61?... 62?? ... 24????

I was just reading Varun's (crazy IITK senior :D ) blog sometime back on his tryst with the Railways. On reading that I recollected a rich incident that occured to me whilst I was travelling back to Mumbai during the summer vacations..... So here it goes ... :)

The train was scheduled at, the not so very auspicious hour of, midnight. I was alone travelling as Varier had cancelled his ticket. Anyway... the platform was as usual full with people running helter-skelter for no reason whatsoever..well ... you put two Railway Officers at the two ends of the platform giving information and you will get what I mean....
The train arrived exactly as the big clock on the platform struck 12. Seriously... Lalooji is doing a great job !!! ... Not prepared for this miracle I had to run along the train to find my compartment with all the luguage.... not a very good sight actually...
Finally I got into B2 and now the mission had changed to finding my berth. Most of the people had already "hit their berths" ... so had to use all my stealth to find berth 61.

"Excuse me uncle... yeh berth mera hai".
"Oh accha... ek minute". Uncle didnt like me waking him up. I could sense from his tone.
No sooner had I kept my luguage on the seat another dude came along.
"Hey.. Thats my seat ! " .
"Huh ??? ... I think theres some mistake... 61 is my berth", I protested.
"But I just got my waitlisted seat confirmed to 61... ".
With a bewildered look I checked my ticket only to find my seat was actually 62 !! ...
No prizes for guessing whose seat 61 was ..... I knew it was all Varier's conspiracy !!

Admitting my mistake I was about to shift my bags when this uncle from behind...
"Beta ... aap please berth 24 le leejiya naa... please?"
"Huh???". It was just my day.
"Woh kya hai na.. mere bete ko 24 mila hai.. aur mujhe 59... toh please aap wahan chale jayenge?".
'Well if you want a family reunion why cant YOU shift there!!'. This is what I thought.
"Haan ... kyun nahi uncle... OK". This is what I said... with a smile too...

So now I drag my bags all over again back to the other end of the compartment with half the people awake by all the ruckus.
And what do I find... Yes... some lady is sleeping blisfully on berth 24....
Exasperated I see that berth 25 is empty and assuming she slept in 24 by mistake I camp on 25 and try to catch some sleep.
Just when I was about to enter dreamland I get a nudge on my back....
"Ticket please...". What a time for the TTE to arrive. I cursed Lalooji for making Railways too efficient.
I show him my ticket and start explaining the whole double swapping that has happened till now.
Finally decoding my elaborate explanation he asks...
"Toh aapka seat 24 hai??"
"Haan ji". I almost shouted.
"Toh 24 mein jaa kar soyi naa..... yeh seat toh 34 hai !!".