage under another berth and prepared the bed and hoped for no more surprises that night.

Before I heard the alarm on my mobile phone the attendant screamed across the hallway, we had reached Chennai. Most of them were still sleeping while a few rushed out of the blankets and made it to the door. I looked at my watch and the train was 20 minutes ahead of time. Another surprise on the journey…Indian Railways…huh?

I rushed to the pre-paid auto counter and to my surprise there were not many in the line at 4.30 am. Jumping every red light I reached home in 15 minutes. I finished my home-coming rituals and logged on to IRCTC to understand what had happened. My life has never been short of surprises, changes and delays and they seem to continue forever. The Booked ticket module on the site showed cancelled status against this PNR number. I was puzzled, and the scenes from the previous night journey flashed. I was a criminal, traveling without any reservation in a reserved coach. Legally I didn’t have my name or PNR number on the reservation chart and traveled for free from Bangalore to Chennai. Now I understood how the guy with waitlisted ticket got a confirmed berth and had his name on the chart. I had cancelled my confirmed ticket return journey ticket instead of canceling my waitlisted onward journey ticket.

All Journeys lose excitement if surprises are revealed upfront. But definitely this journey had surprises like milestones. I have booked tickets online for years and never have Indian Railways ticketing system failed. And never have I traveled ticketless on a reserved compartment and never before a TI has behaved with empathy. This journey was a lesson.

Revolutionary Road

Are tied down to your job because of your wife, kids, mortgage payments and other financial commitments? Do you feel your ambitions and dreams in life have all been thwarted? Do you feel you have made wrong choices in life and stuck in a quagmire? To add to this complexity you also have a loveless marriage, and a wife who connects and abruptly disconnects like a dialup modem. Isn’t this a perfect entrapment? Who is responsible for all this? Be it America, India or wherever on this earth this is a predicament we are all faced with today. Humans are complex multi cellular species driven by dreams, desire and delusions.

Now what can you do about your life, responsibilities and unrealized dream? Should you be a part of the audience and see life pass by without exercising your free will? Or should you break the shackles and start live your dream and be in complete control of your life?

The movie opens with Kate and Leo exploring the boundaries of friendships at a party. But very soon their exploration puts them together on the journey of life. They embark the journey with the hope they will support each other to realize their dreams.

Is marriage the right choice to realize your dream? Didn’t seem like the best decision in this case. Dreams were shelved and they went around the neighborhood looking for a house and then topped it up kids. The Wheeler’s end up living a mundane, stereotypical urban husband and wife with lackadaisical life. Soon their marriage turns into a battle ground. They end up constantly bickering over their unrealized dreams, and with two kids they were carrying a mountain of responsibilities on their shoulders and wearing a tired, sulking, emotionally drained look on their face. Professionally and personally it was unfulfilling for Leo. This is when you realize marriage is not an answer for fulfilling dreams in life. May be there is answer outside the marriage to realize your dream? Finally it was smoke from the marriage, smoke from infidelity and from the cigarettes that engulfs the screen.

Who will fix the marriage and who will get to live their dream? Kate, the mature mother of two decides by moving to Paris Leo can live his dream, while she dons the role of the breadwinner. Sounds so romantic but is it realistic? This is when the westerly wind drifts the boat away. You leave the movie hall in a pensive thoughtful mood…Is life fair? Is it fate or free-will that win?

Predicaments of life have never been captured so vividly ever on the screen. Kate and Leo, Hollywood’s romantic couple has come a long way from yuppie Titanic stars to responsible adults caught in their mid-life whirlwind. They have done a brilliant job showing hue of emotions on the screen from disillusionment, hatred, infidelity to love all on one canvas. Dialogues and screen play is sharp and poignant (Kate is brilliant when she says “To make the first mistake look right we had the second baby”. Music is exceptionally, especially the violin in the shot where Leo runs away (we don’t if he is running away from or towards something) is just marvelous and strings every nerve in your body. It is a revolutionary road in every sense. Dreams come with a price - both live and unlived.