Amma at Egypt – Part 2 – Starting from Bangalore
As usual I started to do my last minute work….washing, drying, starching, ironing etc…
We had to leave on 21st dec 2009. From Chennai to Egypt was taken care of by SOTC. From Bangalore to Chennai we had to make our own arrangements. We decided to go by train. We got the ticket in Shatabdhi which would leave at 3:30 in the afternoon from Bangalore to Chennai.
We went to do our last minute shopping on 20th December in the evening. We went to the nearest shoppers stop where I thought I will get all the stuff that I wanted to buy. But after we got there I realized that I cannot finish all my shopping over there. We came out of the shop at about 8 o clock in the night.
I decided to do the rest of the shopping in Jayanagar 9th block the next day morning. So we came back home had dinner and slept.
The next day, 21st Dec, Monday. We had our breakfast. I planned to finish my cooking and then go to 9th Block. We thought it would not take more than an hour to finish the shopping and so we could come back and finish our last minute packing, lunch, kitchen cleaning and everything else…
We started to the shop at 11:30. Till 12:30 we did not find all that we wanted to buy. We started getting tensed as we did not have too much time left. We went to 4th block from there hoping to finish our shopping. I was looking for a particular shop which I did not find. But by God’s grace, very unexpectedly, I found all that I wanted in a small shop. At once I called my husband (who was waiting on the road because he dint get a parking area) and told him to pick me up from there. We reached home at 1:30.
He parked the car in the garage. When he was doing so, I came inside the house and finished my last minute packing in 10 minutes. We had our lunch and I finished cleaning the kitchen; all exactly at 2 o clock. My husband went to get an auto for us. We entered auto at 2:10.
The traffic was too thick and we were not able to go fast. At one point the auto driver changed his route to another which he said will have no traffic jam. But our luck was not too good, we got stuck in much worse traffic and we were not able to move. We were getting tensed because the train was expected on the 6th or 7th platform only. We had a lot of luggage and we had to go there by stairs. So we planned to get a cooli once we entered the station because I could not walk fast with the luggage.
While we were discussing this, we had crossed some distance. Suddenly a car which was coming behind slightly touched the auto. Nothing happened…..it was a very light touch. But our auto driver got angry with that. Because of the traffic he was’nt able to do anything. After 2 minutes the car came to our left side. He saw that the car was driven by lady. The traffic was very heavy and was moving inch by inch. After moving some distance we stopped at the signal. At once the auto driver called out to the lady who was driving the car “what is this. Come out and see the auto”. The lady didn’t open the glass. She was saying “nothing happened…go ahead”. He got angry. Suddenly he banged the car glass and started shouting “Vadi, come out, come out and see …let us talk”. The traffic was very heavy. She was not able to come out. She said “ I can’t come out. Nothing has happened to the auto. Please go quietly”. He got angrier. At once the signal changed to green. She moved away quickly. He started chasing her. It was nearly 3 O clock already. He kept chasing her. We were nearing the railway station and he did not seem to be stopping. Our tension was at the peak.
We waited for 5 minutes. Then I politely told him “please drop us at the station because we are late already”. He started saying “have you seen her. She doesn’t want to care about my auto. So I don’t want to leave her”. Then my husband told him to stop right there (We were almost at the station). Finally he stopped the auto at the railway station. We got down and we engaged a porter to go to the 6th platform. We reached at 3:15. We then got to know that the train was late. We finally got some time to breathe.
After we reached Chennai railway station we got one auto to go to the airport. It was drizzling. The auto had a tarpaulin sheet….but we still got wet on the sides. After some time the rain seemed to have stopped. So we pulled up the sheet….a sumo went past splashing water on us completely…we reached the airport dripping with water. When the auto driver took out the suitcase he broke the wheel in the trolley of the suitcase. We could not do anything. We had to change our dress. So we just walked to the rest room directly and changed our dress at the airport.
