Part 6 : How God helped me….

It was 2001. A lot of things were happening around me at that time. That was the year when I was going to be admitted in degree courses. In this year I went to Mumbai for the first time with my father. I have heard a lot about it. There was a relative of mine living in there. He was living there with his family. We stayed there. My father had a friend whose son was staying in Mumbai. He stayed far away from my relative’s place. My father decided to meet him. To be sure my father called him on his office number. He told us to come to the office gate at 5PM on that day. We went there and called him on his office number. He told us to stay at the office gate as we would not be allowed to enter in the office premises. After few minutes he came to the office gate. He invited us to visit his place where he stayed. Both of us agreed. We went to his place.

He lived in an apartment. It was really big. There were two big rooms. I would say it was very spacious. Both of them went in the morning and came in the evenings from theirs office. After a few days I had to give an entrance exam. I had filled the form fifteen days ago. From his place it was easy to go to the college. Just come out of the apartment, come to the highway, board a bus. It would leave you to another stop. From there board another bus, it would take you directly to the college. I thought why I should not stay here. It was easy for me. I decided to talk to him so I went to him. I asked him whether I can stay with them. He agreed at once.

I started living there. I helped him in cooking food. When they were not there I used to sweep the room. I didn’t know cooking so I helped them in cutting the vegetables and washing them. I loved washing the dishes. I took this duty of washing the dishes after we had the dinner. My days were passing on happily. Then the examination day came. I gave the examination. The result was to come out in a week. I used to talk to my father and the relatives on the phone. My father told me that he would be coming to Mumbai after one month as the counselling date of common admission test was published.
Days started passing away. After fifteen days the result of the engineering entrance exam came. My rank was one hundred and twenty five. There were only sixty seats. The notice read that if the seats were not filled next counselling date would be published. I thought that the probability of getting admission in the college was very less so I was looking forward for the counselling in common admission test.

One evening I called my father. He told me on the phone that he would be coming to Mumbai in a few days. Next, he told me to go to the relative were I was staying previously. I told both the people that I would be leaving. I went to my relative but I made a mistake.
My father arrived. Next day we went to the college were counselling was going to take place. There was a notice which instructed all the students who had to come for counselling to bring the required documents in original and Photostat copies.

At that time landline phones were very popular because mobile phones were costly. If the person was not there in his home or office you had only option of leaving a message and play a waiting game. Another option was to visit the place where the person was staying. I told my problem to my father. He told me to first go to his office and call him and if I don’t meet him there then he told me to go to the apartment where he was staying.
First I went to his office. I called on his office number. Somebody picked up the phone. He told me that he was not in the office. Now I was tensed. I didn’t know what to do. A thought came to my mind. I decided to go to his apartment. I took a bus. It left me on the highway after one hour. I took a fifteen minute walk and reached the apartment. Several thoughts were coming to my mind.

The watchmen stopped me at the gate. He asked me where I had to go. I told him the flat number. He allowed me to go inside. The flat was on the fourth floor. You could go there by staircase or by lift. Most of the people used the lift in the apartment. When there was not electricity, then they used the staircase. I decided to take the lift.

The lift was there but it was empty. I opened the gate and went inside and closed the gate. Next I pressed the button labelled four. The lift started to move upwards. First Floor, Second Floor, Third Floor and finally the lift halted on the Fourth Floor. I opened the gate and came out. Next I went toward the flat. It was locked.

I was astonished. I thought he must have come from the office. I started roaming in the corridor. I was so desperate that sometime I would see below from the gap of the staircase or I would watch towards the lift display. I didn’t see anybody coming from the staircase for ten minutes. It made me sure that he would come from the lift. I started walking in the corridor. After some time I sat on the staircase. Several thoughts were coming in my mind. I again got up and started roaming in the corridor. Suddenly I saw the lift moving upwards. The display showed one then two then three and stopped. I was worried now. It was eight in the evening.

The lift stayed at the third floor for a long while. Every minute made me more desperate. After five minutes I saw the lift going down. Then it started moving upwards. The display showed one then two then three and finally stopped at the fourth floor. I saw the boy inside the lift. He was with a girl in the lift. She came out first. It may be possible that she lived on the same floor. He came out of the lift and smiled. I was happy now. I also smiled. Before he could speak anything I told him that I had come here to get the certificate. He opened the door. Now I could get the certificate I needed. I went inside the flat and went directly to the place where I had kept my certificate. Now the certificates were in my hands. Now I was relaxed.
I told him that I would leave as it was getting late. He told me to go safely. I left for my relative’s house.