After the tickets were booked and I had received due medical attention, I boarded a state transport bus on my way home to Saibaba Colony. And sooner than later I got a call from my son-in-law saying " Baba, please ask Dr. Nazeer to cancel the SRR-MAQ tickets. Apparently my daughter had baulked at the prospect of boarding a train ex-Shoranur at 4 in the morning and refused pointblank to be a part of such nocturnal adventures. I immediately buzzed Nazeer who politely told me that these tickets costing Rs. 1135 could not be cancelled as they were booked through CURRENT BOOKING facility after chart preparation. My son-in-law then decided not to repose his trust in me any further and took matters into his own hand. He tried various options and finally opted for that SUPER CRAWLER of a train viz. 16859 Chennai Egmore-Mangalore Express. He went ahead and booked 2...
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sleeper class tickets for Sunday with STD CBE 11 am and STA MAQ 2145. But if the father-in-law can goof up things can the son-in-law afford to be left behind. And instead of booking till Mangalore he erroneously booked 2 confirmed tkts to Kasaragod. Well almost there but a mere 45 kms short of the intended destination. But it was again a case of non-refundable current booking.
He then made amends by booking a fresh set of tickets to MAQ by the same train but this time by 3AC WL 3/4. I told him they would confirm in CBE charting or whatever. By the time I reached home at around 8.30 pm I was both physically and mentally drained. We had dinner and then my son-in-law suggested a visit to a nearby pub for some post-dinner liquid refreshments. And there, after a couple of drinks, I confided to him that KCG-MAQ Exp had not been cancelled. But had departed from CBE the previous night and I had booked for the wrong date (7th instead of 8th). But the story did not end there. He looked at me quizzically and quickly took a look at the SMS in his mobile. He remarked " Baba, you made no mistake. You have booked our tickets for tonight's train viz. 8th May, 2 am, and it is by 16857 Puducherry-Mangalore Express and not 17606 KCG-MAQ Exp as you thought. " It was then that I realized, that I had booked correctly but for some strange reason the other train number had remained etched firmly in my mind. And that was the train number/name I had communicated to him as well as Pramodh and Dr. Nazeer. He said it was just 10'clock and they could still board that train from CBE in 4 hrs' time. But I put my foot down and said " I can't now say that a so-called CANCELLED TRAIN is running all of a sudden. That idea was then summarily jettisoned and we went home after having our fill.
As if all this was not enough, next morning after intermediate station charting, of the 2 3AC tkts, one got confirmed and the other remained as WL1. However, after the train arrived at CBE well before time, I spoke to the TTE and he said there were lot of vacant berths available. At the end of it all I felt quite small and disillusioned with the series of bloomers I made as a " RAILFAN " and remembering the episode after that gives me nightmares. But then sometimes LIFE IS LIKE THAT.