Chasing Ella

Chasing the train was never more fun - follow the thread on my Twitter

'Chasing Ella' kind of sounds like a movie title, and this trip sorta started off like one too. Big movie chase sequence and all that. Let me tell you how that went down.

So this was a family trip, my mother and I were supposed to join the train from Kandy. This is the 9.45AM train from Colombo Fort to Badulla. 1st class costs LKR 1000,  2nd class costs LKR 430 and 3rd class costs LKR 270 per person. We were in first class peeps. Sometimes you gotta live life, not  just survive it y'know?

Anyhoo, train was scheduled to pull into Kandy station at 12.20 and my mother and I were there around 12 like the eager beavers we were. I called my boyfriend to let him know and I heard his horrified voice down the line,

"The train doesn't come to Kandy babe - it turns at Pera!"

Shit.

Usually, all the trains from Colombo to Badulla come to Kandy, unload some passengers, go back to Peradeniya and then turns towards Badulla. All the trains, except this one. And I, like the idiot I was, didn't double check where it would come to. 

I looked at the clock. We had 15 minutes to catch a train that had already passed Kadugannawa. Praying to all the gods in the pantheon (and Percy Jackson), we jumped into a three-wheeler and told him to drive like the devil to Peradeniya station.

The ensuing 10 minutes was a lesson in endurance. I was gripping the seat with one hand and my phone in the other, screen open to Google Maps. I alternately watched the road and the blue GPS dot, muttering to myself, "We can make it, we can make it," every time the screen refreshed to show more traffic around Peradeniya.

We didn't make it.

By the time we ran onto the platform at Peradeniya station, the train was on its merry way to Gampola and then Nawalapitiya.

I was ready to cry.

My mother was ready to go back home but I hefted my bags and stalked outside to the first tuk tuk parked there.

"How far is it to Gampola and can we make it in 20 minutes?"

I swear the tuk tuk driver probably thought I was crazy, but he gave a quick reply. "Not sure miss, lot's of traffic now..." (like I didn't know that) "... but if you want to catch the Badulla train, you'll have a better chance at Nawalapitiya"

"How much?"

"1600 ruppees"

A slow whistle escaped my lips. Or it would've, if I could whistle. Amma looked flabbergasted but I was determined to catch that iron b*****d, so I nodded and said, "Let's go"

(Next post coming soon)