Missing Trains and Mad Cows

I like silly titles. The missing train part is real. I personally thought that all the cows in Hampi were mad, but unfortunately, I have no evidence. Not even a single photo of the dratted things.

Anyhow, coming back to the Missing Trains half, it was hilarious. Rather, it is, in hindsight. To start at the starting, Mr Nanga Swamy was in charge of 'tout l'affairs.' He booked our tickets to and fro, booked rooms, a cab to take us around and the works. We were impressed and let things rest in his skilled reigns. So, the afternoon of departure arrived. We got our luggage and office cabs were ready to take us to the railway station, like an orchestra at Swamy's fingertips. We stuffed our bags with a whole load of chips, fruits juices, chocolates and soft-drinks (courtesy Google) and made our way downstairs, with Mr Nanga Swamy shepherding us. Very impressive.

All excited. I was new to this bubbly group and i kept mum, listening to very noisy girly giggling and I wondered to myself about my fate. Next, we alighted at the station, bid farewell to our cab and waddled our way into the station, waiting for the last cab. Hmmm. I think, some detailing is required here.

Damn, introducing the group is difficult, but I'll try. So, there's Mr. Nanga Swamy. The photo will explain him. Then, there's three bad boys - Varun, Swarnesh and Jeetu. They live together and have private jokes - very rude. Then, there is Nandita and Maria, who're best friends and Priya and Mariam, who're very crazy and funny. They were the giggling girls I was stuck with, and I was still making up my mind about if i could handle them or not. And finally, Mrinalika. The hottie. Very fun girl.

So, Swarnesh, Maria and Nandita's cab wasn't there yet. The rest of us decided to go onto the station and check how much longer for our train. According to Mr. Swamy's careful calculations, we had around 15 minutes before the train came. Sufficient, I thought, to get us to the required platform and find our boogies, etc. What we didn't expect, of course, when we asked the Ticket Collector, was that we were at the wrong station completely.

Yes, inaccurate, incorrect station.

The train didn't see this part of the railway tracks in her happy meanderings at all. We were all stunned beyond words. I felt a great urgency of rushing and running anywhere... to set things right. I looked at Swamy's face and my heart broke. He was shattered, helpless and looked like he would cry. And all of a sudden, he sprang, like a bull set loose in a bullfight, and ran out of the station... We followed our sprightly guide. He ran straight towards our disappearing cabs and with impressing sprinting, along with lap-top and luggage, caught them and got them to stop for us. We jumped in, into 2 cabs, the others would be notified over phone to come to the correct station. This correct station was around 20 minutes away. The train 15 minutes away. The traffic - horrible. I cursed at every signal. Ashen faces around me, and I laughed in my head, 'Oh, we possibly can't miss the train. These things don't really happen.'

We got to the correct station, ran like possessed characters in a film. And pitiful faces told us the train had just left. 2 minutes back. These things don't happen and hadn't sunk in yet. Blood still rushing in our heads, we turned around and bumped into these rickshaw-walas. They said, "Missed the train? Have no fear. Super-rickshaws are here." These guys were super smart. They promised us that they would take us to the next station before the train got there. I was game. What did we have to lose?!

They said, 'If we don't get you there before the train, don't pay us.' Even better. We jumped in. The last cab (Maria, Swarnesh and Nandita) were still on the way. We just called them and told them to make their way to "Lingampally" - the station far, far away, I think some 30 km from Hyd.

Once we were in the rics, there was nothing we could do but hope. This time, i was in the ric with Jeetu and Varun. And soon we were laughing and feeling excited. I was amazed by the rickshaw guys. They took control of our lives, our holiday and our fate. With insane swerves and superspeeds, they promised we would get there. Tiny lanes he knew, to beat the traffic and soon we were on the highway on our way to the outskirts of the city. He said that this was their daily business. They stood by the station, waiting for people to missed the train, and took them to Lingampally. I was awed, and hopeful.

The ride was awesome. The weather got chilly as we got out of the city and this guy was driving like it was a video game. It was thrilling.

As we raced against time, I grew more and more impressed by this guy's ability to keep us alive. I wondered how much we would have to pay him for this emergency ride. We'll give him a hundred rupees, I decided. The road went on and on. Hmmm, I thought. A hundred rupees each, I figured. A nice wholesome sum. Didn't say it aloud. When we got to the station, we first ran out, and checked if the train had left. 10 minutes for it to arrive! We were gonna make it!

The rickshaw guy had followed us to the platform. So, we asked him how much we owed him. Rs.1000 he said. I nearly fainted. And felt mighty indignant. We tried to bargain. He didn't budge. We were swindled to the amount of Rs.500. That's what we paid for that wild ride across the city. What a story.

The next rickshaw arrived. This was the girls - Priya, Mariam, Mrin - and Swamy. They paid their guy Rs.1000. We didn't talk about it. It caused acute heart-burn. The rickshaw guys vanished in seconds. We were here now.. before the train! Oh, except, the other three in the cab.

It had dawned on me, that Maria, Nandita and Swarnesh should have left the cab and got into another of these rics. Becuase these rickshaw guys did this shit everyday. Only they could beat the train. Not our poor cab driver.

In horror, we heard that the cab was lost. They helplessly described what they saw around then and we hopefully tried to imagine that they were 'nearly here'. Aaarhgh, this couldn't happen man. Swamy was nearly in tears again. He was in conversation with the railway master. Begging him to hold the train for a few minutes and give directions to our friends. We were all near panic and foot-stamping. The train arrived. We stood near the door. We stepped in and looked out of the door. I was convinced this would be so filmy. That we'd see them come running on to the platform and they will run and catch a slowly moving train.

Swamy was still talking to the railway master. I was looking at the signal. It stayed red. For longer, i suspect, than usual. In spite of all his protests about losing his job, the railway master kept the train waiting for as long as he could manage. Finally the train driver blew the bellowy horn. And the signal went green. We stepped off the train. No one came. The train left.

What a tragic story and what a very long post. I'm sorry.

Anyhow, so those guys came a few minutes later. By then, we were all miserable. But when we saw Swamy, we couldn't help but want to cheer him up. We hugged him and kissed him (that worked) and made him pose with us for photos. That worked too. He then asked us to gather around him and in solemn words apologized for his mistake. His speech was so funny that we were all laughing and felt much better. So, bright ideas began again. There has got to be another train! We could take the next train, I voted.

That was voted out because the boys decided that it would be too unsafe for so many girls to travel in an unreserved boogie. I didn't agree, but the others didn't seem keen about it. So we left it at that.

Well, we decided we'd still have a nice weekend. Watch a movie. I was certainly getting smashed. Probably go for a drive somewhere the next day.

Until, darling Nanga made some phone calls. And hey, presto. We had bus tickets to Hampi. And a bus to catch in 30 mins! We caught it. And the trip was one of the best that I can recollect.

Full marks to Mr. Nanga Swamy.

Hampi Photos! here.

Oh, these were taken with Swamy's camera by me. And there's a story. I took approximately 200 photos (and good ones, i was sure) and then i bumped the camera a bit. Accidentally. Then, the photos vanished. All gone.
I couldn't believe it. They had to be on the memory card. But we couldn't find them. All that was there on the camera were some (strange) photos of Swamy's home. Which he clearly remembered deleting 2 days ago. Pathetic, I felt.

Until, a month ago, when he managed to recover them. Accidentally. Potty camera, I say.