Weirdo ....

All the Infy gang decided to meet up sometime in Mumbai. We all had loads of get-togethers outside Mumbai, but we never actually met up in Mumbai (unless in emergencies). So we decided to meet at a place in Kandivali. Having stayed in Mumbai for my entire life (except for 2 years of working in Infosys), I had to be accustomed to train travelling. But I wasn’t. Train travel wasn’t my cup of tea. And the best of all, I never actually had to travel by train. My college was near from my home which enabled me to take a bike to college every day.

We were 8 of us, most of the people from western line (and hence the decision of meeting in Kandivali). I was feeling nauseated by the feeling of coming so far away in a not so better condition. I wasn’t keeping well from days but then too had to turn up because I did not want to go against the code of friendship (which says never say no to anything friends decide). So I came here against all odds and as usual, things started getting bad for me.

I reached the platform when Andy came in. No one else had turned up till then. Andy told me that some of our friends were waiting on the other bridge. So we planned to go there. I followed Andy as he was a localite. We preferred to cross the tracks to reach the bridge on the other side as that was the fastest and a more feasible option than to having cross half of the world to reach the other side. We started to cross the tracks and the distance we had to cover was approximately 600 meters. I was very petrified of crossing the tracks not because I am afraid of doing that, but because I was feeling giddiness and wasn’t in a good mental condition. The sun was scorching hot and that made me only more weak. I was walking on a track on which train would come from the front so that I could make it when I had to cross the track. It wasn’t actually a big deal, but when things are meant to go wrong, they go wrong against all odds.

I was in the centre track and there was one track to my right and some 3-4 tracks to my left. Andy was walking to my left and talking to me about something which I wasn’t hearing at all. I was so mentally disturbed, I couldn’t notify my presence to him (except physical). Then a strange thing happened. A train came on my left track from behind with super speed and I bent down a little on the same track I was walking on. Andy accompanied me on my track as soon as he heard of the oncoming train behind him. Just then, a train started coming on the track to my right. That track had an inline curve which made me feel as if it was going to hit me from my back. I was already in a bent position and the feeling of that train hitting me made me fall on the track. Just as this happened, a third train came on my track, from the front. I could see it as it was approaching me slowly. Andy shouted something at me from left but I couldn’t make it out. I was in a completely zombie state by then. I was still lying on the track and my mind understanding that I have to get up and move to the right to save myself. But I was so frozen and dumbstruck that my brain nerves just couldn’t make my body get up. I saw towards Andy in despair and could make out his shocked and helpless look. I saw at the train in my front and it was so close I turned frozen with death. I could only view things happening but couldn’t react to them. I went completely paralytic. It was like the feeling that you are severely wounded to ground and an anaconda is approaching you to eat, toes first. You can do nothing. I could do nothing. My brain alerted me to stay calm and get squeezed to the ground to the ultra level possible to survive the impact which I was not actually sure would be possible. The train had reached almost near my foot and whamp ……….. that was the tragic end.