Same Station, Same Destination, Same Time: Two Trains Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

 

Same station, Same Destination, Same Time: Two Trains

Author: Dr. K. S. Kang

Tara had booked his seat in the 3^rd AC coach of a train taking him to desired destination. When he reached station taking the margin of time one train was already had arrived on platform no. 2 which was heading to the same destination where Tara wanted to go. So he was quite confident with full moustaches flying in air, as a mark of pride of the years of his life that he had given to the security services of the country. He entered the designated coach and reached his allotted seat but he did not check train number in his ticket and settled peacefully in his seat which was vacant at that time. He did not see that another train heading towards the same destination where he wanted to go , which was his actual train had arrived on Platform no. 2. He continued his journey peacefully, reading journals that he had brought with him, for about a couple of hours till a family at the next station entered the coach and claimed that this seat had been allotted to them. This led to an argument and Tara went with his ticket to ticket examiner, while arguing with the fellow passenger his moustaches which were high in the air had drooped a little. But when ticket examiner informed him that he was moving on wrong train ,though to the right destination as the train number marked on his ticket did not tally with the number of the train in which he was travelling, so technically he was travelling without ticket, his moustache drooped more and nearly became flat. He told Ticket Examiner about his services in army and requested him to bring him out of this predicament. He informed Tara that considering his armed forces service, he is letting him go and he suggested to get off the coach at the next station and as that train in which he was entitled to travel was late so it was following this train, so he will get adequate time to catch the right train marked on his ticket. Accepting his suggestions Tara got off the train at the next station and was just in time to catch the right train in which he was supposed to be travelling, despite his luggage. He reached his allotted coach and seat no mentioned in his ticket and thank God ticket examiner of this train did not allot this seat to somebody else, otherwise he would have been in serious trouble. From that day Tara had made it a point to double check the train number on his ticket before boarding it in his life.