Writings of Kerala Geek

These days I am doing a lot of train travel. My wife is from Irinjalakkuda and she goes home once in a month. So this means I have to travel to Irinjalakkuda almost on a weekly basis. There is a saying in Malayalam - “… bharyaveettil anchaam naal pattikku samam” which means if you stay more than 5 days at your wife’s place you are equivalent to the dog there. Moreover I do have a job so I keep shuttling between Trivandrum and Irinjalakkuda.

It is tough getting reservation on the main night train(Trivandrum express 6348 from Mangalore which reaches Irinjalakkuda at 10:45PM). I don’t know which idiot extended it from Kannur to Mangalore. You need to book atleast two weeks in advance to get a ticket in it and I was religiously planning my travels for it.

But on one occassion, I had to book ticket at the last minute. As usual Trivandrum express reached WL 200+ so there was no chance of getting a ticket. When I looked at the trains only other option was to get on the Amrita train which leaves from Thrissur at 00:30AM. Yeah , it is too late but was the only option so I took it.

So on sunday I said bye bye and took a local train from Irinjalakkuda and reached Thrissur by 11:30. Even at that hour Thrissur station is crowded. There are 2 special trains from Chennai which transits between 01:00 AM and 02:00AM.

Finally Amrita arrived half an hour late around 01:00 AM. I was dying to sleep and immediately jumped in and started looking for my birth. It was S7-05 and to my horror another guy was sleeping on it. My adrelanine levels were quickly increasing and I called the fellow. He was deep asleep so I called louder and finally started shaking him. After a bit of prodding and kicking finally he was awake.

Me : I  have reservation for this.

Other Guy (confused) : But.. but. I have reservation

Me (getting aggressive)  : Here is my ticket. Show me your ticket.

Other Guy (after searching a while) : Here is mine.

I looked at his ticket and I was shocked! He also had the same seat. What the hell? I looked at my ticket - same again! Then it struck me, the dates are different. I looked at the watch - oh no! It is Monday!!!!!!!!!!!

I immediately gave the ticket back to him and disappeared in a flash ( You see, he was a strong guy and was recovering from his sleep).

Loosing money on a train ticket is not too bad. But standing on the train till Trivandrum is hardly enjoyable. So I approached TTE (Ticket Examiners - some are friendly and some look like having a piles problem) and told him about my predicament. He said nothing can be done. So I approached head TTE  (an old and helpful guy). He told me that I can stay in the train  till Alwaye and probably should try the Malabar express for a ticket.

So I ended up on the door waiting for Alwaye. Suddenly from nowhere a well dressed but completely drunk fellow appeared. He was cursing TTE and had only a day time ticket. TTE came and started cursing him back. Thankfully Alwaye station came really fast and I got down there.

Looking back I could see the TTE kicking him out of the train. He probably got hurt as well.

I took a ticket from Alwaye (counter was open even at 2AM) and luckily got a berth in Malabar Express. Finally at I was able to sleep at 4AM and man, that was the best sleep I had in a while.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 11:18 am and is filed under My little life.