Nagarjuna Sagar tales – One

At Kasturibai nagar station:

It really showed. What? My retiring and recluse lifestyle

I lead a very sedentary life. Not for me the habit of venturing out of my apartment. I prefer the PC or the guitar or sit quietly cross-legged for an hour of meditation. I am no different from a chicken in a coop, except a contented chicken and no fear of the butcher’s axe.

            There is a small tale here. I left home at 2:00 pm on a cloudy rainy day to the Central station on 19^th July. You see, Nagarjuna Sagar bound.  The train departs at 4:45 and I was weighed down by uncertainty of a waitlisted ticket. A part of the mind said: if there is no seat I’ll come back home.

            I slung a black duffel bag on the shoulder, and switched off the power lines inside. Otherwise some jerk would ring the calling bell and burn it. This house gets more than its share of salesman meddlesome and importunate peddlers.

            I was waiting in the bus stop and it began to rain. I was concerned about the dry clothes in the bag getting rinsed. I hailed an auto and off we set off. He said,” Rs.70.” for a 3 km distance that costs Rs. 4 in a bus. I thought sixty would be right and Rs.70 is rain inflated. It looked fair to me.

            The auto stopped me at Kasturibai nagar station. I told the driver,” Can you go further into the front end of the station?” That boy of a driver proved morose and stubborn. He stopped and demanded the money. The drizzle outside was getting stronger and I was in no mind to argue. So got out and ran to the safety of those huge roofs.

            I looked around for the ticket counter. MRTS stations are elevated ones, they are hardly patronized and at any point in time it looks deserted as a cemetery. Many a stray dog have made the station their den and today’s rains meant puddles too. These stations look all sturdy and metallic and escalators. I searched for the ticket counter in frantic, I heard a train halt overhead. The next train would be 20 minutes later and so another wait.

            Outside the gale winds and rains were gathering in ferocity. I spotted two college boys and asked,” Where’s the ticket counter?” One boy answered,” It is on the other side.”

            I clarified,” Which means there is no access from here?”      

            The teenager smiled,” You have to go step outside in the rain. Go outside and reach the front end of the station.”

            It looked an impossibility with the bag on the shoulder. I certainly was in no mood for the clothes to catch the rain and go wet. The thought of carrying a bag of wet clothes is sickening, they start to stink too. So I thought,” Let me take the train without a ticket. Worst come worst, there’ll be a fine of Rs.500.”

            My mind debated the fairness of it all. Going to Vipassana meditation and travelling ticketless suddenly felt guilt.

            I climbed the stairs and reached the platform on the first floor. My mind was in a flutter: there is an a thousand-to- one odd of ticket checking. On any other occasion I would have seen the entire thing as an adventure but not today. I was taking a long distance train and being caught would ruin the balance of the mind for a while

            I went to the platform and found myself at the rear end of the platform. The dolt of an auto fellow and his treachery made sense to me now. I walked to the front end of the platform; these stations have a cylindrically long and curved roof and so one is not exposed to the elements especially on a rainy day like now. Now the entire thing looked familiar as I saw a staircase going down. And I knew the ticket counter could be accessed by going down. I rushed towards the elevator and went down to the ground floor – I ran to buy the tickets and hastened back to it. I had a ticket in hand and all the confusions in the mind were doused.

            As for me I thought: how even a trivial thing can derail the mind and get it racing to a panic. Another part of the mind said: this is the cost of a life-in-a-coop I briefly skirted in the beginning. Now with a mind a lot relieved I got my breath. I even thought my waitlisted ticket would fare better! 

Post Script: I forgot to mention an important fact. This ticket is for travel from Kasturibai Nagar to Chennai Park station. The ticket cost Rs.5!