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The Train Ride That Taught Me a Lesson – By Sankalp Bamane

At that point, I thought, Okay… maybe that's all.
I was wrong. 

10th August 2026. Nahur Station.

It started like any other ordinary day.

I reached Nahur Station and boarded a local train. But the train was extremely crowded. Because of the rush, I found myself standing near the doorway.

My destination was Vidhyavihar, but the crowd was so heavy that I decided to get down at Kanjurmarg and wait for the rush to reduce. After a while, I boarded another train.

I thought everything would be fine.

But the moment the train started moving, something completely unexpected happened.

The Moment Everything Changed

Suddenly, I felt a strong push from behind.

Before I could understand what was happening, I lost my balance. I turned around the pole inside the train and, somehow, ended up hanging on the outside of the train.

The train started gaining speed.

I tried to get back inside, but I couldn't.

At that moment, I had no choice but to hold on and somehow remain safe.

Then something even more frightening happened.

While the train was moving, another train came from the opposite direction.

Suddenly, my bag started moving towards the other train.

And it got hit.

For a moment, everything felt unreal.

Surprisingly, I didn't immediately feel any major injury. Somehow, I was safe.

But I had no idea that my bag had taken the real damage.

"Water Is Leaking From Your Bag"

When I finally reached Vidhyavihar and got down from the train, I met my classmate, Sakshi.

While I was talking to her, a man suddenly came from behind, tapped me on the shoulder and said,

"Water is leaking from your bag."

I opened my bag.

And then came another surprise.

My umbrella had somehow opened inside my bag, and the umbrella rod came out!

I checked my water bottle and realised that it hadn't broken. The cap had simply come off, which was why water had leaked everywhere.

At that point, I thought, Okay… maybe that's all.

I was wrong.

One Surprise After Another

I went to college and continued with my day.

A few hours later, during lunch, I opened my lunchbox.

The lunchbox itself was safe.

But the lid of the vegetable container had opened, and the curry had leaked all over the inside of my bag.

I cleaned it up and moved on.

But the biggest surprise was still waiting for me.

Before leaving college, I opened my bag to check my things.

That's when I saw my spectacle case.

It was completely crushed.

My glasses had actually come out of the frame.

My deodorant cap was damaged.

My earphones were broken.

Several other things inside the bag had also been affected.

And suddenly, I realised something that gave me chills:

The train hadn't hit me—but it had hit almost everything I was carrying.

The Call to My Matoshri (Mother)

I immediately called my Matoshri.

"Matoshri, is the spectacles shop open today?"

She immediately became suspicious.

"Why? What happened?"

I casually replied,

"Nothing serious. My glasses just came out of the frame."

She asked again,

"But what exactly happened?"

I knew I couldn't hide it anymore.

So I finally told her:

"Matoshri, the train didn't hit me… it hit my bag."

She became extremely worried and, naturally, started scolding me.

She asked me why I had taken such a huge risk.

And honestly, I didn't have a perfect answer.

Everything had happened so suddenly. I couldn't safely get down, and I couldn't easily move back inside either.

But when I thought about it later, I understood something much more important.

The Lesson I Will Never Forget

Being late is never worse than putting your life at risk.

Maybe you miss one train.

Maybe you have to wait for the next one.

Maybe you reach college ten or twenty minutes late.

That's completely okay.

Because trains will come again.

Opportunities will come again.

Classes will happen again.

There will always be another day.

But your life doesn't come with a replacement.

That day, I was lucky.

My bag was damaged.

My belongings were damaged.

My glasses were damaged.

But I was safe.

And that is something I will never take for granted.

A Message to Everyone

If you ever find yourself standing in an overcrowded train and feel that you cannot travel safely, wait for the next one.

If the train is too crowded, don't take unnecessary risks.

If you have to miss a train, let it go.

If you reach college ten or twenty minutes late, that's okay.

Because saving a few minutes is never worth risking your life.

We often worry about being late.

We worry about missing lectures.

We worry about missing opportunities.

We worry about what other people will think.

But sometimes, we forget the most important thing:

We need to reach safely before we can reach on time.

That train ride taught me a lesson I will remember for the rest of my life:

It's okay to be late.
It's never okay to risk your life just to save a few minutes.

In this era, we are all very fast-paced individuals, but as an MBA student myself, this has not only taught me how important time management is, but also the fact that our lives are not so much about the destination, but about the journey we take and all the discipline we build to make it to our ultimate destination.

Because sometimes, the safest journey is more important than the fastest journey.

 

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