.....that I have started blogging again and am maintaining a decent frequency of posting. Came today to my uncle's place since my mom is here for a small diagnostic procedure. God's grace she is doing good post procedure.
So when I went today to Byculla station to come here to meet ma, there was a huge wait to buy tickets. Wonder why on a hot Monday afternoon instead of sitting quietly indoors people want to travel by train. Duh. So there was a huge crowd. And probably some Delhi board exams too. My way of beating the ticketing crowd is the smart use of coupons or the ATVM card. Since I was out of coupons I went to the window to buy some. There I saw a young barely 18 or 19 year old boy with a 20 rupee note telling a person at the front in the huge queue "Please buy me a ticket, I am getting late for my exams". As apathetic as we all are no one paid any attention to his request. He was sweating with I don't know what...probably a mix of the weather, his worry and the hurry he was in. Wiping his brow and looking at the watch on his hand and the response (rather the lack of it) he was almost quivering with fear. Suddenly (for him) I whipped at him, "Chal I'll buy you a ticket. Come with me. Where do you want to go and how much is the ticket?"
"I need return for Vikhroli"
"Coupons can't be punched for return tickets. How much is one way?"
"Eight rupees"
"Here"...I gave him 8 rupee coupons and went to check the price of the coupons I needed.
He punched his coupons while I returned back to the punching machine
"Here how much do I pay you?"
"No beta, you run you have an exam!" I almost shrieked as if it was I who had to rush for the exam.
He ran fast, and I felt nice after a long time. Glad I could help him go to his exam on time. In our hurries we forgot to greet each other. The formal "Thank you" and "All the best for exams". But his thanks was rather visible in his relief. I hope he clears his exam with good marks.
