To know the
value of one year : Ask a student who has failed a
final exam.
To know the
value of nine months : Ask a
mother who gave birth to a still born.
To know the
value of one month : Ask a
mother who has given birth to a premature baby.
To know the
value of one week : Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To know the
value of one hour : Ask the lovers who are waiting
to meet.
To know the
value of one minute : Ask a
person who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To know the
value of one-second : Ask a
person who has survived an accident.
To know the
value of one millisecond : Ask the
person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics
(A quote a received through E-mail, long time ago)
This is my story. Every time I think of it, I get more and more convinced that nothing happens accidentally. Everything happens for a reason. They occur as if planned by someone in minute details. My life, where I am today, the comforts I enjoy today, the social status I have earned today, everything could have been totally different, had I lost few minutes on a very important day two decades back. This is that story...of the precious minutes that secured my life.
It was the year 1996. After completing graduation, I was preparing for post-graduation entrance examinations. I wanted to pursue Master of Computer Applications (MCA) or M.Sc. in Geology, which was my major during graduation. As my role model teacher from the graduation encouraged me to aspire for post-graduation from prestigious institutions in India, I applied to many of them, including Pondicherry University, Anna University, Cochin University, IIT Kharagpur, and IIT Roorkee. Till graduation, I studied in Kerala only. I had never ventured to go out of my hometown for studies. So, I was bit hesitant to go out to far off places for post-graduation. But the constant encouragement from my teacher and the dreams of standing on my own feet were acting as catalysts for my ambition of doing post-graduation from a prestigious institution outside Kerala.
Most of the institutes I aimed were near to Kerala. But IIT Kharagpur and IIT Roorkee were at the Northern part of India. The physical distance as wells as the psychological distance to these universities were huge for me. I could not apply to IIT Kharagpur due to some reason. But I applied to IIT Roorkee, which was then known as University of Roorkee. At that time, the examination centre was only at Roorkee. Therefore, all the candidates had to travel to Roorkee (which was in Uttar Pradesh then, now in Uttaranchal). Due to this inconvenience there were only few candidates from South India for the entrance examination. Mostly it was dominated by candidates from Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Delhi. In spite of all these odds, I decided to travel to Roorkee and write the examination. In the university’s prospectus, it was mentioned that the candidates must come prepared for starting the academic life, if they are selected. Therefore, I had to go with all necessary preparations for staying in the hostel, if I am selected.
The only time I
had travelled to a long distance from home was to attend a navel engineering
entrance examination in Bhopal. That time, I was accompanied by my elder brother
who had worked in New Delhi for many years. During that journey I was under his
constant care. But this time, I was alone; rather I chose to be alone. I was
nervous as well as excited to make a lonely trip to one end of the country from
the opposite end. Though my brother said he can come with me, I was adamant
that I will go alone. After lot of discussions, my mother also agreed to it.
I had to go to Cochin
first to write Cochin University’s entrance examination and then from there, I
was supposed to travel to Chennai. Almost two days of train journey from there would
take me to New Delhi from where another five hours of bus journey would take me
to my destination, University Roorkee in Uttar Pradesh. As per the plan, I
would reach Roorkee just on time; one day before the entrance examination.
I planned
everything in detail. Tickets were booked. My bag packs were kept ready for the
hostel life in case of selection. First, I appeared for the Cochin University
examination. In Cochin I stayed in Simi’s house who was my distant relative. She
is the lovely lady who is sharing the good and bad times in my life with me, my
wife. As I said earlier, nothing is a coincidence. Everything is scripted by
someone superior. I never thought at that time, Simi would one day be my wife.
I didn’t know
anyone in Chennai. So, my brother requested one of his friends to fetch me from
the railway station and help me in the travel to New Delhi. The day I finished
the entrance examination for Cochin University, I started my journey to
Chennai. Simi’s father accompanied me to the railway station. I bordered the
train which was supposed to reach Chennai early in the morning. My connecting
train to New Delhi was the Tamil Nadu Express (TN Express). I remembered it’s
departure time as 9.30 in the morning. After a good sleep in the night, I
reached Chennai early in the morning. As planned, my brother’s friend was there
to receive me. His house was bit far
away from the station. I do not remember the name of the place now. When he
asked about my travel plan and the departure time, I mentioned that the train I
need to board is TN express is departing at 9.30 AM. The he took me in his
motorcycle to his home.
When we reached
his home, he said that we don’t have much time if the 9.30 AM train must be
bordered. So, I quickly ate the breakfast and again rushed back to the railway
station in his motorcycle. In between he asked me couple of times about the
departure time. I kept on saying that it is at 9.30 AM. I was confident of the
timings as I only booked the ticket.
I had one big bag pack
and one small pack with all eatables from home. When we reached the Chennai
central station, I asked one gentleman standing outside the parking area about
the platform number to board the TN express. In my watch it was almost 8.50 AM
then. The moment I mentioned about TN Express, that gentleman had a strange
look in his face. Then immediately he said,
“It is Platform
10. It will depart sharp at 9.00 AM. Go …go…run”
I felt like being blind for a minute. Frantically I looked at my railway ticket. The time of departure was mentioned as 9.00 AM. Even today I do not know why I had the idea that the departure time is 9.30 AM. I also do not know why I didn’t even bother to check the time much before the departure. Maybe I was overconfident on seeing the departure time as 9.30 AM. May be I was lost in thoughts.
I could not even
thank my brother’s friend. He also asked me to run to the platform. I was
already in a frantic mode. I took my bags and ran towards the platform. To make
things worse, I was running from the 1st platform and the train I
had to catch was in the 10th platform. I had less than ten minutes.
I thought I won’t make it, if I have to climb the stairs and run all the way to
the 10th platform within that time. There were many things at stake;
my dreams, my career and hopes of my family. With all my force I ran like a
sprinter. Fortunately, in Chennai central station, there are no stairs between
the platforms. I could reach the platforms from the ground level itself.
I sat in the
general compartment. After long time, when the train reached Vijayawada, I
approached the Ticket Examiner. He said that since I didn’t show up, my
reservation was no more valid. But he said, I can go to any sleeper class and
stay there. At that time, I was not wise enough to argue about my rights or to
buy another seat by paying him. I just believed what he said and went to one of
the sleeper compartments. During the night, I put a newspaper on the floor and
slept near the toilet.
I felt sad as
well as excited. I felt sad on missing the comfortable travel in spite of
having reservation. But felt excited on being the brave lone traveller, facing
the troubles, solving everything myself and marching towards the foothills of
the mighty Himalayas from God’s own country, all the way from south India.
I reached Delhi
safely. My friend’s sister was there to receive me and take me to the Inter
State Bus Terminus (ISBT). From there, I took a bus to Dehradun which was going
through Roorkee. After five hours of journey, I was in Roorkee. Rest everything
happened as per the script written by the best writer. I reached there on time,
wrote the examination next day, cleared the entrance examination with second
rank, studied there for three years, got the degree of M.Tech in Applied
Geology, and finally became the only guy from Geology Department to be selected
by Schlumberger that year. A career with Schlumberger was something like a
dream come true for a person like me at that time.
As I went through
all these phases in life, perhaps I didn’t realize that everything happens for
a reason. I just went through those phases without trying to connect the dots. Now
when I look back, I feel that everything appears planned by someone. Also, I
realize the importance of those precious few minutes before I got into the
train. If I was late by few more minutes, perhaps I would have missed the
train. Then I would not have reached Roorkee on time before the examination. I
would have missed the exposure I got in Roorkee. I wouldn’t kick start my
career with Schlumberger. Then, my fate and career would have been something totally
different.
I had very small
dreams while I was a student doing graduation. I didn’t even dare to dream big.
Taking care of my family, giving them some comfort and having a good house in
place of the old house with thatched roof where we lived were my small dreams.
But the chain of connected incidents, which I believe are not accidental coincidences,
took me through a journey, which allowed me to dream more, attain the stability
I dreamt of and fulfil the commitments I had. All those events have an origin
to the precious few minutes I had in front of the Chennai Central station. I
thank the almighty for everything, the good and bad. In bad times, he showed me
the way to sail through it and gave the courage to face it. In good times, he
let me enjoy the comforts and happiness I deserved. I thank him for every
minute in my life, especially for those precious minutes, without which I would
have been sitting somewhere else right now, doing something else, instead of
telling you my story.
Jose
Bangalore
22 Jan 2021
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