Independence Day 2019
Among all the 17 independence Day celebrations after my birth, the independence Day celebration 2019 is my favorite because I have always watched the national independence Day celebration on TV, and in 2019 and I attended it live at Red fort.
So The story goes like this: Rakhi happened to be on 15th August of 2019 so all of my friends went home to celebrate the festival. I didn't go because I don't have a sister. It's kinda sad. But now I am used to it.
Only two people remained in PG. They were my friend Sachin and I. We planned to go to Red fort on 15th August but on 14th August there was a match between India and West Indies (in which Virat Kohli scored his last ODI century.) Sachin was watching that all night so he couldn't get up on time. And I decided to go on this journey alone.
You might not realize but this was a brave decision for a 16-year-old boy from Rajasthan who arrived in Delhi just 20 days ago. I was too determined to go there so I woke up at 4, had a shower, and got myself ready for the journey.
I looked outside from the balcony and I found out that it was raining but I wanted to go there in any condition. I left the PG at 4:30. The gate was locked so I had to wake up PG wala Uncle and unlock the gate. After traveling some distance I realized that I can't go in the rain. I didn't have an umbrella or raincoat. I came back. I asked uncle for the umbrella. He gave me his umbrella on the promise that I would return and I said I will return you.
I put Red fort on Google maps and started a journey. I walked to Maharana Pratap station and waited for the bus for 15 minutes. I had to take the bus to Mori Gate. It was raining heavily and the roads for the field of water were in the next half an hour. I reached Mori gate station. I looked for a bus to drop me at Red fort but the driver refused to state he can't go there due to the security season. I asked the auto driver and he refused as well. I asked him to drop me as far as he can go and he agreed to drop me at ISBT. When I reached ISBT it had stopped raining.
The auto driver was kinda frank with me. He asked me various questions about life and he seemed excited about the fact that I am interested in attending the independence Day celebration. He said students go to see the parade on republic day but not on independence day. He dropped me at ISBT and the rest of the distance I had to cover by walking.
I had a goal set in my google map but still, I don't know why I took the wrong road. I walked about five hundred meters before I realized that I had been walking on the wrong path. I turned around and got back to ISBT. Then I was on the right path and I found out that I am familiar with these roads near the ISBT, this is where the bus drops me in Delhi. I comfortably crossed those roads and now I was heading towards my target. The roads with closed shops looked weird, this looked like no man's Delhi. I stopped and asked myself, ‘Are you sure you are going right?’ But my eyes were fixed on the google map. I was believing this more than ever.
After some time, I was one of the people who were trying to go where I wanted. Small groups of people were walking with me and that made me smile. You are not alone Shyam. I was in my rhythm and I was enjoying the process. I could see on my phone that the distance was decreasing with the speed I was walking. But then one thing disappointed me for just a few seconds.
When I headed towards a gate like Ajmeri Gate. A soldier was sending everyone back. I still don’t know what the security reasons are. He sent me back, I told him that I wanted to attend the Nation Independence day celebration but he denied it. I don’t know why he thinks a child like me can be someone to be thrown out due to security reasons. Sadly I started to walk back. I walked about two kilometers on foot and putting the excitement in bag trash and walking was never easy.
I could have only walked about 200 meters and I turned around and headed towards the Red fort again. People were going in and I found that the soldier was gone and you can walk in now. I laughed at myself, and I crossed the gates.
In this whole journey, I found one thing. You need a permission letter to attend the celebration. I didn’t have permission but I wanted to walk in and let’s see what happens. And here is the point where my friend, my luck, plays an incredible trick. At some distance, I could see a group of students talking with a soldier. When I went close I got to know that you can’t go in with some black cloth. One of the students was wearing a black shirt. The soldier said put your black shirt off and you can go in. He decided not to go in and wait for his friends outside. I felt sad for him to be honest. He would have been as excited as I was. And he has to wait outside while his friends go in. How sad!
Thank Physics, I was not wearing anything black. The color black observe all kinds of radiation in your environment and that makes you feel hotter. So I never wear a black shirt in summer and that’s why I was saved. But I had one black thing the umbrella. I could take it in because the color black showed some kind of resistance to the government and the funny thing is I could not leave it outside because this umbrella is not mine, I promised uncle to return it and There was no chance to get it back once I left it here. I asked the soldier to take care of it and he gave me an are-you-crazy look. I was like ‘oh no!’ I decided to hide it somewhere so I could get it when I return, but I was afraid if someone suspects me while I am doing that. I put the umbrella behind the trash and walked ahead.
One more soldier was checking the ids. I thought he was checking the permission letter. I don’t have any permission letter and I was going to be thrown out. But a pleasant thing happened. He didn’t ask me about the permission letter, He asked - “Are you with those three guys?” and I said yes without thinking for a moment.
“Show me your id.”
I checked my pocket and oh no I didn’t carry the college id. Imagine getting out of here. How harsh!!. But
“I have a photo of my id.”
“Show me.”
I showed him the photo. He matched my face with the id and asked me my id number and pin code of the area. And he let me in.
I was taken through some security checks which I passed happily. Great, now I was attending the National Independence Day Celebration. I had a seat, I didn’t have to stand and watch. I was offered water and those things were great. I enjoyed the function a lot.
I forgot to take the umbrella when I went out. And then I visited the National Science museum and walked about 10^5 steps. The way to the National science museum was long and empty. I was so happy that I didn’t care about how much I walked. I was singing in my own rhythm and enjoying walking on those empty roads. I remember I crossed the supreme court on the way. I stood there and admired it for a while. Helped an old lady cross the road. The whole thing was great. Got a student discount there and that was amazing. The National Science Museum is a thing to visit. That day still counts as one of the most beautiful days in my life.
The moral of the story is if you're determined to your goal your fortune will never betray you. God will make the events go in such a direction that always leads you to victory without exception. And if you fail at something you can't blame your luck because luck always turns around with hard work.
I took the wrong way, was sent back once by the soldier and then I turned around and went in. One of the students in that group was wearing a black dress and he was not allowed to enter. They had permission for four persons and they were there when they entered. The first two wrong things with me made the timing so perfect that I found them and got included as the fourth person. That's how luck works my friend. But yeah that PG wala uncle asked me every day about his umbrella.
Read other two stories in my Auto in Rain series:
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