It was a long night ... part III

I woke up by the strange vibrating sound of the train that sounded like there was some thing definitely wrong, and while I was still getting acquainted with the idea that there was something wrong I could feel my self slipping from the top birth feet forward as the whole train seemed to be tilting gradually till the side finally hit the ground and then the whole thing came to a screeching loud halt that had a silence that was numbing. Then as people began to realize what was going on I caught hold of my laptop bag strung it around my shoulders and tried to figure out where I was, I spotted a bottle of water near my foot I picked it up and put it in the bag. I then took out my cell phone just like everyone around me in order to figure out a way out, I noticed there was no network, I secretly hoped it was just being in the coupe that blocked the coverage. My seat was in the coupe that had the emergency window and for a moment I felt it was a good thing. Of course there isn’t really anything good about being in a small closed place with the only way out being a reinforced glass pane that is designed to be resistant to all Indian weather and traveling through Bihar where often the train is stoned, in terms of relativity I felt it was some what better to be in a coupe with a window that is designed to be removed than any other. One of the gentlemen in the coupe tried to pull the rubber around the window but it broke. The emergency window had failed us. I felt a slight wetness on my hand I guessed I must have grazed it somewhere during the fall but now was not the time to care. One of the people trying to get that window to open asked me for help so I tried to make my way to the window on the top stepping on whatever foot hold I could find in the dark. I tried tugging at the window but it would not yield, then someone from the outside shone a torch inside, and all of us started calling out to the who ever was outside to break the window. While I was still tugging at the window and banging, calling for help, a stone was thrown on it, help was on its way which was my que to get out of the way, which I promptly did.

Soon the window on the top was broken and there were a couple of men outside with a big torch shining light inside, there were lots of bed sheets and blankets scattered everywhere and there was some blood visible, we moved some of the sheets and saw a disembodied leg, following the general direction revealed a hand, someone checked the pulse, there was none. There was nothing we could do about it, no one even knew who this person was. As inhumane as it feels now at the time it seemed more important to get out of the train first and let the experts handle the rest. One by one people were hoisted out from the broken window out in the open, an old lady who was injured went first, then a few juniors from my college and finally I was pulled out into the cool winter air. I checked if my phone had any network, it did, I called up home. It was around 2am and everyone at home was obviously asleep, papa picked up the phone drowsily, I told him the train had gotten derailed and that I was ok and that I really dint know when and how I was going to get home but I was quite certain that I would manage, he really dint know what to say, he was shaken, then stirred and then he gave the phone to mama who also dint know what to say and asked if my luggage was ok, I had no idea where the rest of it was. That is when I realized that I had lost my specs and my shoes. Then I called up Krithika, she was in the sleeper coach of the same train, she was also ok and I tried to figure out where they were. Then finally after figuring out what was where I got down from the top of the train, it’s a little difficult to explain the orientation but basically I got to the ground. My parents called again they had decided that they were going to come and get me right away, that was the first time I wondered where we were, I asked someone, around half an hour away from Jaipur, I told them it dint make any sense for them to come because they would take at least 4 hours or so to get here and there wasn’t anything they could do here that I could not even without my specs and shoes, they decided to hold back a while.

I located the others, Krithika and Sindhu, they were fine, they had managed to get their luggage and safely get out of the train even though their coach had also turned to its side. They had contacted another friend who stays in Jaipur, Roopal. She and her father were coming to get us. Krithika had an extra pair of footwear in her luggage so I borrowed her floaters, which fit quite nicely with a little help from the straps. Armed with the knowledge of a certain rescue and footwear I went to see if there was any way in which I could get my luggage back, my beloved digital camera was in it. I went and asked some people who looked like they had an idea about what was going on, I met a gentleman who was also seeking an answer to a question when he asked me if I was from NLU, to which I said yes wondering how it mattered. He then told me that he had seen someone from my college get hurt in the head and she had been taken to the hospital. He then went on to add that it dint look very good

I was naturally scared, I looked for other people from college and if they had any more information on this injured person, I found some first years one of which was missing, a few calls later we learned that Sonal was missing, Satyam, another friend was with her at the time of the accident and he has rushed her to the hospital. Among the same first years was another girl, Kriti who was also looking to retrieve her luggage, she had her class 10 certificates stuck inside. We waited for a while near the derailed metal box that was once our train, which was now being looked at by professionals from the railways. They had these huge lights and oxy acetylene flames and were well equipped with first aid etc.. they were going to cut up the coach and then remove anything that was still inside. I told them my seat number and the fact that there was a body there for them to retrieve.

Word came, Sonal had passed away, and there was no appropriate way for anyone to react, I don’t even remember what my reaction was. We just waited to hear something about the luggage, after a while we met this officer like person who said that there was no way that the luggage would get out any time soon and that we should check at the Jaipur station the next morning.

I got a call from Krithika saying that Roopal and her father were here, so I left Kiriti back with her batch mates and located Krithika and Sindhu and Roopal. We were joined by a few more people from college. The rest of the night was a dream, between sobering from the adrenalin rush and Roopal’s family’s extreme hospitality it passed, with a lot of phone calls from everyone who knew we were on that train. In the morning after a heavy home cooked breakfast, Roopal’s father took us to the station to see if my luggage had survived the train, it had, getting past the red tape took a while, and the fact that not a single cloth in my bag was neatly folded helped convince them that the bag was mine. Finally I was united with my luggage. We then headed directly to the bus stop where we headed to the destination we had originally boarded the train for, Delhi. At around 10:30pm, the night was over I was home.

It was a long night...Part 2

I hurriedly finished packing and in even more haste packed up everything that was there in the room. Then I looked at my laptop and then at my now in a dilapidated state laptop bag, and then looked at the poor laptop that would have to either travel in one of the 2 already over full bags or in that laptop bag that hardly looked like it was in a state of carry it. I decided to put the legendary culcom rope to some use and tied the laptop bag to ensure it would hold its own and then sadly packed the laptop in it.

It was around 5pm and I was ready to leave, I had to take care of some more loose ends before leaving, which I did with a little hiccough and then I left for the railway station along with Preethi and Iti, who were headed to the city for a little after end term celebration. Packed food and the regular take home lassis. Then we were heading towards the train, but there was a very long line for the platform tickets and Preethi was in one of those “lets not break the law” moods, so after waiting for a few minutes we decided that I would miss the train if they waited any longer. So unwillingly Preethi and a more willing Iti came on the platform and made sure I got on the train and all that. I then saw them both stealthily sneak out of station (remember they dint have platform tickets) and then I retired into the AC three Tire coach B2 of the so well known train mandore express.

The train took of on time and I had just settled down and started listening to some music when along came Krithika and Sindhu who were in S1, we chatted for some time and then I went along with them to meet Roopal who was sitting in B1. This was all very usual on this train on the last day of the semester, everywhere there were students, some chatting, some watching movies on laptops, others roaming from one coach to another in search for other friends, it was like NLUs Hogwarts express.

At around 9pm Sindhu and Krithika remembered that they had seats in the sleeper coach and in a while the gate that connected the two classes would be closed and then they would be stuck in the AC compartment till Jaipur. So we bid Roopal good bye and went back to our respective coaches. I was feeling much better now but the fever had left its weakness and I decided that I could do with some extra sleep, so I finished the sandwich I had packed and went to the top birth set an alarm for 5am ( that’s when the train normally reached Gurgaon) and went to sleep.

Suddenly I was shaken awake.

To be continued …

Living an Experience (Stay in France Part IV)

Now technically im supposed to first sit and write about the  Sunday after that Saturday I spoke about which btw was also very interesting and I will tell you about it later but today I had one of those days which you remember in detail for the rest of your life, those days when you live an experience so I’m going to tell you about it right now while I can still feel it and tell you about that Sunday in the next one.

Today being Friday was a holiday for no reason I can think of, ya the French do that, and the company I’m working for they like doing such things, Thursday was a holiday because the French people don’t work on this day of the year so my company decided to make it a long weekend and give Friday off as well. Now there is this gentle man by the name of Mr. Laurent who is a friend of my fathers and works for the same company stays in Bordeaux has a wife a little child, now his wife’s company was not as benevolent. So long story short he was free on Friday and decided that he could spend it with me show me around. So a couple days back we were sitting in office discussing the weekend, and after a long drawn discussion I decided that on Saturday and Sunday I’ll go to this French town by the name of Tours and Thursday I’ll do something near by and on Friday he’ll take me some place. 

So today afternoon he came and picked me up in his nice Audi A3 and off we headed to Biscarrosse Plage which is a little further than Arcachaon which is near the Dune.

This place had a park called Aventure Parc where they had these adventure games. The unique and interesting thing about this park was they had built on the trees a whole maze of paths consisting of different arboreal tasks like climbing over a cable using the support of another or walking over suspended logs of wood that would swing with every step or using a pulley to slide down a cable or swing on a rope like tarzan and crash into a mesh of rope that you catch hold of and then move on. Basically lots of fun… good physical activity for the afternoon something new never done before.

 

The expected reaction to the afore said is probably along the lines of yeah that sounds interesting might like to try it sometime but what is the bug deal. But that’s not all Aventure parc has.

 

You know there are these certain things that change a person turn the person from one who has not done it into a person who has, things that differentiate the have dones and haven’t dones, things that you do once changes something un explicable inside you, the things they say that have a virginity. Today I did one of those things, and it was amazing. I jumped off a tower by the support of nothing but a very strong rubber band. Yes. I bungee jumped.

 

I after the arboreal exercise I decided ‘lets jump’ so I went to the tower they had built for the purpose where one of the instructors strapped me into this funny harness and then put some more belts on my feet and then asked me to climb a ladder up the tower. It was supposed to be just 20 meters and I thought that a jump that low may not actually be that great and for the last few days I was actually thinking if it was worth it or not, but that ladder cleared all my doubts it was high, for those who know it was higher than the bungee swing in Singapore, so I kept climbing up the ladder and it just dint seem to get over then I understood why they had even harnessed me to a cable on my way up the ladder. Finally I got to the top and it was high. There was this instructor who was a French guy who spoke English but the typical French English so he checked my harness checked the belt on my feet and said it was ok. Then he told me how I was supposed to look at the trees look at the houses and jump, how if I jumped quickly it’d be easier. How I should hold my arms wide open because that would be better. I listened intently and then I asked him if I could retie my shoe laces cos they felt a little loose, and he looked at me amused and said that I could but it wouldn’t affect the jump. Then he attached the big rubber band to me one piece to my harness and another thing to the belt on my feet, and I was all set, harness in place shoes tied rubber band attached. I was standing there on top of the tower and I could hear his voice at the back asking me to look at the trees, all I could see in front of me was a blur of green maybe because I wasn’t wearing my glasses maybe it was just the moment, I looked down once saw it was far away thought to my self that if I look for too long I might start thinking and before I could realize it I jumped, arms wide open I just jumped into the abyss I could swear it must have been a couple of seconds and I realized that I was falling right down and then there was this HUGE pull on my feet and I was flying upwards the earth and trees spinning around me my head towards the ground my heart was beating so fast I could practically hear it. And then I remembered to shout, and while I was swinging from one side to the other I went WEEEE HAAWWWWW. A few moments later I was just hanging there suspended from a stretched rubber band between the tower and the ground. The instructor on the ground said something but I couldn’t understand he asked me to do something with the rope and from what I understood me meant release the rope and I yelled back “NO”, and then the guy at the top shouted something along the same lines and I was thinking I’m not releasing anything slowly they brought me down and later explained that what they meant was they wanted me to catch hold of the rope so that I would be in an upright position while descending but I think I liked my way more.

Heart still beating fast adrenalin rushing through my veins I came back to the ground having done something new and absolutely, totally, and most awesomely breathtaking.

 

Next one about that Sunday btw I’m headed to Tours tomorrow and I wont be carrying my computer so I wont check my mail until I get back until then ciao.