Serendipity!

A Glimpse of Supernatural intervention or pure luck! - Serendipity

I am somewhat a believer. I believe that some kind of intangible super-natural power exists. Science may not prove it, but my belief system does. There are various incidents in my life which made me think so. One such episode I witnessed a few weeks ago is another addition to the lists of events which make me believe in that super-natural power.

One fine evening my friend and I were returning from Infiniti Mall in Andheri (W). We had to take a bus to Andheri (E) Depot, which was close to Andheri (E) station and from there a direct bus to Thane, where we lived. We boarded a bus concluding at Andheri (E) depot. However, it got stuck in traffic just before it was about to reach the station. So we decided to abandon the journey and go walking. We reached Andheri Station on the West side. In order to reach the Eastern side we needed an over-bridge. Thane station had two wonderful public over-bridges just on the outer side of the station. I thought that Andheri, being an important station in Mumbai, must have some over-bridge just near the station premises.

But I was wrong. We saw no bridge crossing the railway tracks, nor was there any manual crossing system. We could see only a rail-bridge, which essentially is a part of the Andheri Station, which connected the Eastern and the Western side. According to the rule, citizens are not allowed to use the railway bridge if they do not have a valid ticket to do so, there are specially built public bridges for it. But we did not have any option. “Oh God! How useless is Andheri, no scope for residents to cross the station” I exclaimed. We asked a local fruit vendor about the legitimate way in which we can cross the rail-tracks. He pointed us to a far off location to an elongated inverted U structure. It was at-least one and a half kilometers away from the spot where we were standing. That was too much to travel, especially on a humid and tiresome evening.

My friend and I decided to break the rule and use the rail bridge. I climbed the stairs of the bridge, and then suddenly asked my friend, who was walking seamlessly, to stop. I had realized that a TC was waiting for his ‘bakras’ on the bridge. Fortunately we were facing the back of the TC and in no way could he have spotted us.

We were doomed. There was a high probability that there would be more TCs’ on our way. In no ways were we going to travel towards the very distant public over-bridge. “How does the Municipal Authorities expect us to cross the rail tracks? *&%^*&^! ” I abused. It came out naturally. We did not have any other option, but to take the bridge located far off. Incredulously the distance towards the public over-bridge looked more than 5 kilometers away now!! 

And then the moment of magic…. A stranger approached my friend, and enquired “You want to go towards the other side, rite?” I thought he was a TC and I started descending downstairs quickly!! But then he gave a small white chit to my friend. It was a ticket!! When I realized it, I stopped and with some awkward feeling moved towards my friend. The stranger saw my poker face and gave me another ticket! “Take this”, he said and slowly started moving downstairs. It was a Bandra to Virar ticket. I was shocked to see our luck. I had to ensure that the ticket is valid, so I started cross checking the date, time and validity of the ticket. “It is a return ticket, so now go!” he nearly screamed. Yes it was and with a dazed face we proceeded towards the TC! In that incredible interaction, we even failed to acknowledge the stranger who gave us the tickets. With two tickets in our hand, we crossed the bridge will full confidence and eventually reached our destination.

Who was the stranger? How did he know our problem? How long was he over-hearing us? If he was alone, how come he had two tickets? If he had a ticket to Virar, why did he get down at Andheri, which is nowhere close to Virar? How sure was he of not requiring the tickets again? How did he trust us and assumed that we were not going to misuse the ticket, saw by travelling to Dadar? So many questions remained unanswered, including the one that how lucky were we to tackle the situation without much effort.

Or was it a supernatural force that helped me out? God Knows!