I was surprised no one had a thread on this. Then a search revealed this. Luckily before I could start a new thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cnaganathan MzzledMoose that wouldn't have helped either. Some of my team members had to wait for more than hour to get a bus that came bursting at its seams |
Well, depends on what kind of PTS you are referring to. Chennai has an efficient electric train / suburban train / MRTS network, which was the only mode of transportation that moved on Black Friday. And that is what came to my rescue. Almost came close to missing my train to Kerala, till some quick thinking and the MRTS saved my day.
24-Oct Fri 5PM : I leave from office (Thoraipakkam) as is my practice on most Fridays when I travel to Kerala. Normally, I would reach home around 6PM and after a bit of packing/freshening-up, I ride to Chennai Central, leave my bike there for the weekend and catch my 8PM train to Kerala.
Not having read the day's newspaper, I had no idea about any human-chain or stuff. I knew that rains would drive traffic a little crazy, but nothing in my wildest imagination prepared me for what I was to encounter.
5:20PM : In around 20 mins, I had reached the signal opposite TIDEL park. The IT corridor looked invitingly empty and I was impatiently waiting for the signal to turn green. It does and I drive on, imagining a lovely 2km drive on great tarmac, till the road joins the Sardar Patel road at Madhya Kailash.
But even before I could cover 1km of the road, I see cars waiting on all 4 lanes of the road. I am surprised to see a traffic jam at that time of the day, but attribute it to the rains. And assume that in a few minutes, it will clear up and I will be on my way home.
But, it becomes 5mins, 10 mins and then half-an-hour. And even after 1 full hour, I would have inched only some 200 metres forward. Finally it is 7PM and I have only reached the place on IT corridor where we take a left to S.P.Road. There is no way on earth I can get home (my ticket and passport-id used for online booking, are in my bag at home) and then from there get to Central in 1 hour to catch my train. My wife already called many times and I told her that it looks like I would miss the train.
I toy mentally with the idea of driving to Kerala. While I love driving, it does not sound good to drive 15-16 hours 1-way for a 3-day vacation. My mind is already processing alternate options like trying for another train on same day, trying for next day's train etc etc.
And that is when an idea strikes me. Why not take a U-turn, drop the car at the MRTS station parking for 3 days and catch the MRTS to Central ? Should take me only 15mins. From there, catch the electric train to Nungambakkam, an auto to home to get the bag and back to Nungambakkam and from there a train to Central. Sounds do-able.
But am worried about the safety of my car. Have never left it at a public parking even for a day. And here I need to leave it for 3 days. But i have no option. So, take a U-turn, park the car, cover it and confirm with the parking guys about safety. It would be safe, they assure. Parking charges would be steep though - Rs60 for 24 hours. No time to worry about a few bucks.
Rush upstairs to the ticket counter only to see a huge queue. Drop plan of buying ticket and rush to the platform. Train comes in a few mins and drops me at Central in 13mins or so. It is 7:40PM when I walk out of MRTS station and I know that I do not have time to go home, get my bag and return in time to catch my train. So drop that plan.
Walk into Central station to the Sify netcafe to printout my ticket (thank God for online booking). The whole place is crowded with all PCs busy. The operator has thankfully given his PC for those that want to take ticket printouts. Charges me 30bucks which is double the normal, but I am just glad I could make it. I walk into the train at 7:55PM. Phew.
One more obstacle remains. I do not have my passport and as per railway rules, i need to have on me the exact id with which i booked my ticket. Anyway, the TTE's know the traffic issue and are lenient and are OK with my ICICI credit card as ID.
I learn later that I was lucky. There were so many guys/gals who missed the train and could not make it. And this when they had booked tickets 3 months in advance (like me). Ofcourse one person's loss is another's gain. So guys who had tickets with WL267 etc got confirmed berth due to so many people missing the train.
An adrenaline-pumping 2.5 hours it was. And one that I would not want to face again.
P.S. : Add to this 2 minor inconveniences :
1) I badly want to have a smoke while stuck in traffic. Normally I would step out and smoke since traffic is at a standstill. But since it is drizzling, can't do that. And I hate smoking in the car. More so when I can't leave the windows open. Finally had to make an exception that day and smoke in the car.
2) With the weather being what it was, the urge to take a leak was strong. And when you know that you are in a situation where it is not possible, magically the urge becomes all the more stronger - some kind of Murphy's law. Also having waited 1.5 hours, there was no knowing how many more hours it would be before I reached home. But there was no denying the urge. Finally managed some jugaad solution - though not putting it up here.