The plan was always there to travel and explore the remote, untouched and untamed Northeast nature. But, it never materialized, the excuse being next time I will try. However, things and perspective change when you know that you have very short time to experience your freedom from any kind of personal bondage and obligation. And after a lot of tug of war between yes and no opposite poles, I finally realized it was time to do, what needs to be done.
Whether you say fate or the company policy everything was falling in place at right time, there was yearly shutdown and a compulsory 50% leave usage policy. The only hiccup, there was very short time to do the reservations (lost time due to my indecision). Although, I originally planned to travel alone but then checked with one my friends who also wanted to explore NorthEast. Two is better than one after all our society is built on co-operation and even when you look back to the human evolution it was only through cooperation that they survived and propagated in the wild. Just 8 days to go and we did the reservations to Kolkata with a waiting list of 25, odds were against us. But, it was like no matter what we need to do this either hop on bus or train. Anyways there was no turning back as we booked the return flight tickets from Kolkata. There was only one way and that was leading to NorthEast.
After crucial week and regular PNR status checks the waitlist had moved to RAC 5 on the day of journey. We boarded the train at Yeshwantpur, sharing the side berth and the upper side berth guy also claiming to his share to sit at lower berth, so now which was already uncomfortable had undergone a three way split. As slowly it got dark and people started sleeping, the berth was left to us. And we discussed from work to everything else to grind away the time. Now, it was a wait for the TTE to bring the good news and around 11.20 p.m we saw TTE again allotting seat to another RAC passenger. As he approached us our optimism was building up that now it’s our turn to get a seat , coming to us the TTE said ”You guys are the only one who are left out , rest everyone has got seat”. I don’t know if that was the indirect way to ask bribe. As it was approaching midnight and strong desire to sleep was overpowering, an individual berth never looked so enticing. Somewhere, I was ready to bribe but could only say “TTE sir, could you please also find us a berth”.
All hopes had gone out of the window, just like pressure cooker releasing all the steam with a whistle. Now, it was time to accept the reality that we need to somehow manage to sleep in that small side berth, the sooner the better. We are fairly wide shoulder and bulky guys and my friend being 6 feet; it meant he would be basically putting the night leg gate for the fellow passenger to jump.
It’s a very uncomfortable, feeling stuck and unable to change the position while sleeping especially when a normal person during a proper sleep changes his position several times during the night. The frustration was building up slowly as I was in the semi-sleep state. I had made the decision to go and sleep in berth meant for the AC coaches helper (generally every AC coach has such berth which folds in/out as door of the storage near the coach exit door. ) just waiting for that tipping point moment when it would be no longer bearable sleeping in the current position.
Suddenly, there was a tap on the shoulder and a familiar voice said”Come…” I opened my eyes to see the TTE smiling at me; well I understood the fortunes have changed over the midnight it was around 12.45 a.m. The TTE took me to next coach and showed my personal berth, nothing seemed more beautiful at that point of time and TTE had suddenly become God in human form. I wholeheartedly thanked TTE and yeah the thought came but then you don’t bribe or offer something that can be perceived as bribe to the honest people, they just take pride in being good, just and honest.
The realization that there are still few good men raises the hope for our society. Personally, I am staunch opponent of bribes and have made my passport and driving license without paying any bribes, although it meant unnecessary trips to their office but slowly people get it that he is not going to give in. With that optimism for nation’s future, rest of the night was a peaceful sleep.
