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Bizarre Traveling Stories (Caught by the ticket collector)

Caught by the ticket collector!










In a city like Mumbai, even an expert traveler makes mistakes.
A novice like me is ought to get in trouble!
I made a lot of mistakes while traveling alone, and they can only be categorized under the term “Bizarre”.
This blog is intended to tell share some of them.
These traveling mistakes occurred a long time ago, but they left me with thrilling stories to tell.
This is my first BTS(Bizarre Traveling Stories), where I was caught by the ticket checker for not having the ticket.
Believe me! I had purchased one, I'll tell you what happened there at the station...
Those were the days when the city bus employees were complaining about low wages. They wanted a raise.
The bus service was then costlier, hence most people traveled by trains at a cheaper rate.
The employees demanded a raise and for that, they decided to go on a strike!
Never had the city experienced a strike by the bus service from years!


The news was out. The employee's Union declared the strike for 2 days.
And the regular bus traveler like me got scared for a valid reason.
Let me tell you something, “ I can't travel by any other mode of transport!”
The bus for me is a lifeline.
I need Google maps even when I need to visit my Grandma.
I largely depend on technology for traveling to minimize my efforts.
The bus strike was like a punch in my gut for I had no guts to travel by train.


I avoid traveling by train, not because of the crowd and things of that nature.
To be honest, I love the crowd cause it gives me a great opportunity to observe different types of people.
I avoid traveling by train because I’m inexperienced!
There are 3 main railway networks and they somehow happen to intertwine among themselves like a strand of DNA to reach their respective destination.
This is not my cup of tea to travel by train. Whenever I do, you’ll always see me with a parent…
Unfortunately, the 2-day strike was called on weekdays, making it important to attend practicals!
I had to do this, I had to travel by train!


On the day of the strike, I took a cab to the college. All I worried about was returning home.
I convinced Guy d’Average to accompany to my destination. He’s good at heart but average at traveling.
I just hoped that he’s a better traveler than me. We walked to the railway station by ourselves.
Took the tickets…hold on hold on!
We took the tickets for the central line. (That means our tickets were valid only if we traveled by the central line!)
The station was a part of the Harbour line and we were supposed to change the line and get our asses on the central railway.


We boarded on the train waiting to depart to change the line.
We got so busy talking that we forgot about the departure and dropped the plan of changing the line!
Actually, it was me who dropped the plan…
I live at equal distance from the Central and Harbour lines and any of them wasn’t going to amount me much.
I traveled by the Harbour line with a Central line ticket!
To tell you, Guy d’Average has a travel pass. He can travel by whichever line he wants to.


I got the nearest station from my home and we thought we made it damn right!
Little did we know that the station was infested by the ticket checkers…
They were all over the place…They were watch guards of the castle.
I had the eyes on the gate of the castle. I just wanted to escape from the guards!
I acted like a common civilian.
I acted as if I’m the valid citizen of the place, maybe I overacted.
And one of the guards asked for the ticket!
Fuck…I thought I was a good actor!
I calmly showed him the ticket as if I didn’t know my mistake.


He told me that my ticket was invalid for the line and I would have to pay the penalty…
I barely carry any cash with me. The moment scared every bit of shit out of me!
I had no money, I only had my innocent face to convince him!
What I did after that was purely involuntary.
I said something like:
“Please sir, leave me alone. This was all my mistake. I don’t even travel by train, I did it today because the bus employees were on a strike!
Sir, I promise you, I won’t ever travel by train my entire life!”
I don’t know what happened to him but he let me getaway. He said that I could travel by train with a valid ticket. My heart was beating too fast to feel it!
Now, I always make sure that I have a valid ticket before I board on a train…
All this time I was thinking if Guy d’Average really is a better traveler.
And I’m sure he is!
After all, he had a railway pass.
He was a valid citizen…
     


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