My Curious Train Travel..

This is a story of me studying in my college in my second year and this event takes place when im travelling from perungalathur to chrompet via a suburban local train..and this is the most interesting train travel that i have ever undertaken in my whole life...well u may get to understand the situation that i must have been when u read this completely.... I think this is my first official blog, so viewers should not view this as a master piece... ofcourse it will come at a later stage.......

My college.... now its a institution thats located at the outskirts of the city limits of chennai. I had strange feelings when i initially went to my college on my first day . It was a feeling very similar to "now wheres the college"... i guess the films that i have seen and also the broucher that was given to me had a very different structure to what i was really viewing. But reality set in and i accepted to what i really had .The temple near the entrance, the mountains that seem so near yet so far, the mechanical shed, the serene fields that surrounds our college, the occasional whirls of the jet plane that flies so close the main building and the P.T ground..... these are the images that will remain etched in my mind forever or to anyone who have studied there.

The college atmosphere is very different to what one has experienced in his school days and mine was something which was unique in its own way. My mates out there aren't the studious ones and were really the kind who would like to explore the possibilities of venturing out of their cage whenever a possibility would arise and i became one among them studying there. The concept of bunking was a intriguing and exciting format and i liked that. My friends developed several used concepts in their own way and actuated it in their typical style. I meant for bunking classes. I am really careful in bunking classes and i would use a foolproof method when using one.

It was one of those days when that possibility of bunking classes occurred to one of my friend and i became more than interested in achieving our target of leaving the college premises. I remember that we were having a exam on that day and the rest of the day was looking mighty boring and hence the idea of bunking crept in. We had a challenge in achieving our target , the watchman wouldn't allow the students after the lunch break to go out of the gate without the prior permission being obtained. This challenge was taken care of our "hole in the fence " method and everyone of the five members made a safe exit out.

Most of the time the pocket money which was given to me will we used up for the attractive yet deceiving food being given in our college canteen and it was one those days where i had used up my money which was given to me and i was really depending upon my "bunking" mates to shell out the money for my travelling expenses and other stuffs....

The process of escaping was done to perfection and we reached the main road that we were so eagerly waitin to see. Two of my class mates who had go to their homes inside the city have taken their respective buses and i remained with my two frds with one having his home at tambaram and another having his house in my area "chrompet". One is called as S.N and the other as "Nattai" respectively.

Now we decided to travel to our respective destination by train. S.N urged us to get our tickets while "Nattai" told me that we should take a risk by travelling in without. I was standing in a dilemma since one part of my brain told me to take the tickets while the other part which is the villain inside me 'not to'..... I took a decision that i will not buy the tickets since on the first place i didn't have a single paisa and on the other hand my close buddy Nattai told me that the probability of gettin caught is too low in chrompet or even in the train at that time.. I thought that he has a strong logic behind his action of not taking tickets and i agreed to that plan.... S.N so valiantly fought with us for gettin tickets and since he was not able to convince us he ran to the counter to get his ticket by seeing the fast approaching train from a distance.

The journey from perungalathur to chrompet is a simple one and it only had two stations between it. We started our journey and Nattai had this incredible sensation of gettin a fresh wave of air which was blowing by haging from the entry of the train. Even i joined him and the train fast approached the Tambaram.. Nattai told me that he jump of the train while its running on some pace and he kept his word by jumping off at a speed which i would rate as fast.... His timing was so perfect that it landed him trouble for his follow through brought him upclose with the Ticket collector.. U can imagine the scene when the ticket collector comes from his office and Nattai making his follow through and making a abrupt stop near him... Well the eventuality did take place and nattai was taken to the office. S.N and myself got down and were waitin for him to return. I was starting to fear for him as he came out of the office after some time with his belt in his hand for reasons unknown . Meanwhile the train had moved and it must have reached my destination if we had stayed in the train for the time that Nattai spent in that office. Nattai met us and told that his "Titan" watch was removed as he never had the amount asked by the Ticket collector and he would go to his home to fetch the amount as neither of us had that kind of a money (something more than 100 is something big at that time).... I became tensed and i thought that i would not get caught at chrompet and hence ventured to get my tickets from tambaram to my destination.

I borrowed some money from S.N who was criticising us for not gettin the tickets and nattai caught the next train which arrived there to chrompet. I consoled Nattai, not to worry and its something that happens some time when we are so bad with our luck. I thought that im a genius for doing the right thing for getting my tickets from that station and hence started to get it.You know what ....................................even i landed myself in front of the Ticket Collector.

The Ticket collector asked for my ticket when the train from Beach station to Tambaram arrived over there. I dont know whom i should criticise at that moment. I dont know weather its the pure fate of me to be caught or the madness in my part to go for collecting the tickets when the train was arriving. I was taken inside and i tried to put up a brave show. when the guy inside the office asked for the reason of my behaviour for travelling as a Without... i wanted to say him that i was travelling as a without from perungalathur but not from the train that just arrived from beach... but i just cant afford to say that and i said something very irrelevant that i failed to understand even at that time.. the man then saw me and said something which remains etched in my mind for ever.. it was something like... "Ennapa nee etho solra anna unna patha appadi theriyave illaye"............. he was referring to the fear that was being shown not by my words or face but by my legs which just shivered like it had been thrown on a cold water..... Whatever happened after that was formality... i took some money from my home and gave it to the T.C...

The whole afternoon just went for a travel between my home and tambaram..............and then from tambaram to my home.........

Moral of the story -------- I have a pass that allows me to travel between tambaram to beach for a monthly basis....... even today.......