It was around 1 in the morning,I was at Hotel Cama,Ahmedabad,enjoying the 3* luxury that TOI has provided me (not as a token for being a faithful subscriber who ogles at the front page snaps) when it occured to me that I had absolutely no idea about how I was going to get to Surat. I always keep my travel plans flexible,real flexible. That means that I normally do not book my tickets for any journey which leaves me with a host of options to choose from, afterall the comfort and the mode of conveyance has never been the reason for my trips! My usual modus operandi is to look up for a suitable train at the Indian Railways website,reach the station early,load myself with magazines and cling on to,hang on to or even sometimes float in the GC (read General Compartment). That means that I do not need to run away midway through a party with my friends,I do not need to rush through the site seeing trips, I can not stay back for a day with my friends if my tickets already booked and so on. And that day was also not different. My decision criterions were salvaging attendance by attending classes the next day and getting some quality sleep and a less strenuous journey back to Surat. As there was no internet connection in the room,I rushed to my help line,Manu. He was quick enough in advising me to get the Karnavati Express at 5 in the morning and he replied with a long moaning 'no idea' when I quizzed him about trains after that. That left me thinking,now decision making and trade offs has always been a tricky affair to me. It was already 1 and if I had to catch the 5oclock train I had to leave the hotel at 4 and the kind of sleeper that I am,a mere three hour sleep never happens and even if it does it ruins my whole day. So that meant that I had to have another Night Out to catch the Karnavati. The 70 channel TV was a reason to stay awake, but the strains of the Night Out I had the day before and the A/C were even stronger reasons do doze off. Come on man, you are offered free accomodation (that too all alone in a double room) in a 3* hotel with complementary breakfast in the morning and you are saying a NO to that? And thus,I decided against the Karnavati. The former reason was not the primary driver for that decision though. I wanted to get some rest. I had had a real strenuous week,my parents had come over and taking them over Surat with the mercury touching 40 through the day and hopping on to another GC,coming to Ahmedabad had taken precious days of sleep away from me and now I didnt want to exert myself more, so I hit the bed.
I was woken up by the telephone ring in the morning. It was from ther reception,politely asking me 'When the hell will you be checking out?', I looked at my mobile(my cell doubles up as my watch these days!) and it was already 10. I told that I would be checking-out in half an hour and slipped back to sleep. The door bell ranf this time and this time it was the TOI being delivered(my decision to stay back was already starting to pay its dividends!). I had to check-out before 12. So rushed with my ablutions,finished the hotel formalities and reached the Ahmedabad station.
Ok,so which is the next train towards Mumbai? With all my effort I deciphered what was written on the information board in Hindi and figured that there were just two trains in the next 3 hours to Surat and out of that one was a Shatabdi,so naturally I was left with a single option - the Virangam Passenger.
I asked the man at the ticket counter for a ticket to Surat. He said, ' Baara baje ek train hei,local.' And he asked 'Ausme jaana hei?',as if asking me ' are you sure you want to go in that train, dud head?'. I knew how slow the train went,remember travelling to mumbai in that in my first year. I went back to looking at my decision making variables. I had no reason to get back to Surat early, I already missed my day of classes,I would be getting a confirmed seat, may be the compartment itself would almost be empty so I would have a comfortable journey, a GC journey so unlike a GC journey!, I would be reacing Surat by around 7 and that would be perfect enough to get back to hostel and catch up with two days of information loss. So I said with a confident smile, 'yes sir, usme jaana hei'.
Then I went on preparing myself for the trip. Travelling through the heartland of Gujarat at this season could turn out to be a 'hot' experience, so filled my bag with 2 bottles of mineral water.,2 biscuit packets and 4 magazines. Found a vacant compartment and settled down there.
I tried to turn on my mobile, for two reasons. One was that I had no idea of what the time was and second,more importantly I had to call up my parents to tell that I was safely housed in a local train and did not get lost/kidnapped on my way back to Surat ( I could trace the course they would follow if they did not get in touch with me,step by step. First they would call up Sangeeth or Manu, then the times people, then the fellow competitors, then even the hotel that I was put up at, and thinking of the kind of commotion that could create sent a chill down my fingers). My fingers literally froze when my mobile refused to start up! The battery was obviously down. Motorola users would empathise with me,the battery charge does not last for more that 30 hours and I had not charged my phone for the last 50 hours! And this was not the first time that I was pu in this precarious situation by the battery of my cell phone. That even lead me thinking of researching on solar charged battery powered cell phone(that would be such a boon,really!) or even having some kind of emergency battery charge reserve which you could activate under emergency! Anyway, I was stuck in the middle of somewhere and knew that there was panic and confusion at my house,hostels and at my ahmedabad friends' places over my where abouts. I dont know how/why, I was realistic beyond logic in this trip. I realised that the best thing I could do at that point of time was to read the article on cell phones as an indicator of national growth in the business magazine. The train would anyway take me to Surat and the first thing I would do will be callng up my parents.
I ogled at the watch of the person sitting opposite me. What!!!??? it was already 8:30....I had been in this 'local' for the last 8 1/2 hours? But,frankly this was just the experience I was looking for. I had come prepared with that mindset of spending 7 hours in the train,had lots of material to give me company and the sight of rural Gujju land, which you unfortunately dont get to see when you are floating in a GC, finding it difficult even to see your friend barely a metre away! I had got a seat all for myself throughout the journey, so I never felt the strain of the trip and that was just what I wanted from my trip back to Surat - comfortable with space to move your legs and breathe! I got more that what I asked for and I was happy.
At last at 9 the 'local' passed across the Surat board. I jumped out of the train and rushed to the telephone booth. Took the phone and dialled my house number. Papa picked up the phone. I said,'Helo,papa,its me'. 'Oh,my God,where were you? We were so worried, there isnt a single place that we haven't called up............'
The conversation went on expected lines,barring that fact that they called up the hotel I stayed at. Well,trying to answer the title of this piece, 'how slow can a slow train go', i guess its as slow as you make it to go. At times you feel that even a real fast train is moving like a snail, on my journey from Surat to Ahmedabad in an express, two days back I was standing in a packed compartment till Baroda and it felt as if those 2 hours were eternity. Anyway, the more important thing is about the trade offs that you make in your life. I lost a days class (not really repentant about that),travelled almost the whole day,didn't have proper meals,didn't have company during the journey.....but still at the end of the day it was the experience that I wanted and it left me happy. I guess thats all that matters, to you ,up close and personal. Yes I was happy.
