AN UNCOMMON EXPERIENCE........!!!

Hey..another experience I wish to share with you all  Though it happened in 1993 and 1994…(of course very old!!!) it is still vivid in my mind.  As  you are all aware that I was born and brought up in Chennai..a city with conventional people and strong belivers of traditions!!! Mine was a typical arranged marriage, I was a newly wed .. with lots of dreams in my heart, I had travelled to Mumbai with my husband in 1993 to…..Mumbai a city of dreams…where people love fast life and you can find heaven if your pocket is not barren!!!

The local trains are a common medium of transport for any Mumbaikar. I was totally new to this kind of life style..  it took a while to get adjusted to Mumbai. It was during my transition period. Once my hubby and I travelled from VT to Kanjur marg ( where my in-laws stay) by the local train. Most of the ladies travel in the ladies compartment  but since I didn’t know the stations , my husband suggested that I be with him. A true military officer is promising…I just obeyed him!!! When we were about to get down, he instructed me to get down first and I did just that, but because of the crowd he couldn’t do so and the relentless train started moving and I was left all alone at the station!!! As usual people came to console me and a railway employee helped me and said that I should not get worried. I was feeling miserable and wanted to rant with my husband later. But my agitation did not last long……my poor husband caught another train and reached the same place where I was standing!!! Like a child, I was much relived to see him. He assured me that nothing would have happened to me and I must take it as a learning experience!!! I was happy at the end!!!!!!

The story did not end with this………..in 1994 exactly a year later….the same incident happened, we were travelling in the local train with a lot of luggage and we were not able to get down with all our stuff. I got off with a suitcase and the train merrily moved leaving me at the station!!! But I had become smart by then, I did not panic. I came out of the station and took an auto rickshaw to reach to my in-law’s house. I informed my parents in –law about the incident and they took it coolly.

Time was passing but there was no sign of my husband coming back home and I was getting paranoid. Four hours had passed, he was still missing. I could not eat anything as I was feeling very bad from inside as to what would have happened to him… and later in the evening, he emerged like full moon with a long face, and totally angry on me!!!  He started arguing, “How could you leave the station just like that?” as he searched for me for a very long time and this made him sad and angry. I tried telling him that I had been smart enough to manage things without panicking..but in vain!!! He was totally not in sync with me, men have strong hearts and especially military men have stronger ones!! I was only one year old married….so finally I said “sorry” to him. But jokingly I also said that he should take it as a learning experience to cope up with a young chennai girl!!!!

Now, I can confidently travel by the locals and get down at the right station…but this incident is a joke for our children as they still wonder how could this happen to their parents????