Ticket Confirmed, Bags Packed, en route to Kalyan:
I was on my way to come back to Chennai by train and luckily had got my ticket confirmed. It was around 2 or 3 waiting for about a week now. I had done all of my packing and left for Kalyan, as it would be my boarding station for the journey.
Since I stay in Lonavala and the train goes via Lonavala, me and my family decided that I would go to Kalyan and board the train and when the train would arrive at Lonavala my father would give the luggage to me.
Seat Shuffle Surprise: A Conversation with Fellow Travelers:
I left for Kalyan at around 1 pm as there weren’t many trains from Lonavala towards Kalyan at that time of hour. It was all going normal till I boarded the train, to my surprise someone had preoccupied it.
I had to ask them to leave and then occupied my seat, the mister in front of me started a conversation by asking me till which destination I was travelling, few minutes had gone by and I realized that he was a retired bank manager and was travelling with his group of friends.
They were going to a place called ‘Adoni’ it comes before ‘Guntakal’ in Andhra Pradesh, these details will be helpful in later part of the story.
The Lower Berth Sacrifice and Side Upper Realities:
Somehow I got a lower berth and you know that youngsters don’t really get to sleep or enjoy the lower berth unless you travel with your family that has a lower berth. Similarly, I had to give up my seat for a side upper one.
I worked on my laptop and talked a few times with them and then Lonavala had arrived and I had picked up my luggage. It was then when I found out that they had also taken up my luggage space and had to ask them to move some of their belongings to accommodate mine.
Now that luggage was out of the picture and it was around 7 pm, I decided to go over to the side upper seat and watch downloaded movies on my laptop.
Unsettling Awakening: The Missing Luggage Mystery:
Everything was uneventful till 6 am in the next morning when I was woken up by a local ticket collector. They asked where my luggage was. Unknown to me I pointed out where I had placed my luggage in the evening.
They looked down and told me that there was nothing and someone else had taken it away. At first I didn’t understand it properly but soon it grew over me that my luggage had been stolen (misplaced).
Adoni Station Drama: Unravelling the Luggage Odyssey:
They connected me to the station master of Adoni, he said that some passengers (people sitting on in front of me) who deboarded the train in Adoni had brought down my luggage as well thinking it was one of theirs, after realising that it was not theirs they handed it over to the station master and asked to get it reached to me.
Ticket Collectors to the Rescue: Coordinated Efforts:
The station master recommended that I deboard the train at Guntakal, travel back to Adoni and pickup my luggage. At this point I was not even at half way in my journey.
Then the ticket collectors came to my rescue they talked to the station manager and recommended that they put my luggage in another train that was just behind mine and was headed towards the same destination as mine (Chennai).
At first they decided to place the luggage below the ticket collector’s seat in an AC coach (there are few seats reserved for the ticket collectors in each train).
Pantry Car Delivery: A Unique Resolution:
But later it was decided that they would hand over my luggage to the pantry car manager. Slowly the day had risen, slowly I realised how big of an issue this was but there was nothing that I could do about it. I ate some breakfast and had to watch few more movies to kill time.
The station master of Adoni had provided me with the contact number of the pantry car manager and I was also sent the images of my luggage in each part of this mishap.
Relieved Reunion: Confirming the Luggage Contents
I reached Chennai at around 3:30 pm and had to wait around another 45 minutes for the following train.As the other train reached platform, I started reaching for the pantry car and later picked up my luggage.
As soon as I got my luggage I placed it on a bench and looked if there was anything missing, luckily everything was in place and it was there when I realised how much snacks my mom had packed into the suitcase as I don’t allow her to pack much of it when I am leaving.
Gratitude and Reflection: Railway Personnel and Responsible Passengers:
So yeah this was about the misplacement of my luggage and how the railway personnel worked in unison to get my luggage to me. It is definitely something to appreciate and you should not panic in this situation.
There is one more thing to mention, that is the people that deboarded my luggage were gentlemen. If someone was not as responsible as them I would have to forget about my luggage.
That is, it for today, and I am really sorry for being not so frequent in my uploads.
I had a project day in my college and got busy in it I would definitely try to do it regularly now onwards.
Thank you for reading and I would really appreciate if you comment on it.
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