I was in a deep sleep.. But it was not a completely deep one. The body is in sleep but not the mind. As like every night, even this night my mind is doing its usual work of thinking and I woke up suddenly as like some sudden earth quake shook me up. Today, there are two most important things. One is the CONVERGYS pool campus for which I dint receive any hall ticket and the other is meeting my friend at vijaywada station. By the time I woke up, two people in my room already woke up and are in deep preparation for the written part of the campus drive. I got ready quickly and went to the CONVERGYS building along with my college friend by walk. I went there to drop her at the centre and also to find out some information why my application was rejected. I met a person who is the in-charge of the campus drive. He said just one sentence. "ALL ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES RECEIVED HALL TICKETS". I smiled at him and said "THANK YOU VERY MUCH SIR". May be he dint understand why I thanked him. After that, I started walking back towards the room. I don’t know the reason why my application was rejected but it was for a good sake. And I thanked him because now I can go to vijayawada and meet my friend.
After reaching my room, I packed my luggage and went back to the convergys office at 10.30 to meet my friends who appeared for the written exam. I met all of them at a park near by the office. It looked like their faces were all faded. When asked, they said the paper was too tough. In short time they were out of that mood and started planning how to spend the day. But I was busy planning how to meet my friend. At around 12:00, I said BYE to them and left the place. From that moment, my actual journey to meet my friend started. I reached MGBS at around 1:00PM. By the time I was at the platform, the bus to vijayawada is all set ready to take off. After taking my seat, I felt relaxed and had a nap for a while. The tv inside the bus was turned on and they were playing some movie. Only my eyes were watching the movie but inside my mind, some-time calculations were running about at what time the bus will reach, what time the train will arrive and will I meet her or not.
As the journey was happening, I peeped through the window. It was raining heavily outside and so the bus was running at a very low speed. I am tensed whether I could reach the station by the right time or not. Then I have sent message to my friend asking her about the status of her train. The reply from her was soo sweet. It was stated “5 HOURS LATE”. May be she was very much tensed and worried about the delay but I was happy and began to realize about a theory called “THEORY OF DETERMINISM”. This states that every thing in the universe happens for a reason and every action is linked with its previous actions result. I don’t know whether its true in all cases or not. But it was true in this particular case. At around 6:00 PM, bus stopped at some village and some fellow occupied my next seat. After few mins, he started asking me questions like “At what time the bus will reach vijayawada”, “What is the next stop”, “In vijayawada where I am staying”. I answered all those questions with one straight answer. “ Sir, I am new in this route and I don’t live in vijayawada”. From then he stopped asking questions and turned towards the tv. Time was running and the sun started hiding itself turning the world dark. Exactly at 8:45PM bus reached vijayawada. I got down from the bus and started walking towards the railway station. I reached at exactly 21:00. After looking at the clock, I began to smile. The reason behind the smile is that if the train is not in delay it will reach vijayawada at 20:30 and will leave at 20:45 and so obviously I will miss meeting my friend. But it is running 5 hours late and that helped me.
After reaching the station, I saw the train information and started planning by which train I should start to vizag. As the train was running late, it will reach the station at 01:30 in the early morning. And so I started looking for trains which are post to that time. As I was busy planning, I received a message that train is late by 3 more hours and it still dint reach visakhapatnam station. So, it means total 8 hours delay. I then realized to not to plan my start. I took a platform ticket. On that it was written valid for only 2 hours. Then I started visualizing myself like I am buying platform tickets for every two hours. I roamed the entire station to where to sit and how to pass the 8 hours. Then I saw the sleeper class and AC waiting halls. But, we need to have a ticket to enter into the waiting halls. I kept my mobile charging, had my dinner and passed the two hours time. Then I started walking towards the ticket counter to purchase another platform ticket. As I was on my way, I started thinking that it was the bad idea of purchasing the platform ticket every 2 hours and also waiting on the platform is also not a good one. Then I began to think deep and suddenly my eyes looked towards the RAIL NET office which is a internet centre at the vijayawada railway station. I rushed into it and took a system. I downloaded my old ticket from the IRCTC web portal and edited the information like date and train. I took a print copy of that. It was turned as my key to the door of the AC waiting hall. After entering the waiting hall, I began to smile a lot. I started patting myself saying “Mr. Bond.. u r really a Bond….”
I looked around to see for the power plugs to charge my mobile and also my sweet wife.. my laptop. I saw a place where there are three plugs. I made myself comfort there and plugged in my mobile, my laptop and also my spare battery charger. I turned on the lappy and started watching movie “TEARS OF THE SUN”. It was a army based movie. It was 1:00 by the time movie was completed. I tried to contact my friend but her mobile was switched off. I then connected to net and saw the train status online. It stated that train left vizag at 22:30. So, it will reach here at around 04:00 in the early morning. Then I turned on another movie. While I was seriously watching the movie, some of the other persons who are waiting in the hall came towards me and asked me regarding the power plugs. I immediately said them that they belong to some other persons and they asked me to watch. When they left then I began to smile again. The next movie was also completed and it became just 02:30. So, three more hours of waiting. Then I again checked the train status. And it was updated that train left vijaywada. So, it means exactly by 04:00 it will reach here. I started planning my journey to vizag. There is a train from hyd to vizag which will reach vijayawada at 05:30. Looking at it, I started thinking about the conversation that happened between me and my other friend who belongs to ECE. The actual thing was that in that train my college friend was travelling. Morning, when I am leaving from hyd she asked me “So, u r not coming with me by train. u decided to travel to vijayawada”. I said, “Yes, I am not coming and its my priority”. Now it was designed in such a way that I should catch the same train. I began to smile again for no reason.
I don’t know how the time ran but it became 03:45. I packed my bag and started thinking whether to lock it there or to keep it with me. It is impossible to keep it with me because I am not sure of my friends reservation coaches whether S3 or S11 and so I need to have a google(search) of the train. Then I got an idea of keeping it at the cloak room. I finished it and ran to the platform no.5. Train reached at exactly 04:00. I started calling my friend and it was still unavailable. I am not understanding what to do. I started searching the S3. But couldn’t find. I passed by a yellow coloured dress but dint see clearly. I ran towards S11 and called to my friend mom’s mobile. It was un answered in my first call. The train should actually stop for 15 mins. But as it was running late, it was announced to leave immediately. I got tensed a lot that I will be unable to meet my friend. In my second call she answered. She said they were in S3. Then I immediately ran back to S3. When I reached I was shocked that it was my friend who is wearing the yellow coloured dress. I smiled again. She and her mom were in a deep sleep. I felt very happy seeing her. I actually thought that I will miss to wish her “ ALL THE BEST FOR HER JOB LIFE”. But, I finally met her. She asked me why I am at vijayawada. I didn’t say anything. It was just few minutes and the train started leaving. I don’t know when we will meet again. But I was happy. I was very much happy that I finally made it. I went to the ticket counter and purchased the ticket for vizag. The train should actually arrive at 05:30. I vacated the waiting hall and reached the platform by 05:15. I was awake the whole night and so my eyes started closing very badly. I saw the train information display and the train was in a 30 mins delay. I slowly slept off looking at the display. I suddenly woke up and looked at the clock. It was 06:15. I got tensed that the train may have left. Then I looked at the display board and felt relaxed seeing that train was delay by one more hour and will reach by 07:15. Train arrived and I got into it. My friend who is travelling in the same train from hyderabad is in S1 and I went to her. She was sleeping. I woke her up and she was shocked seeing me.
I sat at the window seat and began to think about my journey and myself. I am a person who give high value to relations and I am ready to do anything for the relations. Each one of us is busy with our own life’s. But, at the end of the day we need some one who talk to us, who share with us, who fight with us. After all we are social animals and we need to be with each other. And when coming to my friend. She was very much best and honest to me. She has done a lot to me and she means a lot to me. I began to think about our college days, the days we fought, the days we dint talk with each other and soo on. All those were sweet memories of life. I don’t know when we will meet again. But this journey is very memorable to me. It was totally 8 hours of journey from hyd to vijayawada and 8 hours of waiting at the station. It is all just to meet her for a span of 8 mins. The beautiful, sweet, unforgettable and memorable 8 minutes. And so I kept the title Eight + Eight = Eight.
Mr. Venky Bond Writings 
it sounds interesting dude…..
Thanks Adil. Read my stories 🙂
Nanu Kalavadaniki intha kasta padava???
Andukai ra…nuvu epudu special ra….
Misssing u here….come back soon…….
Interesting maama….