A MISTAKE
The
Central station was buzzed with huge crowd of people. Clouds in the sky were torched with beautiful fireworks on the New Year evening. Dev checked once
again the flight ticket and the flight time. He is going to India for his New
Year Vacation to meet his family and friends. Dev came to Munich, Germany on
his own money to do his Masters in Production engineering. He was looking for
ticket prices in the ticket machine with his luggage to reach the Flughafen
(airport). It showed ‘5.20 Euros’. He
started converting the ‘Euro’ to ‘INR’ in his brand new IPhone 5. In few
microseconds, the phone displayed the value to be Rs.375.99. The duration to
reach the Flughafen from the present station is just 10 minutes with 5 stops in
between but the money charged is huge, he felt. Transportation fares in Europe are
quite expensive if one compares them to that of Indian fares. He never tried
travelling without a ticket. He was always scared of getting caught. But hardly
there is a checking in the trains, as the city is busy all the times. He wanted
to save the money so badly.
After a minute thought he decided to take the risk
to travel without a ticket. He got down the escalator and waited for the train
3 minutes. He looked inside and out the train for ticket checkers, once he made
sure there is none, he boarded the train. Though he got into train with ease, he
sensed palpitations in his heartbeat.
The train stopped in its 1st stop, he cant resists his eyeballs
rolling out for the checkers. He was happy inside but still he has to
travel 4 more stops.
He waited; the wait created and gave such a mental
pressure that he started thinking what would happen if he gets caught. He has
got to pay 40 euros as fine. His IPhone again converted the money in INR and he
realized the charge is 8 times more than the ticket fare. He prayed all the Indian
gods to save him to reach the station without being caught. He couldn’t hold
the stress, so he took his seat in the train hoping everything goes well. With
the anxiety of fear, he even started sweating. He cursed and mumbled this
should be the last time he would take this risk in Germany. Stations passed one
by one.
8 minutes passed, he got up from the seat, went near the train door and
looked eagerly for the station to arrive, in parallel looking for checkers
disguised as a common man inside the train. The train reached the station with
a mild noise, he found someone in the DB (Deutsche Bahn) uniform, and his mind doesn’t
had the least clue what to do. But he consoled himself and suggested a quick
run from the front door. He started running once the door opened ignoring the
people around. He reached the terminal in 45 seconds in a short marathon run
with his luggage. Once he reached the terminal, there was so much of relief in
his mind and body.
He felt happy for two things, he saved 375.99 INR and he
escaped from being checked and caught. He felt dry throat and went straight to
a coffee shop and ordered one. When he finished the coffee and checked his pants to pay the bill, he realized that he lost his new brand new IPhone
5.
