Travelling

17th Aug 2016

Travelling is one of the things I live for. I love to travel. Riding a bike is my favorite mode of travel. Driving a car is like doing a meditation for me, I can keep on driving and never get tired/bored. A recent addition to my traveling modes is TRAINS.
Being a Puneri - Mumbaikar now, I realised these trains are now going to be an integral part of my life.
Traveling via train is different experience every time. You get to observe more people, you get to meet different people, you get to hear different stories.
Would like to share some stories, some experiences, with you all. Hope you all will enjoy.

#1 #MumbaitoPune

Sitting at my desk, looking at screen of my computer, I was counting minutes. I knew it was going to be a tough task but was confident enough that somehow I ll make it.
The clock showed round figures, and it was time to leave this planet ;) Picked my packed bag up, said bye to my team mates and rushed to the train station.
Checked my cell, I had 12 minutes to reach station, get ticket. I took 6 minutes to reach station, a huge smile came on face till I saw equally huge line at the ticket counter. Started waiting for my turn. I was very confident that I ll get ticket and will catch train on time as the person handeling counter was working like a machine. But, his efficiency could not help, missed my train by a minute.
Now my Pune journey was totally dependent on efficiency of motorman of next local and inefficiency of motorman of the express, as bracket between local and express both reaching Kalyaan station was 5 minutes. It was purely a matter of luck now. Local arrived on time, over flooded but had no option. I gathered all my 3 month's Mumbai experience and next second found myself inside the train,totally unaware of how exactly it happened. It just happened, but when I could grab a 4th seat, my confidence was on 7th sky, and I realised, now I have started turning into a Mumbaikar :)

Train left Thane, and a gentleman sitting besides me who gave me seat to sit observed me for a minute and asked, "Sales wale ho?"
I was surprised by a question, as it's been only a couple of month s since I joined and have not yet started working, how the hell he could recognise?
I smiled and said "yes, but how did you guess?"
He smiled back, "bhai 30 saal se sales me hu, tujhe dekh ke laga ki tu sales wala hai, wo bhi kisi acche company me. Software kiya hai??"
Now it was like a shock for me ( My co. deals with I.T. hardware), with eyebrows touching my hair out of surprise, I replied, MBA kiya hai. But aap merko ye batao apne aisa kyu pucha ki maine software kiya hai?"
He had a good laugh and said," bhai bola na 30 saal se sales me hu".

1) Sales Rocks
2) Have I really changed??
3) How the hell he recognised (-_-)

I saw an old man making his way through the crowd. I offered him my seat and stood up. (I am 'Sanskari' you know 😇 😂😂).
Kept my sack on the rack and started passing the time by observing people around. A guy, late 20's I guessed his age, was humming and enjoying his journey even in this crowd. I saw his shirt which had MAHINDRA logo on it. That logo was enough for me to start a conversation with him.
Me : Mahindra?? Great, which office?
He : Smiled and replied "Kurla"
Me : Ohh !! Trucks division?

Now he was shocked, and asked me how did I know about it. With raised collar I said I was in Mahindra HO for my training.

And we started talking like we know each other since ages. I asked him about his roll in his company n stuff like that. He explained it in detail. Then he gave me a guru mantra for success in sales, out of his 7 years of work experience in 3 companies.

If you want to grow in sales, "be patient".

**I was never comfortable talking to strangers, I never bothered about it, and look here I was taking career advices from my UNKNOWN friend. We never exchanged our names - P.S. I have successfully started changing myself (Hence proved)

We heard a familiar voice "Next station Dombivali" and he wished me luck and went as Dombivli was his destination.

I was now settled properly, with space to sit and even to stretch my legs. Then I remembered I had to be there on time to catch express.

And lots of thanks to the efficient local and 8 minutes inefficient express, which allowed me to have a Wadapav and buy a bottle of water too.

This time I exactly knew on which platform I had to be to get into express (मुंबई कळायला लागलीये हळू हळू 😊 )

By the time part 1 was written, train in blog was yet to leave Kalyan but my train had reached Khadki.

Part 2.. To be continued...