I have done my share of stupid things in my lifetime. Some I am sure I have pushed to some far corner of my brain, just so that I do not embarass myself as my brain does some TV sitcom kinda reruns at some idle moment. Some stupid things I have done, have been a result of me not being thorough and fortunately did have happy endings with some amusement & laughter to boot. Here are a list of the top 3 and they all have to do with travel.
3. Had booked a return bus ticket for Krishnan, Pradeep & me from Madurai (friend's wedding) to Bangalore for 10 PM on 27th Dec. We landed there on 27th Dec, finished with the wedding formalities by 2.30 PM and were on our way back to YMCA where we were put up. Krishnan (must have had a premonition) decides to check with the travel company on the way, on where to board the bus. We then find that the ticket issued is for Bangalore-Chennai. Given that the handwriting was gibberish, my failure to check on the fine print makes this stupid on my part. We ended up breaking our journey into 2 and taking buses with lesser comforts. It ranks no. 3 only because there were no return tickets available anyways to Bangalore and we would have had to do what we did finally. Krishnan's premonition though saved us time, headaches & money.
2. Krishnan, Pradeep & I are sitting at the Bangalore Cantonment Station for a weekend trip to chennai. I had booked the ticket supposedly for the 11 PM train or so. We were sitting on a bench and we notice a family running to catch a train which just came in. Pradeep remarks- 'Why can't people come early to catch a train they know is going to arrive at a certain time'. Krishnan & I add to that & we share a good laugh. Then Krishnan asks me the train number & we realize that the train in front of us is the train we are supposed to board. In the end we end up running & just about manage to catch the train. No harm done. But ranked no. 2 for failure to read simple english on a simple ticket.
1. I had booked an online rail ticket to Salem from Bangalore. The evening I was supposed to leave, I get my bag, lock my room and just when I am to board my auto to the station, see the ticket & realize that the departure time is 6 AM & not 6 PM. I end up travelling on a crowded bus, standing non-stop for 4 hrs to Salem. This ranks no. 1 purely for the discomfort I faced due to my stupidity.
I do want to thank God, that all these incidents ended well with little or no discomfort. Having chilled out friends who reflect your attitude of 'Okay. Shit happens. Now what?' also helps. I am hoping I have learnt my lesson from all these incidents though.
4 comments:
A 'train'ful of mistakes... :)
"Okay. Shit happens."
If it wasn't for an attitude like that I'm sure a lot of us will feel frustrated. These mistakes could be made by anyone, though, so hang in there :)
Had a hearty laugh readin it, more so, cos i also hv enough number of such stupidity tales to tell!
One is when my friends n I were standin in queue (Chembur railway station, Mumbai) in anticipation of our turns to avail of the 'student concessions' (We rarely used to collect the cocession amounts, we were rightfully entitled to, only on account of sheer laziness...ahem! And hence, this time, we were consoling ourselves, inspite of the impatience the long wait caused!)
In my story, none of us had a premonition; the lady at the ticket counter had to tell us that the tickets were booked for the previous month and the date of journey was long gone!! Our 'proactivity' in collecting the concession amount, however, proved to be a blessing in disguise! My face reddens in embarrassment as i think of it even now! Lol...
machi... One more to add to the various fabulous bloopers we were involved in was the PVR episode which with tact and "mallu" sentiments we were able to salvage !!!! ha ha ha... life's like that ! Shit Happens ! and when god was pouring intelligence, some of us were holding an UMBRELLA !!!!!
Post a Comment