We almost kiss a car on its bum...
First day of the trip... And that too one of the longest and farthest trip ever... Even the one of the scariest... On top of it, what if something happens which makes heart skip a beat?
We decided to hire a cab from Pune to Panvel railway station to catch the Rajdhani train. Cab started from one of the colleague's place. Then picked up 3 of us on the way, mine being 3rd pick up. After picking up the last one, we started onto the Expressway.
Few things to mention, we were planning this trip for about a month or two including booking of train tickets from Panvel to Delhi, almost everything was ready. We had started our journey on Saturday, which i thought maybe it is so, for ease of catching the train. But the real reason came out during the journey from Pune to Panvel. The person who booked the ticket told us, he booked the tickets for saturday; to avoid travelling on friday. Reason being it was Friday, the 13th...
As expected, we all laughed away the matter. Then everyone started on whatever they have heard about Leh Ladakh- What to see, Do's and Dont's, Where to stay, How to roam etc etc. The cab driver being kind of good speaker, joined in the conversation with his knowledge to add. Everything seemed to go on very perfectly. And being on Expressway, we were a bit relaxed also, as there was not much traffic. But as the Murphy's law goes, something had to go wrong...
On the Highway, the person driving in front suddenly stopped the car. Thank gods, that the road wasnt much slippery and our driver was very much in control. Our car stopped with a screech. So did the other two cars behind us. And after hearing the brake's sound, the car in front started showing an indicator that it has to take a right turn! As we were cursing the driver in the front car, my friend who booked the tickets said, 'good that i didnt buy ticket for yesterday..if it was yesterday, we would have smacked right into that car!' That broke off all the tension of situation. And we continued the journey, rather peacefully.. And also reached station with a little over 20 mins to spare.
One of my tripmate was going to join us directly on the train station. He was coming from New Mumbai. He came just 5 mins before train. He also had another story of his. He had booked a cab. The cab driver called him up and told that the cab has broken down, and thus will be late at least 20 mins. For him to wait for so much time was equivalent of missing the train. So he got his bags, got on the road and hailed the first cab he saw. He said luckily the driver was good, and he got him out of almost all the traffic jams without breaking much sweat, because of which at least he was able to reach the station. Or he was definitely a goner...
Moral of the story: We got into the train, 'Just in time'
So after two 'incidents' we embarked on the journey. First day got over, giving us chills of the thoughts 'till now this much, what more to come..' and thrills of the thoughts of all the photos, discussed plans etc...
