An early bird catches the worm. Time and Tide waits for none. I can only think of these proverbs to express my stressful experience of missing a train, missing a flight, missing a target and missing a goal. In short, everything is related to the punctuality of time. We are so used to the wrong lifestyle of western culture that we forget about the value of time.
Something of this sort had happened to me two years ago. I was selected for the swimming championship at the National level from Ahmedabad Sports Club. I had to participate in that competition the next day. Since Agra does not have its own airport, so I had to catch a flight from Delhi. For the journey to Delhi, I had booked the ticket for the early morning Shatabadi train. I had to reach the railway station at 5:30 a.m. to catch the train. But last night, some of my friends asked me for the party, so I took them to one hotel and we were so busy with games and dance etc, that I didn’t realize the time was about 1:00 a.m. I came back home, packed my bag and went to sleep around 1:30 a.m. The alarm struck at 4:30 a.m. but I didn’t wake up. But my mother’s alarm struck at 5 O’Clock. She was shocked to see me sleeping. She woke me and told me to hurry up and made tea for me. I immediately brushed my teeth, had my tea and ran outside to catch an auto-rickshaw for the train station. But it was my bad luck, I couldn’t get one. Then I woke up my father and he drove me to the station by scooter. The moment I reached the platform the train Shatabadi left the station a few seconds ago. I was in a fix, it was so disappointing to miss the train. The next train was at 9:00 a.m. So, it was useless to wait for the next train, because my flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad was at 12:00 noon. This way I would miss my flight also. So, my father suggested catching an immediate bus and reach Delhi soon. My father drove me to the bus stand which was 2 km from the railway station. So, we reached the bus stand within 20 minutes. My father bought a ticket for me and I ran to catch the bus. Again my bad luck became an obstacle because the bus going to Delhi had already started. I started shouting and running behind the bus. One of the passengers sitting at the back of the bus stopped the bus for me. I somehow got on the bus again that also without a ticket, when my father came running, he handed me the ticket. I said bye to my father and settled on one vacant seat. I felt a little relaxed. Every scene was moving in front of me like missing the Shatabadi, reaching the bus stand, again was about to miss this bus too. But thanks to my co-passenger who stopped the bus for me and did a big favour on me. I got up from my seat and went to the back portion of the bus to thank him. That person was very kind and polite, who told me to ease myself, and he told me not to worry about the further journey to the airport because he was going to Dwarka an area near the airport. We became good friends. We reached the Delhi bus stand at 9:00 a.m., then took a Metro train. Within half an hour we reached Dwarka where my friend said goodbye to me. He instructed me to get down at the next station which was the airport itself and go to terminal 3. Within five minutes I was at the airport. I checked in immediately, finished my legal formalities and sat quietly. I immediately called my parents and informed them not to worry, I had reached the airport on time and would be taking the flight within half an hour. I narrated the whole story. I and my parents thanked the co-passenger of the bus Akash, now my best friend. Once again, I thanked him by calling him because we had exchanged our mobile numbers. Lastly, I thanked God for all this and for introducing me to a good friend. This whole stressful experience brings me tears of both sadness and happiness. Because I won a trophy and also got a friend.
