Monday, September 01, 2008

"Almost lost in Toronto" - Coming to a broadway near you

Smitten by a Beetle in Red would have been my last post if I hadn't made it safely to Waterloo. Yeah it was an adventurous ride alright and the thing about adventurous rides is that they scare you,make you nervous and just scare you a bit more. No matter how scared I am, no matter how lost I would be, I would never admit it to you that I was. That's a bloated ego. Period.

CHAPTER ONE - THE GREAT ESCAPE

Honestly it felt like I was running away from home. I had my backpack,cash,credit card and my passport and of course an extra tee just in case. I had almost everything basic that one would require to elope except the one tee which isn't enough if you are going away for long.
The fun begins at 6:15 when my alarm doesn't really go off. Now it was my mum's order that I tag my brother along wherever I go.
"It's a new city. You might get raped." (Canada is full of hot chics and its the summer so you know what to expect)
So yeah I wake up at 6:15 am, get ready and sneak out of the house at 7 (I "tried" waking my brother up but the best part about him is that even if there was a mob of mad men knocking at his door plotting to kill him, he would still be sleeping soundly.)
I wait for the bus patiently impatient. I just want to be at the bus station on time. Weird math time calculations happen in my tiny head and I am doing it all wrong. Heck who cares ! I still have one and a half hour to reach Toronto. I know I will make it.
See that's the thing with being over smart. You keep re-assuring yourself that you can do it all. *bangs head*
I get to Bramalea City Centre(10 mins drive from my place by car. 20 minutes by bus) finally at 7:30 am and I get myself a bus ticket. Now the funny part is I don't really know which terminal to board it from. The black blonde chic who everyone thinks is a barbie has no idea. So I walk out and I meet my first God sent male angel in a black jacket.
Black jacket,collar up because it's drizzling (damn classy) an unlit cigarette pressed between his lips, white ear plugs drumming music to his ear drums and how can I forget the hat. I am guessing he was wearing a Dobbs Rosebud Milan Straw Fedora (it looks like it from the picture on google search) It was still dark and I couldn't really make out but yeah he was wearing a classy hat(Ok..enough with the hat).
So I walk up to him even though he looked a little scary because he was black(?) (shoot me for my racism and un-shoot me because I still approached him)

Me: hey!
Hat dude: Hey!
Me: Do you know where I could board the GO bus from? I need to get to Toronto.
Hat dude: Umm..I am not so sure. There are GO buses on that side but then I don't know. You will have to wait for another half an hour or so I think.
Me: Oh ! But I have to get to Toronto because I have a bus from there at 8:30.
Hat dude: *laughs at my stupidity* There is no way you can reach Toronto in an hour because you will have to change stations and buses.
Me: Hmm..there are no cabs around here either. Otherwise I would have just hopped on to one and left. *smiles*
Hat dude: *chuckles* You want to take a cab?! A cab to downtown Toronto?! It's gonna be shit expensive (meantime I am falling in love with his accent and his voice)
Me: Like how much?
Hat dude: 70$
Me: Oh shit !
Hat dude: Your best bet is to hop on to this bus (bus arrives. It says Avondale) It will drop you off at the GO station. I am on my way to Toronto as well.I take the GO train there.
Me:*has no idea what the difference between a GO train or a subway is* Ahan *nods blankly*

I get on to the bus as advised. We do small talk. He tells me he has just moved to Canada a month ago from London (Class-ier!) and he is living in Brampton with his parents because his condo in Toronto is getting furnished. Too much information I think when its not really required.
So I think to myself that now is a safe time to let him know that I am new to the city too. He can't take advantage of me(advantage in the sense- give you wrong directions, has power over you..something based on those lines. Just try and jam it in)
So we are just chit chatting randomly and we get to the train station. He directs me to the information desk and I as predictable and as blind as ever walk to where he says he is going to catch his train from after he is done smoking his morning daily.
I walk to the tracks and back again to the floor where the Information desk is.There is a long queue and I hate standing in lines. Its a mob of mixed species of all kinds here. Elderly,teens,whites,blacks,browns and a separate class of morons like me. I await my turn and haha! this is funny. I am 5 ft n 2 inches and the microphone encrusted in the glass slab was at a height of 5 ft 6. I approach the mic and the guy behind it smiles,bends and leans in to hear me. I tell him of my situation and he looks at me with hopeless eyes and says to me that there is no way that I could make it to Toronto in 25 minutes because the train arrives at 8:08 and that it reaches Toronto Union Station at 8:35. Sad luck ! I thank him and I leave.Now my mind is buzzing with sad-ass ideas. I need to get to Toronto first and that's when I will decide what to do. The quest begins for that familiar face again. I look around a bit and I can't spot him. Maybe he is hiding from me. Maybe he doesn't want to help me out because I am so... so... ummm..
He said something about being at terminal 2 and I am standing at terminal 4. So I walk up to terminal 2 and that's where I spot him "hiding" behind a tall Punjabi maybe Giant Singh is his name. I go up to him and say hey again and he says hey back(read oh bah.she is back again.The annoying brown Indian) He asks me what has happened not because he is concerned for my well being but because he doesn't want to be the one helping me out of the mess that I always get myself into. Ok I am just kidding. The guy was a sweetheart ! Read on now.
Again I take his advice and get on to the train with him which is heading to Union Station in Toronto. The train is full as usual.I grab myself a seat somewhere close to him but not to close because I don't want him thinking that I was completely depending on him. We reach Union Station at 8:35 and the feeling that I can still catch the bus at 8:30 creeps in again. You may ask, how can one possibly catch an 8:30 bus at 8:35. Indian positivity ! :)
So anyway Hat Dude guides me to a lady sitting at an information desk and I ask her how to get to the Greyhound station. She says that I would need to take the subway from here to Dundas which is two stations away.
We wait for the metro.
Metro arrives.
We get on.
That's when he tells me his name. His name is Everton and that he runs a media company in Toronto ! Gackkh ! couldn't he have told me that earlier. I would have bragged on about my side too. Anyway, my journey with Everton ends at Union station.I thank him for all the help and get off.
Alone. Lost. Confused

1 Thoughts:

Surya, the Ayrus! said...

alone. lost. strange... thats a ncie feeling. strangers have been my favourite subject to... you just poured some salt into my bruises and did it up with an emery sheet. nonetheless, it kicked stuffs inside me:)