TheLastMinute.com

- Vidhya Krishnan

Yes, I really love the experience of doing few things at the last minute. One of those, is catching a train / bus or flight! I think there is a thrill in catching train or bus in the last minute. I really don’t prefer waiting for long time in the airports, train station and bus station. Even if I have to I don’t mind observing the comics (people or events that happen) that goes on around me.

This habit of mine really annoys my other family members, especially my dad, who likes to be in the train station an hour before the time. I can’t imagine myself doing that. L Even now when I have to get a short distance train my dad gets ready 2 hour ago and make me aware of the train time.

Once I had to catch a train from Pune to Madurai. As usual, I started at the right time (just 30 minutes before) and there was a terrible traffic. The fellow who dropped me at the station drove like a mad. In spite of that, we were delayed by 10 minutes. I thought, “fine then. Missed the train”. We went to the platform and saw the crowd still waiting. The fellow who came with me said, “Generally, trains from Bombay are delayed”. Train was yet to come. I said, “I love my India!”. J

This is not the only chasing incident. I had to catch a train from Leeds (UK) to London. I started 45 minutes before the time (See, I learnt the lesson from my previous experience). When I came out to the main road, I saw the road was choco blocked. There was no hope of traffic getting cleared within an hour. I thought, “OK, let us try our luck today”. So I started walking to the train station. The train was at 3 pm and I reached the station at 3.05pm. But it is Britain where things happen right on the dot. So I saw the train moving right in front of me. Unlike Indian trains, once the train gets a green signal the doors are closed. So one can’t get into the moving train as we do in India. So I had to say bye to the train. In the ticket counter, I was told I had to buy a new ticket for the next train that starts an hour after (4pm). I thought let me try to talk to the train company. So I went to the office and explained my situation to the gentle man and asked him, “what do I do now?”. He said, “Don’t worry, you go in the next train at 4 pm with this ticket”. I said, “Oh! That is great. But what about the TT? In my ticket it is mentioned 3pm. He would ask me how did I get into the 4 o’ clock train.” But he said, “No worries, he won’t ask you and you would be fine”. I asked him, “How? How can you say that?”. He smiled and said, “I am the TT”. When he saw me again in the train, he smiled and punched my ticket without any question.J

Whenever my family members travel with me, I can see their blood pressure shooting up. I say, “Relax! Cool! Everything will be alright!”. I can see my family members raising their eyebrows when they read this. ;)