It had been a busy day for him in Office but it was not the work that bothered Reddy, it was the train that he had to catch in the evening which was bothering him since he had no reservation for travel and the Tatkal system had left him high and dry without a ticket for the train. He had been warned that it was very cold and foggy in Delhi, where he was headed to so travelling without a reserved seat would be crazy. He had no option though, he had to go come what may, and he knew that.
He decided that he would go the old fashioned way and bribe the TT to get a seat.
Train was on time, Reddy had already checked in the afternoon on his computer. He decided to ask a friend to give him a ride to the railway station.It was evening and road was full of two wheelers competing with each other on their way to home, one beating the other only to get beaten by yet another. Reddy and his friend had left for the station good half an hour in advance although the ride to station was just ten minutes.As they crossed the bridge the old two stroke bike started make funny noises and Reddy knew at once that it ran out of gas, it was not the first time it had happened to him. Behnchod, said Reddy, it has to stop just know, could it wait till had reached the station. Lucky for him the petrol pump was nearby and after a few meters of pulling the bike they reached the filling station and filled the tank to resume their journey to the station. Reddy thanked his friend for the ride and rushed to the ticket counter for the general tickets and took a general ticket till Delhi.
Train was on time, just ten minutes late but on time considering other trains some of which were around ten hours late. Reddy asked the food vendor where the AC coach would halt and stood at the spot which the vendor had told him.
The train arrived whistling and made a halt with a screeching sound of the iron wheels coming to sudden halt with the brakes.
Reddy hopped on to the coach and few seconds later the train started to move. He started looking for a good spot to keep his bag or himself or both. The train was full and he could not find even a single vacant seat. The passenger who were already settled in were giving strand looks to him as if some alien had arrived in their coach. Reddy soon realized that his worst fears might be coming true and he might not get any berth to sleep on in the night.He put down his stuff in corner just outside the entry gate of the AC compartment and stood their. Soon the coach attendant came their and gave Reddy a long curious look as if asking him why he was there and at the same time saying him to pick up his stuff and go to the general coach but the attendant said nothing probably he thought Reddy was some rich guy looking at his well dressed personality, Reddy took advantage of it kept standing there for a while and than found a seat at the attendant's berth.
Next station was a big one and the onboard ticket checking staff was being replaced by the new TT's. Reddy was hopeful of getting a berth so he approached the TT and showed him his general ticket, the TT looked at his face as if gauging him on how much money could he shell out from his potential victim and then looked into his charts, with a shook of his head the TT announced there is no vacant berth and the whole train is packed. Reddy looked at the TT with a disappointed look and TT looked at Reddy with the same expression, one had lost his seat the other had lost his money.
