A trip to Remember #1

Travelling by trains has always been something amusing since childhood, may be due to the halo that has been built around it...They say that trains are always more comfortable than buses...May be its true as well but its takes some doing to convince me on this...All because, buses have been the more preferred mode for me, since long...

One such journey which will always stay etched in my memory forever was the journey back from Manipal(Udupi) to Goa sometime in the final year of Engineering...A visit to Manipal for paper presentation of my final year B.E. project at TechTatva 2011...There were a total of 10 of us from our college for the event...With due credits to Anusha, Maitreyee, Shainavi, Sandhya, Tanvi, Siddhart, Mahadev, Vaibhav and obviously Kapil and me...A normal journey by train and we were there...It was just me and Kapil who went by trains while others, may be took the safer and the more expensive option of going by bus...Till date, I am still surprised how Kapil actually ended up coming with me as he has long history, just as mine, of betraying people...

The event was great and to top it all, we won the second prize...Our debut paper presentation and 2^nd prize...Wow... Not a bad start at all...More than the prize, it was the way we spoke...The concepts that we invented and not only that convinced it to the judges...It was all just an awesome feeling...I still don’t know what was it that gave me the courage to speak up so freely, may be it was something got to do with the place i.e. Manipal...

With the prize with us, a celebration had to follow by a visit to the city and munching on some stuff...A call to our faculty guide and hearing him on phone made us actually realize how significant it was...A sense of accomplishment had already set in...

A train trip back to home was to follow that night...A journey back to the place we truly belong-Goa...The train scheduled at 1am at night and was to drop us at our destination at 6 in the morning, early enough for a cup of morning tea and breakfast to go along... I do know very well that most trains go jam packed and travelling in general bogies has always been a curse, however I didn’t expect it to be so bad...We hardly got inside the compartment in the first place and to think of it that we would have to travel this way for the next 5hours was something bad to think about...

We were indeed fighting to hold onto our place in the train, but somehow we did manage enough space to accommodate our healthy bodies...A few stops later, the journey eased out and we could stand in peace but may be longed for a seat, which I was pretty sure we won’t be getting anytime sooner...There was idea that we came upon there and then...We were in a general bogie and it would not be any shame to travel sitting on the floor of the train, after all there were people who hardly knew us and even if someone did, it didn't matter obviuosly...Yes, we did it and got ourselves prized seats on the floor, something that I had never ever imagined doing in my life, but as they say, when the opportunities arrive, seize it ...Some random Kannada comments here and there kept me awake and somehow the feeling of happiness stayed with me...It was only early morning when we were about to reach that we got a proper place to sit and complete the last lap of the journey...

I am pretty sure that I had got enough abuses from Kapil but it was an experience that even he cherishes till date...My idea, my execution and my mistakes but he was there at all times to support and accompany me...Way to go Dude !!!

Quote Unquote:

Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.