Thursday, February 21, 2008

(Un) Lucky in Mumbai

My tryst with luck or fate or whatever you call it runs true to form, as always. And I hate trains. People are always amazed that I travel long distances by bus rather than train. And there is a reason to it too. I am always unlucky because I always miss the obvious when traveling by train.

Read about my Chennai trip and Mumbai trip to know how I get caught in something or the other while traveling.
Anoop, Karthik, Sanjeeb, N and I went by bus to Mumbai for the Iron Maiden concert. My bro joined us at Mumbai by flight from Chennai. We had an awesome journey by bus. Really! No jokes! So we reached Dadar and we were shown a cold shoulder regarding rooms. But finally we got the rooms. And we started to the concert area - MMRDA grounds in the Bandra-Kurla complex in two taxis. And our taxi which started earlier, of course, was the last to reach the area.

And at the concert area we all got mauled, hehehe. Especially Anoop, my bro and N. Except for my bro and Anoop, we escaped from the mosh pit area and came to the sides. But apparently, Anoop and Edin got caught right in the ‘twirl’. But man, that was real fun, at the end of the day. And, of course, Iron Maiden on stage helped a lot in keeping our moods soaring to new heights.

While coming back, we had to walk so many kilometers looking for a taxi. In the end we got an auto to Sion. As usual we three started earlier and got down at Sion. And I, with my zest for trying out new things, asked if we can take the metro to Dadar. Everyone agreed and we got onto the train. And yes, we were caught by the Ticket Checker for getting on to first class when we had tickets for second class. I mean, we just saw that it was empty and we got on to the first class compartment. No amount of begging and pleading could help us. It was late at night and we did not have the energy or patience to go on. So we paid 500 bucks and walked off. Oh man!!! And yes, we reached much much later again even though we started off first :(

And then when we were coming back we went early to Sion for a small refreshment. Our bus was scheduled for 3:00 PM. At 3:40 PM we realize that we did not have our tickets. On thinking back we realized that Karthik had given the ticket at the restaurant to Edin to call and confirm the place of pickup. The two buggers happily left the tickets at the restaurant. Talk about carelessness or something else. And then they both ran to find the tickets. And we were losing time. They came back right on time before the bus came in with a soiled and wet ticket. Apparently, they had to dig it from the trash bin. Yes, my friends, we came back on a soiled ticket. God knows, what Edin and Karthik did inside the trash bin. Hehehehe.

At last, we boarded the bus and reached Bangalore safely. Even in Bangalore, we three reached home last even after getting an auto first. That’s the way it works for me I guess! Apparently, the auto driver was trying to con us and took a wrong turn.

But in the end, we enjoyed the whole trip and the concert. It was immensely satisfying!!!