It’s a common practice for me to show up at least 1 hour prior to the place of departure ( whether be it train or flight) This has always intrigued my parents, but as always, there are certain things in my life, which I do not want budge a lot, based on other people’s opinion. And being there, much ahead of the departure of the train or flight was one among them. But this time ( September 11, 2015), things did not go as planned and I ended up, missing my train to Trichur, by 5 minutes. Glancing at the empty railway tracks, I ran through all the options I had
- Head back home and cancel the trip, altogether : Can’t afford to see the gloom on my mom’s face
- Book a flight ticket for the next day : Too costly
- Book a tatkal train ticket in train : Too risky, I might not get a ticket and loose the time I could spend with my parents
- And the scariest of them all, head to the nearest bus station and catch a bus
The last option, almost looked suicidal due to the fact that the entire journey was at night, I had never traveled in bus for that long without ending up in not-so-good-health condition and on top of that, I had no one accompanying me. I had less than 1 hour in hand before the last bus left Bangalore and I had to find someone who could find that one bus with one vacant seat for me. Since I had never traveled in a bus to my hometown, I was not even sure of the bus terminals from where I could get an interstate bus!
I dialed Ambika and explained the situation. Believe it or not, in less than 1 hour, I was heading to Madiwala bus terminal of Kallada Travels. Thanks to my amazing friend, I had the information I needed. I thanked God for giving me the right people in my life who can just take me out of any challenging situation, and provide me the best course of action. The bus started at 10:30 PM and I reached Trichur, the next morning at 6:45 AM ( near the bypass junction) Everything felt so surreal.
This whole episode taught me a lot of things
- It’s extremely important that you take help from the right people. This one important factor would decide the outcome of your decision, your current circumstances, and your life. This could also mean whether you succeed or fail in the persuasion of your goals. Talking to the right people boosts you up, sets your mind for the task at hand and mentally and physically strengthens you. In the tough challenging situation, totally keep away from negative people and emotional drainers, and also people who would want to know all the juicy details and probably want to give you a lecture on life!
- You have to believe in yourself. Be ready to take calculated risks. When you overcome your fears, a multitude of doors open for you. The sheer joy of overcoming your fears and triumphing is simply impossible to explain
- God is with us and he always has the best plans for you. That means he could turn the worst ( missing the train) and turn it to the best. That is , once I safely reached my destination, I realized that I could try bus travel in the future as well. Which means, all the trips which I could not go and events which I could not attend simply because of lack of other options ( flight/ train ) now are within my close reach
- When going gets tough, small things can make a REALLY BIG DIFFERENCE. For example, since I was assigned the last seat, there was constant heat from the back of the volvo bus( from the engine). Coupled with the fact that I was experienced terrible backache and lack of sleep meant that the journey was almost becoming unbearable. Then I suddenly realized that the nozzle of the individual air flow pipe was set to zero, that is, there was no air coming from it. When set it to maximum, there was a sudden rush of cool air, which made my journey so much more bearable
When I stepped inside my home and received a warm embrace to my mom, I realized all the pain and trauma that I had to go through and the risks that I had taken to come here, was all worth it. And that’s the power of love. Now I understand, why do people go great lengths to be with and spend time with their loved ones. I realize that family is one of the greatest assets you can have while we are in this world.