The Last Train

On 14th Dec 2005, two days after I landed in Mumbai, I was sucked into an adventure of the urban kind. One of my VJTI classmate, R, had come down to mumbai. Me, M, A and T (all vjti classmates) picked R up from the airport and decided to go to Bandra and spend rest of the evening. Sizzlers at Kobe was followed by a stroll on bandstand and then the tired band trooped into Cafe Coffee Day. Catching up on old times and new over endless cups of coffee made us all forget about time. A casual glance at R's wrist watch was enough to make us jump out of our skins. It was already 11:30pm. I had to reach Vashi, A had to go to Thane, R was to be dropped at Chakala and M had to come back to Bandra. Stirred into action we hopped into M's car and decided to drop R first. Finding R's friends place in middle of nowhere aided with directions like Near Hotel S, 3 blocks from a deserted milk booth, beside Angel Apartments, in Divine apartments, seemed like one of the tasks in Amazing Race. Finally at 12:00 we managed to located her place of stay and bid adieu. Three musketeers in Chakala with each one headed in different directions. M dropped me and A off at a rickshaw stand in SakiNaka. After a bus, cab and a car we took another mode of transport to Ghatkopar Station. A got off to get onto the train to Thane leaving myself to reach my destination, Vashi. Vashi never seemed so far as it did on this fateful night. I asked the rickshaw driver to drop me at Ghatkopar Bus Depot. Reached there and to my dismay I found the Bus depot completely deserted. I thought I made it in time to catch the last bus, but the bus was long gone and the depot was closed for operations. Now panicking I had only one more option and that was to catch the last harbour line local from Mankhurd to Vashi. I hopped into the auto yet again this time I was reassured by the auto driver that we would make it in time. Crossing my fingers and hoping against hope I reached Mankhurd Station. I was greeted by an empty platform, no indicators to display the time of arrival and one lone person behind a single lit ticket window. Now fear gripped my heart and praying to god, if ever he existed,I went to the window and thrust a Rs 10 note and asked for a ticket to Vashi. I was overjoyed when I heard him say that you just made it in time for the last train. I thanked my lucky stars and no sooner than I turned towards the platform, I heard the whistle of an approaching train. It sounded like music. I reached home at 1:30am. I was so relieved to be back home.Though I had to face music of the other kind from my half asleep dad. It happens only in Mumbai. Just the thought of the possibility of spending the night in some godforsaken place with no shelter on my head sends chills down my spine. God actually exists and helps only if you pray hard.