The Marathon to Matheran

The great thing about budding managers is their ability to handle crisis..and when they dont hv one at hand..their ability to create one as well....

and then their ability for planning , analysis and other jargons they can only read about..

so when i was shaken out of bed suddenly at 7.45 pm..i was not totally amused. one guy forcibly dragged me into his room ( inspite of my repeated pleas that i had left a dream unfinished) n threw me into the computer screen with a gleam in his eyes. so what did we have? a bunch of tickets to jalgaon..why? we were suddenly trying to reach Ajanta Ellora caves....and he was seriously not kidding. by the time i was regaining my sanity, 6 ppl surrounded and were dicussing the operational mechanics of the trip..

so 8.30 pm it was. and it seemed inevitable that the next day wd be spent poring over the caves..

5 guys left early to get the tickets. we were 5 left. all had to withdraw money at the ATMs. we cud get just one auto to reach the main gate. that meant 3 ppl. one of the guys pushed 3 of us into the auto in a rare act of abnegation n became the hero. he was to follow us as soon as he got the second auto. what this hero din realise is he and the other guy who wd accompany him din hv a bloody mobile for communication.

we waited for them at the main gate. took out money n stoof till 9.30 pm. the train for jalgaon was supposed to be at 10.10 pm at lokmanya stn. these guys r nowhere to be seen. no way we cud contact them. and it was impossible to reach the station for the train.

as we were thro the auto, we still din know how we were to get together for the trip. and the next bombshell comes. one gangster from the prev five guys calls up from nowhere and says we r not going to ajanta. some chance call from a frnd told us that ajanta ellora is closed on monday tuesday n we were planning for tuesday. goodness, atleast we knew this before we boarded the train!

so finally we werer to reach kurla station. the plan has changed. different stations for departure. and we din hv a clue how to contact the other two abt this new plan. they wd be reaching lokmanya stn, that is , if at they reach the stn somehow. there was only one chance. they shd call us or the other guys..which we saw had lil chance considering that in the lil time they had for reaching teh station, they wd better move quickly rather than search for a phone booth.

and this new train which wd leave for the new place called matheran, ws for 10.17 pm at kurla stn. that was the last train. we declared we were never going to make it to the station for the train. and then we just managed to reahc the station. some gys were still getting tickets. and those 2 awesome guys without a mobile were still nowhere. and just as if by chance, they landed up at the station 10.15 pm arnd. it seems they had bypassed us and went out of IIT thro the other gate as we lay standing waiting at the main gate n screwing our time as well. and well, they did contact them without which they wd hv just gone for teh station scheduled before.

well alls well that ends well. we managed the train. absolutely crowded. fighting for breath at 11 pm. in a hyper crowded train. it can happen only in bombay. crowds at crazy hours. but i guess, we just pulled it off. planning was pathetic but execution was supreme!!!!

what say?