Monday, August 17, 2009

Deterministic in chaos!

Suman, forgive me for the tiltle for it slightly offends ur determinist's paradox. :) Or does it agree with it? I'm not sure.

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So, here goes the story. I'm in Mumbai these days, in TIFR, and staying at Wadala.I'm cutting many things short, to write this faster. So there are two bus survices which come to Wadala to pick up TIFR students staying there. My mom had made me promise her that I'll always catch the bus, and never ever try going to TIFR by train. :) But today; mom I'm sorry, I had to break it. Hmmm..
I had rushed out of my flat to ther lift today morning to catch the bus. And at the bus stop, I realised that I had forgotten my mobile pouch ( though I had my mob in the bag). This pouch contains many things and I always carry it with me. And I need an id proof to get into TIFR, so my call letter was also in it! I decided to go back and my roommates tried to stop me. But I was determined! (Like Suman's determinist who will change the future. :) )

I said to them; "If I'm late, I'll stay back in the flat". I ran back, and after pressing several times on the lift, it came down, I got in, and a man also got in. I ( I didn't know where he had to get down, so I simply), pressed 12 which is my floor number and as soon as I got down there, I understood that the man had to get down at 9. I opened the door, rushed in and found the pouch on my bed and, hurried up, and closed the door. Then! The lift was going down! of course to 9. I pressed the button many times and waited. But it was going down and down! So I decided to take the stairs which wind anticlockwise, and I almost felt giddy. At 4, my instinct told me that the lift might be there now, so I went there and it was there! Full of 7(?) men. Whom I saw was a boy I knew is in TIFR. I felt a bit relieved! Atleast I'd have a company!

When we finally got down, I ran after him and asked him how he was going? At the junction we found out that the bus had come, so we walked to the local railway station. I asked his name. Umesh. I thought that's what I heard. He being tall was walking fast and I had some difficulty catching up with him. I had run, took the stairs and all and was feeling out of breath. I wanted to drink some water, but didn't stop. I asked him to walk slowly and finally, we reached the station.

Ha! there was a long queue! He suggested me to go to a ladies que, but no such thing was there. : )I first stood in a que which was shorter, and then found an empty counter next to it, and enquired there, but it is some season ticket counter. My friend told me not to leave the que, and asked me to buy two tickets to VT. I bought two, thank God! that que was cleared fast, and we stepped on to the 1st platform. A man directed us to the 4th platform and we crossed the crowded overbridge, and got there. A train came and we asked a person whether it went o VT. He nodded yes and finally, we tried to get in.
What a crowd it was, I was being pushed into the train, no effort from my part as such wasn't necessary! :) The compartment was full of men! (My friend had suggested me to go to the ladies comp. but, I being new to the Mumbai metro, decided to stick to him. :) ) I looked over my shoulder to see whether he had got in! Yes he too was in. :) And I squeezed in through the crowd to the nearest seats. I was happy I got some space to stand freely btw the seats. Then! ( I was actually surprised) A man got up and told me to sit. :) Without wishing for a seat, I got one! :) ( It seems, no I'm sure, I was the only female in that compartment. :)) Suddenly it occured to me that my friend was standing with his back on his back. I offered him to hold it, but he refused. I gave my offer again, and he gave his bag to hold. It was really heavy (earlier while walking to the station, his writing pad had fallen down,which I took and gave him; he had offered to hold my jacket cover, while I was in the que, and again he had asked me to hold his water bottle for a while on the platform, before opening his bag to put it in). The crowd was dwindling slowly. I asked the man sitting nearby when VT would come. Finally VT came, and I got up, my friend told me to wait till the train stopped. We got down, crossed the small track nearby and all of a sudden I was out of VT station!

We searched for the Navy Nagar bus stop, and enquired two girls, they directed us, and we went and waited at the stop. A navy Nagar bus came after a Colaba bus, and as soon as we saw the bus, we rushed into the bus. :) The conductor said something; I thought he was asking me to get in through the front door. I got in through the front door, my friend was going to get in, (the driver was also saying something, and there was a traffic policeman inside) and I was asked to get out and stand in the queue. I had seen people sitting on poles at the bus stop, and wondered it was. Then I understood that it was a que! We stood in the que (luckily it there was no crowd), got in, and I found a seat, and sat, took the ticket and tried to open the window, the mechanism being new to me, I wanted to figure it out, which I did, but had no strength to push it further up. A man in front of me helped to 'hang' (its like that:) ) the latch.

But the bus was moving a bit slow (the most surprising thing is that I didn't feel tensed at all) and I had a class at 9.30. It was already past 9.30, and I was hoping to get to class before 10. (My friend is in 1st year high energy and he had phoned his friend and confirmed that he had no classes.) Finally, the terminus came, and we got down, started walking furiously, my friend told me the reason why he was late; he had woken up at 7.15, slept again thinking its only 7.15, and woke up only at 8.15 again. :) I told him my story, and rushed, showed the call letter at the entrance, and we finally said bye and I ran to AG66, where my class was going on.

I sat in the last row, many people (except my classmates who were in the front row) turned and looked at me. And at the end of the class, we got our corrected assignments. My classmates were really surprised to see me. Moon Moon was standing to my left, she just looked at me (trivially) and turned again to look at me. :) Neha was happy to see me and said;"Ah! you have come", and asked me how I had come. Mathi who obviously thought I was in hostel collected one of the 2 assignments (for I had already collected one myself) from Ma'am, and was almost shocked to find that I was there. Meghna who hadn't noticed me , also looked surprised.

We came out, and went for a tea, and came to the lab, were I secured a computer and started writing this blog. :)

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PS: That's my today's story. Today is the new year according to Malayalam calander. There's a general belief (though I don't believe it) that ur year will be like the first day of the year. :) But,nobody will want to miss the bus everyday, though it has provided a different experience. :)

The thing which I don't understand is, it all seemed to me like a dream. Everything was occuring as if connected (well connections make events, I think), or was it because I was determined? And the most important thing is, how I associated myself to a companion (lets call it symbiosis). I think it is the inherent nature of every living thing to associate with something, which will be helpful for it. :)

PSS: He actually told me (after hearing my reason for being late) that I could have asked my friends to stop the bus till I returned, even he could have caught the bus then!

7 comments:

  1. Splendid experience! New experiences in a new city. I still remember my first (and till date, only) experience with the Mumbai local train. I was going to TIFR with two of my friends from IITB; it was around noontime, and the crowd was sparse, and I thought "Wow! These trains are so great!". I was proved wrong soon, while coming back. It was evening, and we got a footing near the door. And at the stations the rush was so much that we had to struggle just to maintain our positions! And the fact that we were slightly drunk by that time did not help either. :)

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  2. Though you told us about your adventure,but after reading your blog I have realized that your nice trip in this nice city will remain evergreen forever in my memory.Its a tramendous begining of a new year indeed!So,my best wishes will always remain with you for some more adventures,dear.On that day while going to TIFR I was very tensed for you and finally thought that you are not coming at all.But I now feel that it has added another feathure in your colourful life.Keep it up,mate!

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  3. It was a wonderful (I think romantic too) trip. You said that it was your first experience in local trains of Mumbai. I think it must have added confidence in you too. It would have added a small adventure in your daily routine in the boring TIFR bus journey too.

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  4. Saurabh thank u for the comment. Do you think it is romantic? Where is time for romance when you are hurrying for a class, and that too with a person whom you 'know' only from appearance! :)

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  5. What a wonderful experience you had..! Great..! Though you wrote in a hurry you didn't miss anything i think.. Your forgetness made a unforgettable day in your life right...!

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  6. an experience well written..seems der s a good writter in you..see wat i felt beatuful s ..me too felt d tension u had!!!!..only a good writter can communicate dat much wit d wordss...hmmm...metros can give u expieriences dat improve ur confidence...keep writtin..

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