#2 The Tragedy of Missing wallet…

It was the month of September, exactly after two months our college kicked-off. Three of us planned to watch a movie. After the classes I went back to my hostel and we started checking for movie tickets. There was no good movie but we wanted to watch something. So we planned to go for Golmaal-3 for the night show. We left around 6:30 pm and the plan was to reach Skywalk mall, have dinner and then go for the movie. Knowing the fact that it will take minimum 2 hours to reach there we still had ninety minutes in hand to have dinner without missing the movie. So we went to Potheri railway station and waited for the local train to come. But when you want to reach somewhere early, it never happens. We had to wait till 7:45pm to catch a train. We reached skywalk mall exactly around 9:50 pm and we had no time to have dinner. So we decided to go for the movie directly. The movie was crappy and it was 1:00 am when it got over. We all came out nothing was open. Every shop has been closed. There was no local trains now, no bus. And we had no other option than to ask auto drivers. But knowing the fact that they charge double in broad daylight we had no clue what to do and where to go. We decided to go to Nungambakkam station and check if there was any last train. It was ten minute walk from skywalk mall. We started walking. I was feeling the way Abhay Deol was feeling in the movie Ek challis ki last local. The difference was we were in Chennai and he was in Mumbai. So we had no hopes. On our way to Nungambakkam station, we were busy talking to each other and didn’t realize from where 7-8 prostitutes hovered around us. We got panicked and a wave of chill went down our spine. We had Goosebumps.

“Just look straight and keep walking.” I whispered

Me and Mayank (my roommate name was also Mayank) kept on walking straight down the road. But Ankur was busy in his phone and he didn’t realize what has happened there. After a while when he got into senses and realized he was in the middle of so many prostitutes all he could do was run the fuck out of there. It was a funny visual which I can never forget in my life. The way he screamed and started running was something I can never forget. Somehow we reached to Nungambakkam railway station only to find it was closed and there were no trains coming up until 5:00 am. I checked my watch; it said 1:30am. There was no way we can wait at the station for the next four hours and especially what happened few minutes ago, we decided to take an auto to marina beach.

“But he will charge minimum 200 bucks at this hour.” Mayank said

“I don’t even have that much.” I said

“Then what do we do?” asked Ankur

And after a while a wicked smile flashed over my face and I knew how to handle this situation now.

“Lets take an auto.” I said

And we stopped one auto.

“Inge??? (Where???)” He asked us

“Chennai Central anna.” We said in unison

“150 rupees.” He said

“Anna no wallet. Wallet lost. All three wallets lost. Only 30 rupees irke anna. (Brother we lost our wallets all three of us and we have only 30 rupees on us.” I said

He thought for a while.

“Anna please anna.” I pleaded with and made a sorry face

And after a while he signaled us to hop in.

“Thank you so much anna.” We said and got into the auto.

He dropped us to Chennai Central railway station and we gave him 30 rupees. We felt a bit bad for him too but we were just having fun. When we came here, many auto drivers took advantage of us being North Indian and charged us a fortune. So it was payback time. And from Chennai Central station we took another auto for Chennai beach. We again told him the same story that we have lost our wallets and we have only 30 bucks on us. Even he was a nice guy and dropped us at Chennai beach railway station.

The plan was to spend the night at marina beach. We thought marina beach is at Chennai beach. But it was just a name of local station and it was harbor area where entry for non-officials was restricted. So we enquired and then a police guy told us to take a train from Chennai beach to Chepauk or Light house and walk opposite to the railway station you will reach the marina beach. And we did exactly the same and at around 4:15 am we were at marina beach.

We sat there for an hour and witnessed the best sunrise ever of our life. It seemed as if the sun came out of the sea. This was the first time I ever witnessed a sunrise and this one was the best one of my life so far.