An adventure of sorts

Saturday, December 18th, 2004. It was the last day of the week at College, and I, as usual, planned to go home for the weekend. It's 3.50 P.M, and I’m all set to board the 4 o'clock bus. My stomach groans. I hadn't had anything to eat the whole of that day. My hostel provides snacks after College hours, and there usually is a 5 o'clock bus. So I thought, why not have something for the road? Little did I realise that this hunger pang would create a lot of problems later that day.



After a quick snack, I went to my room and had a refreshing nap. It was 15 minutes to 5.00 when I woke up. I took my stuff and left for the bus. While handing over my gate pass to the hostel security, a thought flashed across my mind - What if there isn't a 5 o'clock bus, this being a weekend? Nah. There were bound to be people other than me going at 5.00.



Unfortunately, Murphy's law prevailed. "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it." I did it. It so happened that there wasn't a single College bus at 5.00. It was either stay at the hostel for the weekend or find someway to get to the city(Chennai) and eventually my home, which was 60-70 Km away from the rural area in which my College is situated. I don't know why all Engineering colleges are situated so damn far away from the city. I opted to go home; somehow, someway.



I walked all the way to the entrance of the College, which is quite far from the bus stand. All I could see from there was a couple of people and rocks. Not to mention a lot of sand. The two people were apparently waiting for some kind of public transport, so I asked hem where they were headed and how. They were going the other way, into a nearby semi-city, by bus. They told me that no bus headed for Chennai would stop here. I inferred that I either had to go into the semi-city with them or go the other way to the nearest bus stand which was about 4 Km away.



Murphy's law again. Dragging my bags along the dusty road, I reached the "bus stand", which was just a bunch of people sitting on boulders, at about 6.00. The worst thing was, none of them wanted to go to Chennai, and a bus stopped only if there were at least 3 people headed for the same destination. I was all alone in about 15 minutes. About 9 buses passed me by, all headed for Chennai, but none of them would stop when I flapped my arms at them. My arms were aching and my hunger wasn't completely satisfied. It would be dinner time soon at the hostel; I couldn't resist the temptation for food. I turned back and headed toward the College. On the way, I saw four of my fellow inmates who were headed for a nearby restaurant. In an effort to help me, one of the guys suggested that I ask the restaurant owner to drop me on his bike as far as he could. I turned down the offer; I told them I wasn't THAT desperate. On contraire, I was. But I was too tired to walk back again. And then, I spotted a bus coming toward me, seemingly slowing down. I didn't care if it was just my imagination. With a heavy bag across my shoulders and a heavier bag gripped by my sweaty right hand (I'm right handed), I leapt into the bus, as "The Hulk" would do. The bus driver screamed at me. Terrorising experience that. Not being yelled at, I mean jumping on to the bus with heavy bags. I've been yelled at a lot, enough to have become immune to it.



Damn Murphy. The bus wasn't headed toward Chennai. The last stop was a place called Poonamalee. The good thing was that there was a terminus there, and lots of buses went to lots of places. I could get a bus there, I hoped.



I had heard my Dad once tell someone that the Poonamalee bus terminus is one of the worst in the state. I imagined it to be a dirty, broken down place. It was worse. Words couldn't describe my feelings upon entering the place, that too around 7.30 in the evening. There was a lot of smoke, and an unpleasant smell of what I concluded to be a mixture of gasoline and alcohol. Eeugh. Had a chat with a guy who was giving everybody tickets, and found out that a bus to Chennai would leave in about 10 minutes. The store there didn't have Pepsi, or any of the popular drinks. I had to settle for a silvery looking liquid in a green bottle which was what the storekeeper called "Sprite 2". I could've been poisoned; I don't know, I didn't care. I was darn thirsty. It's a good thing I drink fast, 'cause as soon as I finished the bottle, the storekeeper got into a fight with another customer, one which involved long wooden two by fours. I got away as quickly as I could, and boarded a bus with a banner "UPTO SAIDAPET". I knew how to get home from Saidapet. I reached the place at 8.30, when my mom called me on my mobile phone and screamed at me for not staying at the hostel when I missed the College bus.



The rest of the journey wasn't as eventful. Unless you count losing my wallet and then regaining it with an additional 20 bucks in it. No idea how that happened. Someone up there, if there is anyone up there, must love me. Arrived at my house at around 10, ate something, and slept.



Well, the second series of internal exams starts this Monday, I hope to do better than what I did the first time. For that I have to study, for which I have to stay away from the computer. It's gonna be tough, but I have to do it.