A Sunday surprise

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Yesterday, my cousin, her husband, and a friend were arriving in Bengaluru from Coimbatore on the Vande Bharat Express. I had planned to pick them up from the Cantonment Railway Station, the train's final stop. Its scheduled arrival time is 1:45 pm.

I was in two minds about whether to drive or take a cab. That's because the station is currently undergoing a ₹480-crore ($53 million) redevelopment, and the area is a bit of a mess. Barricades and construction have reduced the road width. While the station did have ample parking space, much of it has now been taken over by the ongoing work.

A MESSAGE IN WHATSAPP GROUPS 

It's been a very long time since I had been to that side of the city, and I wasn’t quite sure if any alternative area had been provided for parking. So, in the hope of getting some update from anyone who would have gone there recently, I dropped a message in a couple of WhatsApp groups — my apartment residents’ group and my Bengaluru-based school alumni group.

The updates and suggestions were consistent: the area is extremely crowded and there is very less space for parking. Everyone advised me to leave the car at home and take an autorickshaw or a cab.

However, one message in the school alumni group stood out. It was from someone I’ll call SN, who wrote: 

I am on the same train. I’ll guide your cousin and her family to the exit. Arrive by around 1:30 pm. That way you can just pick them up and go without needing to park. I’ll take care of them.

That a schoolmate of mine was on the very same train was a big coincidence, and his immediate offer of help was a wonderful surprise!

Frankly, I didn’t know SN. From his messages addressing me as ‘Pradeep Sir’, I presumed he was a junior in school. (It’s a general custom for the alumni to address their seniors as Sir, a tradition carried over from our school days.)

As the conversation on the WhatsApp continued, another schoolmate, PS (eight years my junior, whom I did know), joined the chat. From the messages, I figured out that SN works for the Railways and was from the Batch of 2001 — making him a good 19 years my junior. We had never met nor spoken before.

SN asked for my cousin’s coach number and he was kind enough to go over and introduce himself. He explained the "Sainik School connection" and told them that in case they needed any assistance, he was around. 

My cousin, her husband, and her friend were not only pleasantly surprised but deeply impressed that a total "stranger" would reach out simply because of a shared alma mater! (I hadn't sought any help. I was only checking the parking facilities at the railway station!)

AT THE RAILWAY STATION

Meanwhile, from the NTES (National Train Enquiry Service) app, I got to know that the train would arrive around 35 minutes ahead of schedule, something that is fairly common for premier trains like Vande Bharat. When I told my wife about about these unexpected developments, she was so touched that she decided to come along just to meet the kind soul that SN clearly was.

Though SN had suggested he would guide my guests to the exit and I could just come in my car and pick them up without parking, my wife and I decided against it. That's because we wanted to meet SN, and personally thank him for his proactive involvement. That would have needed us to park the car, which might not have been possible.

Instead, we reached the station by autorickshaw. In about a couple minutes, the train pulled in. As soon as my cousin alighted, the first thing she mentioned was how cordial and considerate SN had been. I smiled and told her, "That’s what we call the famed ‘Kazhak’ bonding." (Kazhak is short for Kazhakootam, the small town where our school is located).

MORE SURPRISES

In a few minutes, SN joined us, and we got talking. But the surprises weren't over — PS showed up at the station too! Obviously, he couldn't resist being part of this "micro-mini get-together." As we stood there chatting, we discovered even more connections; it turned out that PS and my cousin's friend shared a lot of common ground!

As we were talking, SN’s phone rang. It was a member of the railway staff asking if one of his friends had lost their mobile phone on the train. SN turned to my cousin and asked if she had her phone. She quickly checked her bag and realised with a shock that she had left it behind on her seat!

The staff had seen SN speaking with them earlier and presumed he would know the phone's owner. What luck! The mobile was duly returned, leaving my cousin immensely grateful, not just to SN, but for the entire series of events that led to their meeting.

It was an incredibly eventful Sunday morning. And, it all started with a simple question about parking!