The Surprise - Part 2

The board read "Chennai 9:15" and so did Anil's ticket. He got into the bus and as he went through the aisle saw that his seat was in the last row. He had a bad day already and now this was the last straw. To compound matters, on that last row his seat was bang in the middle, forget the window he did not have anything to hold onto in front if him.

Suddenly he saw a fat person coming towards him. He was coming along with his friends and for some strange reason they were pointing at Anil. The fat guy had booked 5 tickets and his ticket showed the numbers of the seat in the last row. Now there were 2 tickets for the same seat and this really put Anil off. The guy demanded Anil to get off the seat as he and his friends had already booked and Anil was in no mood to relinquish his seat. Hearing the slight commotion the conductor walked in and checked both the tickets. To his horror Anil found that his ticket was a fake one and the conductor questioned him about the source of the ticket.

Anil had reached the bus stand late and by then all the buses to Chennai were completely packed. As Anil was contemplating of travelling by general compartment of a train, he noticed a guy trying to sell a ticket to Chennai. The guy looked pretty decent and so Anil approached him for the ticket. The guy was supposed to go to Chennai but due to some personal problems he had to stay back in Coimbatore and hence he was willing to give away the ticket and that too with a Rs.50 discount. Anil did not think much and went ahead with the deal as he was in need of a ticket and this was the only good thing that had happened to him through out the day.


Alas the guy was a fraud and now Anil was in trouble again. He lost his money too and now he was going to be chucked out of the bus. The conductor asked Anil to get off the seat and the bus and warned him that he was lucky not to incur a fine for trying to travel with a fake ticket. Anil slowly got off the seat and as he was walking along the aisle all the passengers in the bus stared at him and he was feeling miserable. The driver of the bus who was watching the whole incident from his seat, gave a last ray of hope. He asked Anil if he was willing to ride in the cabin by paying the cost of a ticket. Not sure if the driver felt pity or was just making use of the scenario to get some some, Anil decided to ride in the cabin.

Slowly the bus pulled out bus station and as the headlights of the upcoming vehicles flashed into his eyes, he slowly tried to close his eyes and think about the day. He asked -"Why God? Why did you have to do this to me?" Anil reached Coimbatore on time in the morning and straight away checked into a nearby lodge. He quickly had a bath, went out to a hotel for breakfast and then went searching for a gift shop. It was only 9:00am and there were not many shops open so went about searching frantically. At last by 9:30 he got into a shop and was able to buy a cute teddy bear. Now that he was all set he dialled Latha's number. His plan was to somehow ask her to come to Landmark and then he would surprise her by suddenly jumping in front of her. The phone rang but she did not pick up. She might be angry that they did not speak the last night thought Anil, so he tried sending a message. The heat was unbearable as he stood at a bus stop with his phone waiting for some sort of response from Latha.





As he wiping the perspiration from his forehead, the phone rang - it was Latha, at last, he thought and picked the phone up. After some initial romantic exchanges, Anil enquired where she was and pat came the reply, at home. First success for Anil as if she had been out somewhere else then it would have been difficult for him to get her to Landmark. Now for the next step - but before he could go ahead she requested him for favor. How could Anil ever say no - he was all ears and that's were the trouble started. Latha's Senior Doctor wanted some medicine from US and one of his friend's had got it from USA and handed it over to a common friend at one of the reputed hospitals in Chennai. As the common friend was very busy he had not been able to send the medicines across to Coimbatore and that's when Latha stepped in suggesting to her senior Doctor that her friend, Anil of course, would pick up the medicine and mail it across. The senior Doctor was very happy with the offer and now Latha wanted Anil to go and pick up the medicine.



Anil replied back saying he would do it tomorrow, but Latha felt that if he can go in today to the hospital to pick up the medicine and send it across today itself so as to receive it in 2 days, her senior Doctor would be impressed with her and may be it would help her to get her long due salary hike. Anil tried to spin a story about he having to go to office for some work and that he would be able to get the medicine tomorrow and if required send it by speed post, but for some reason Latha was not convinced and she wanted him to go today itself. At last Anil agreed as he thought she would understand his situation once he is in front of her at Landmark. With that problem out of the way now it was time for Anil to execute his plan.....