I’m lovin' it! (?)
With the pandemic, helicopter parenting achieving its peak with parents literally sitting with the kids during online classes, I often tend to look for inspiration around me to do the right thing for my kid. We often tend to ignore some of the biggest life lessons we would have already been imparted with in the most unexpected incidents. One such incident in my life seems more relevant now than ever! Here it goes!
The year was 2003, I was doing my 3rd year engineering in NITK surathkal and was returning to college after Diwali Break. There was no direct train from my place to Surathkal, so I used to take a train to Mumbai and then another one from Mumbai to Surathkal. Usually family friends used to help me out, but this particular time there was not much gap between the two trains so I had to manage on my own.
I vividly remember I reached Mumbai CST early morning and I had to catch the train to Surathkal around 11.30 from Lokamanya Tilak Terminus. Considering the distance between the two stations, it would have taken me atleast an hour to reach there and I had around 3 hours. So I had to rush to catch a local train to get to LTT. With the luggage which had gotten quite heavy with all the Diwali sweets and savouries my mom had packed and me being the tiny frame I was, it was quite an adventure to catch that local to LTT. It might have been around 10 that I managed to board the local and found a place to sit, little did I know the adventure had just begun! I can’t seem to exactly recollect what caused the delay to board this local, it might have been the McDonald’s at CST or just a laidback me. And now the nervous energy was kicking in — was I going to make it? The next one hour, I was just simply praying I somehow get there on time. Looking out the window was the only way to distract myself, while still munching on the last of the McD fries. Around 11.10, I reached LTT and my joy knew no bounds. After all, I had made it and the difficult part was truly over!
Then I realised I still had to figure out which platform I needed to go to, me not being very athletic didn’t help with all the running around with that heavy luggage. The best way to figure out the platform number was always the books shops, I ran to one such shop and asked the shopkeeper at the top of my voice “Uncle, LTT express, kaunsa platform??”, the kind shopkeeper told me the platform and the shortest way to get there as well. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and then down to the platform. Huffing and puffing I reached the platform around 11.25 so I still had 5 more minutes, what I saw next made my heart skip a beat, my mouth fell open. I could see a train leaving the platform in front of my eyes, what was happening? Somewhere I was hopeful it wasnt my train, again the shopkeeper to the rescue. Barely catching my breath, in my screechy dry voice I shouted “bhaiya ye train kaunsi hai?” and what he said left me aghast, it was my train indeed, the one I was supposed to be in to go to college! But how could this happen?
I rechecked my ticket only to find out I had read the time wrong! What a disaster! The first thought that came to my mind after I came to my senses was not how I was going to get to College, but it was “How am I going to break this news to my dad?” My professor dad being the most organized man I knew (organized and how! He knew the “Trains at a glance” book by heart, he could easily be the brand ambassador of the Indian Railways) and I had been such a goofball reading the time wrong and ofcourse the McD — I just wasn’t lovin’ it anymore! I looked around for the nearest STD booth, gathered courage and called my dad. The moment he picked up the phone, I went “Baba…” and started crying inconsolably. “Crying” — I thought was the only way to probably not get an earful! He got worried and asked me what it was. I told him the entire story of how I missed the train and how it was totally not my fault! I told him I had to come back home right now, how could I go to college after all? He started laughing, it was this reaction of his that stunned me. Ok, he was not mad at me and that was a big relief! My forced tears had now converted into actual tears of a lot of mixed emotions.
After consoling me a bit by telling me one or two anecdotes of his own and how it wasn’t a big deal, my father said to me in the most calm tone possible “Go to the ticket counter, find out the next train timing and if you could get a tatkal ticket, go to college. Also you will get refund since you haven’t boarded the train. If nothing works out, I will tell a friend to pick you up from the station.”
I was totally baffled by this reaction. While him not being angry was a big relief, the list of instructions irritated me. I still did what he asked me to do and could get the tatkal reservation for the evening train, managed to reach college too!
As an 18 year old, the only thing I felt good about was, my dad was much more sensitive than I had imagined, it also brought me much closer to my otherwise uptight dad! But today when I reflect back at this little adventure, especially as a parent, I believe it has the biggest parenting lesson embedded in it. First and foremost, he gave me courage to face that situation by telling me it wasn’t a big deal. Second, he taught me how I could deal with it instead of giving up (which I wasnt very thrilled at then). Third he trusted me to manage this on my own and empowered me!
And to McD, do I still love it? Hell yes, I just stay away from it at the railway stations!
