First Time
While coming back from Durgapur, Calcutta, after getting disqualified in a competitive exam
my friend Sanjeev and myself decided to board a train as TT(Some people have the
misconception of pronouncing it as WT: Without Ticket, Its not WT, its
*Double T*TT: Ticketless Traveller). The railway police caught several people red handed
in the middle of the that wintry night. Luckily we were not hand-cuffed, We were walking
down the platform while the constable holding our hands loosely. Noticing this sanjeev
blinked at me with an intention to make ourselves free from the insecurely clutched hands.
Being new at such a situation, I could not figure out his intention and the very next
moment I saw Sanjeev making him free from their clutches , rushing into the darkness
and disappearing from the police who were walking down with a malicious intention of
getting paid from us that night. After an unsuccessful attempt to catch him their grip
increased on my wrist, I felt the pain and slowly walked towards the Railway Police
Room with them. They were cursing Sanjeev in some uncourteous vernacular. I was asked to
remain standing by the Inspector. He asked me all sorts of details about me and when he
heard me saying that I am studying software engineering, he uttered angrily
"You bloody! engineering students, you crack heads, you TT idiots". I was uncomfortable
by his remarks. I replied with a bewildered face "oh common we are not that bad, name
your price and just let me go". It was not new for him, so he asked me for a couple of
hundred bucks and as usual I paid him less than that whatever I had and I got out.
It was morning and I had another 9 hours to wait for the next train to Bhubaneswar.
I had no money left with me, I sat down on the dirty bench on the platform which was marked by the several
brown stuff and slept the whole afternoon on the bench without food, freshness and warm clothes.
Around 4 O'clock some one trembled me out of my physical and emotional disturbances ,
I opened my eyes and to add to my gruesome fate
It was the inspector from the last night standing in front of me. He asked "You slept
here all the time, Have you eaten anything yet". I replied with a candid face
"No, I don't have a single penny to buy food". "Oh! no" was his reply in a soft voice.
He returned me all the money and ask me to buy some food and buy the ticket. I was
surprised and thanked God, There are still good souls in your earth. I reached home
safely and saw sanjeev welcoming me at the gate with bursting in a satirically hysterical
laughter. I threw the baggage on the floor and jumped on him,
"you stupid, idiot , gadha, ullu ka patha...never leave your friends like that or at least
be specific about your intention". Anyway, next year I heard that Sanjeev qualified for
the job and I went to New Delhi to pursue higher knowledge in Information Technology.