Twisted life lessons learnt during late night travel.

9 in the night, at the bus depot in Panjim, Goa – beach capital of the country. That late night travel would teach me life lessons with a twist – who would have thought!

An hour earlier .. …

Evening in goa Tourists, snazzy eats, pubs, casinos i – big bright lights & party feel.

Surely i should get a late night bus right! ? I said to my friend S. He shot me a look. Soon we left for the bus depot.

Bus were parked , barely any lights and very few passengers. I thought of the bright lights in the city and barely some distance away it’s this deserted depot! That brings me to lesson no 1 –

Always look beyond the bright lights!

Finally i found the enquiry counter. A moustashed man was sitting in the cabin surrounded by glass & aluminium bars around it.

He looked up, I asked – Madgaon?

That side-, he pointed towards a corner & added – hurry.

I ran towards the bus, stopped, turned to run back. I hurried to S’s car, took my bag, warmly embraced S before i jogged back again in the opposite direction.

TICKET COUNTER – the words attracted me. I rushed to the mutliple stalls, saw a man behind one of them busy toying with his tobacco pouch.

Madgaon ticket ? I asked.
Next stall- he said without looking up.

I muttered a curse as I tugged my 20 kg backpack & snaked back around the iron bars to reach the other stall. I reached there only to find the same man there. I was about to repeat myself when I observed the two stalls the same man side by side.

The stall he was standing at was clean and neatly done. The other stall where I saw him rolling the tobacco was a mess of crumpled paper, remains of dinner and tobacco powder!

Lesson 2 – Keep your work life seperate from your personal – at all times!

He punched he ticket, said – that’s the bus, go now.

The urgency in his voice made me run to the bus, abckoack and all. I scampered in now all sweaty from the walking and runnig abd didn’t stip till I climbed into it. Only to realise it was empty. Not even the driver in his seat. And that’s when lesson number 3 flashed –

Don’t rush things – even when pushed!

I looked carefully, found one guy asleep a few rows to the back. His shirt matched the seat covers that merged him into the background. As I took a few steps he stirred, stared at me , gave a disappointed look and shut his eyes again.

I looked around, found just the right seat. It had a lot of leg room, also space to place my backpack ahead of me. I took it. The ‘Reserved for disabled’ tag didn’t bother me. Nor did anyone come to check or tell me otherwise. Afterwards another guy came in, he checked at least 3 spots before chosing a spot right behind me. Then the driver came. Luckily he took his designated spot! And that was lesson no 4. –

Darkness reserves opportunities – grab them!

The bus crawled out of the city. I surfed the net. Behind me the guy was listening to local news aloud. Sometimes there would be silence for a bit then again I could hear it. I guess that was the net connection. This despite 4g, despite prices going up thrice in 3 months. Earlier prices wiuld be in check because of state owned Internet companies. Now they were shut or sold off to private players. All part of the internet for all plan. Now that explained the lag. The bus reached the higway and cruised.

I began work on a blog post about dog body language. In 20 seconds realised i knew nothing on the subject. I looked out the window, the bus was flying , behind me the chief minister proclaimed – No one can stop us now.i looked back at my phone seached tbe big bad net & found the info. In 2-3 seconds I turned back surfed the internet got random pieces of info – stitched and hammed the piece just in time when reached Madgaon. And that’s lesson no 5 –

When stuck – persist, stick to the plan , eventually you will make it .

I got off the bus -found a the bike pilot who would take me to the main railway station. I did not negotiate with him as it was too late in the night After a good twenty minutes of riding he took me to a spot near the rail tracks and said – Sir if you get down and walk 5 minutes you will reach platform number 3 and then you can hop over to any platform.

I didn’t like the cheesy voice he said it in Why don’t you take me towarrs platform no 1 instead? I asked a bit sternly.

Well sir, it was far …this is neat …you can…you know – he hemmed and hawwed . I was having none of it, ‘You have to take me to platform no 1. Am not paying you and then walking around with this big bag!’ I said with finality.

Having no choice he turned and made his way to platform number 1. It was a circutous way that took a good 5 minutes on his bike. And he wanted me to walk all the way, imagine.

Sir please give me 50 more he pleaded. I put my foot down – nothing doing. Finally to get rid of him I gave him 20 more. All the while feeling he wanted to get the better if me and I didn’t let him. Till I reached platform no 1 and heard the announcement

Train to Bangalore leaves from platform no 3.

As I walked my way back to platform no 3 the last lesson came to me

The only person who can outwit you is you.

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