This happened a long time ago. In 2009.
My mom and I had to go for my cousins wedding in Trichy. Mom had asked me to book our tickets. So, there I was browsing through yatra.com and irctc.com for the best possible deals. All looked great except for getting us the return ticket. For the date I needed to be back, only two tickets were available on a late night train. Since both of us had to go to office the next day, I had no other choice but to book that late night train. The train was at 00.30 AM. I got the AC Coach. I booked it. I took the printouts and was all set.
The Wedding was so much fun. I had a very good time with my cousins. The food was delicious and the weather was perfect. And then, it was time for us to leave. We said our good bye and arrived at the train station.
One of our other relatives also had to catch a train at 11 PM and they came along with us to the station. As soon as they left, the station seemed very deserted to me. It looked to me as if we were alone. At 00:00 hrs, mom asked me to take the tickets from the suitcase and keep it ready. I took it out and looked at the train number, date and coach details. Only to realize that my train was for the previous day.
It was a mistake. A very big mistake. It hit me hard and I realized that I had booked our train tickets for the wrong date. I always thought I was booking a night train at 12: 30 for the 12th November. I did not realize the date changes at 12’o clk at night!! I had mistakenly booked an early morning train on the 12th Nov when I was supposed to book the tickets for the 12th night!! Or I should have at least selected 13th as the date when booking the train ticket. Sigh!
My mom took it easy and did not get tensed. She asked me to relax. Knowing that we were waiting for a train that already left a day before was scary that too in the wee hours of the morning.
Mom was strong. She did not scold me. She knew I was tensed. She looked tensed and that much I can tell. But she asked me to pick up our luggage and we walked out of the station. There was no one around. I only spotted few porters and some homeless here and there. I thought we were going to the ticket counter to check if we can find a seat for that night’s train. But mom walked past the counter. So, where were we going? Are we going back to my cousins house? Or are we going to just wait in the station till its dawn. I did not know.
But mom had a different idea. We took an auto, went to the nearby bus station and took a bus to Madras and reached safely. Apparently we caught the very last bus that was magically just waiting for us. Believe me! It was such a weird experience.
May be I should I shown the tickers to my mom before the trip? May be she should NOT have trusted me with the tickets? May be we should have both looked at our tickets before leaving my cousins house? Yeah!!! May be!!! But catching missing a late night train and getting into a random bus and reaching home was one hellava experience! Phew!
My cOrNer oF tHe wOrLd 