11:44: 16 minutes to Day zero
Is it destined for disaster? I do not know yet. But the events leading to this moment, as I sit, clicking on my laptop, has been a recipe for disaster.
It all started from the very first step – booking the tickets. I had already booked the tickets when I realized that perhaps I would not have my passport with me during the journey. “Since when did travelling within India require a passport?” you might ask. That’s what happens when you book a train ticket via the internet – you need a passport too. Coming back to the passport, I had to get the thing renewed since it was expiring in March, and hence I thought I might have to surrender it (It is still with me, but that is a different story altogether). So much for planning! I had to cancel and rebook the tickets, this time with my PAN card.
The second hurdle was perhaps due to our own stupidity – we assumed that the Pune Landmark Quiz, for which we had planned this whole trip, was happening, and hence imagine my shock when I called up Landmark last week to find that the quiz had been postponed due to the lack of a venue. We were now in a dilemma – whether to make the trip, or go to Chennai and attend the Odyssey Quiz. The quiz in Cochin was on. The fact that there were no tickets to be obtained at this eleventh hour, and the bonus of roaming around Mumbai for an extra three days tilted the balance in favor of the former option.
A third bubble almost burst on us, when last Friday I got the call from Model Engineering College that the quiz had been rescheduled from 2nd February to 31st January. Now this was never going to be possible, as we would be reaching Cochin only on that day. However, after a few rounds of negotiations, we managed to reschedule it to the 1st.
Now back to this moment and this day. So far so bad! First, the nagging throat pain, then a failed attempt to hold my own at a craftily dreamt up argument as to why team outings should not be mandatory. Then, my trip to the Lal Bagh flower show gets cancelled after Reshma falls sick, and finally, the fiasco that is called “packing”.
I had cleverly made a list of things to carry. But when I finally sat down to pack I realized how underprepared I was. Music is the food for my soul, and hence wherever I go, my i-pod accompanies me. All of a sudden, my i-pod cable mysteriously disappeared. To top that, i-Tunes decided to play funny, and all the songs that I had industriously updated into my i-pod vanished. It was two hours before I could fill the thing with whatever music files I could lay hands on. Halfway into the packing I realized that my bag would not hold. With great difficulty, and the murmuring of whoever had slept off, I managed to find a suitcase and stuff clothes into it.
Then I realized that my PAN Card was missing.
The last I remembered, I had seen it in the office. I frantically logged in to messenger to find some crazy soul who was still in office at eleven o clock! Thankfully, such crazy souls exist in the form of Moinu. A call to him resulted in a firm reprimand as to how dirty and shabby I kept my cupboard drawer in office. Still no sign of the PAN Card! While talking to Moinu, somehow the idea occurred in my mind to check my travel pouch…Well, there it was.
At least, we can now board the train
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