27 HOURS

 Hello everyone today I'm going to share with you all the most thrilling 27hrs of my life.

Now, whenever I feel like breaking these 27hours will inspire me to not Give up, you all know courage doesn't have an age, it just requires a soldier-like mindset.

Life always gives us 2 options either to break down or stand up and fight again, it's us who take the decision, commit once & just don't give up. There's a famous saying in the military - "You're stronger than you think" & it's damn true, each & every one of us has the capabilities to do wonders only we to be sheerly determined.

बेशक मुश्किल है ज़िन्दगी... हमने कौनसा हार मानना सीखा है!

So now let's start.

Pre-27hours.

I woke up at 08:00 am on 9th Sept 2022, I know waked up very late then I just turned on the wifi & let the notifications come, then on WA official group, I got the information that I stood 1st in the poem recitation competition at the intra-department round & now I've to come at Chandigarh University on 10th Sept 2022 for grand finale inter-department round, I booked my train ticket immediately from Meerut to Chandigarh, with God's grace I got the ticket under current window since that train was coming from Madurai.

Now I did my regular online classes till 1:50pm then I had a small pooja at home, had to make some arrangements there too, it got over by 7:15pm now I went to the dentist at 7:30pm since I've been going through the pain in operculum of wisdom tooth got it treated came back home at 8:15pm now did all the packing & have my dinner.

My train time was at 11:04pm so I left the home at 10:30pm, now these 27hours starts.

I reached the station at 11:00pm & train got delayed by 35 minutes.

Now train arrived at 11:40 pm on the platform, I boarded in coach A1, and now I got the side lower where I never fit due to extra height. So I asked TTE for another seat  & hopefully, some seats were vacant I took another normal lower birth & now asked for a new bedroll to attender but he was from Madras & didn't get what I mean to say & I wasn't getting a bit what he was saying, now again a good person came who helped as a translator among us now finally I got my bedroll by 12:15am & I went to sleep.

But I never get sleep in the train, I woke up just after 15 minutes then slept again & same happened and this kept continuing & my train reached at 03:45am at Chandigarh Railway station, and it reached on time even after running late.

Now there's no dormitory facility or any lounge at Chandigarh Railway station so I went to the AC waiting room. These kinds of seats were there we couldn't even lie down to sleep.

Now I waited for the clock to turn 06:00 since I'd been told to not step out till sunrise due to the recent crime reported there.

So now it turned 6:00am I took a cab & reached to my relatives home at Mohali at 6:30am, I went there & slept but they have a very cute dog which rushed over me in the room I was sleeping at 7:00am now again I woke up then locked the room & slept till 9:00am & these were the only 2 hours I slept in 27hours.

Now I freshened up, had breakfast & left for Chandigarh university at 10:15am, I reached the CU at 11:00am and went to see my hostel room with my friends who were already there, then suddenly got the message on WA that the students who had applied for CR's have had to attend the zoom meeting, went to my friend's room to get the good connectivity & had the random PI, which I just never expected & I don't know whether I performed well because already had lot's of things going on, Now I got free by 12:00pm so I went for some documentation work & then at the DSW block where I had my Final Round of Poem recitation in between I'd a great conversation with some of my batchmates via Google meet & literally it had been so great to interact with them all.

Now it was 12:50pm I entered the hall and waited to get my turn.

Now I went to the stage & spoke up the poem which I myself wrote, It was so shocking to see that I was the only one from Bachelor's Degree in Hindi poem recitation others all were from Master's degree program so obviously, the competition went much tough but at the end just enjoyed it.

Here's the clip of my performance.

Now my event got over by 2:30pm so I planned my return journey & it was as follows - 

To take train1 from Chandigarh at 5:15 & reach Saharanpur by 7:35pm & board another train at 08:00 pm from Saharanpur & it would have reached Meerut by 9:30pm & I would have been at home by 10:00pm but here comes the worst twist.

I got an SMS that train1 is delayed by 1:30hrs which directly means I'm going to miss my train2.

Now I immediately tweeted this whole concern to the Ministry of Railways but got no positive response from them they just one line - "The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted".

But the good thing is I've been connected with some very nice & kind people on Twitter who always use to appreciate my good work & supports me always & my message box was filled with the concerns of people whether I reached home on time or not.

At 4:00pm I rushed to the Sector-17 bus stand so if I could get the bus to Ambala so I could take the passenger train coming or get a bus to Saharanpur but I was stuck in traffic jam & reached late at bus stand & didn't get any bus so, I took the train1 from Chandigarh it departed from there at 7:16pm so reached Saharanpur at 9:35pm but I didn't deboard there I deboard at the next station which was Roorkee where the train arrived at 10:23pm.

Now I took the e-rickshaw to the bus stand, Roorkee has good connectivity for Delhi & Meerut.

I got the bus at 10:50pm which departed at 11:00pm & I reached home at 1:30am.

My father said I can step back & go to relatives home & plan another journey next day but I didn't want to get my money wasted & once I committed that I've to go home means I've to, I'd the other option of staying at Roorkee too since I was so so tired, I was alive on 2-time meal & unlimited water in these 27hours.

At last, when I got the bus I tuned into some retro songs & just enjoyed the journey, the best thing was the moon & stars which were visible from the big glass of the bus.

I'm literally so lucky to have such friends & well-wishes who just keep asking me every hour where I reached & whether I'm safe at such hour.

My parents too didn't sleep until I reached home safely & they too had the continuous track.

Now, this incident taught me just one thing, I didn't reached my breaking point & we all have such potential only we have to find it out & such the courage & potential we get to know after such hardships only.

Now I would like to add one very famous poem by Shri Ramdhari Dinkar Ji which always inspired me.

सच है, विपत्ति जब आती है,

कायर को ही दहलाती है,

सूरमा नही विचलित होते,

क्षण एक नहीं धीरज खोते,

विघ्नों को गले लगाते हैं,

काँटों में राह बनाते हैं

मुँह से न कभी उफ़ कहते हैं,

संकट का चरण न गहते हैं,

जो आ पड़ता सब सहते हैं,

उद्योग-निरत नित रहते हैं,

शूलों का मूल नसाते हैं,

बढ़ खुद विपत्ति पर छाते हैं।

I hope you all would have enjoyed my blog & learned something.

So these were the inexplicable 27hours of my life.

With this, I'm ending here.

Thank you & Take care...