Sunset at Alappuzha beach

 Prasanna and me at Alappuzha beach

"I guess it will take another hour for the sun to set. Do you think we have enough time to witness the sunset?", I asked Venu. The passenger train that would take us to Kollam was scheduled to arrive in ten minutes.

"Don't worry Jam, passenger trains are always late. Moreover, its a single track route, so the train has to wait till the route is clear from the other direction", he assured.

I had seen the sunrise at Elliots beach on several occasions, but the fact that I was going to witness the sunset for the first time in my life excited me beyond measure.

"Is this like Mangalore beach?" I asked Prasanna the question, with the curiosity of a child. He graduated from NIT Suratkal.

"Beach is beach, Jam", he replied. After a momentary pause, he added "but this place is serene and neat. Mangalore beach is like the Elliots, full of people".

With not even a soul in sight, we sat on the sand facing the tides, contemplating on nothing, until our thoughts were interrupted by Venu suggesting "let us take some photos".

"My camera battery is down", I replied and gave him my mobile camera with instructions on how to take a shot.

While Venu was shooting the last picture of Prasanna and me with the setting sun background, I asked him "What is that train which was just crossing us?"

"Train? What train?", he gave me a quizzical look, looking towards the level crossing then. The last compartment made a slow crossing making the guard light visibleto us.

"Gosh!!! We should be on that train! Run!", he said. And then we ran like mad towards the train, as if a pack of wild dogs were chasing us.

The station is about half a kilometer away from the beach. We reached the level crossing, and ran on the track following the train which had already made a halt, dispersed the passengers and was taking in the ones commuting towards Kollam.

When we were about a hundred feet away from the train, I asked Venu what our plan B was, pointing towards my footwear which had lost its gripper. "Grab it in your hand and run barefoot", came the reply from him.

We reached the station, stopped a while to catch our breath. "I did not see any train running in the opposite direction, so the passenger will stop for some more time", Venu said. Taking his word, we walked towards the train, hastening all the while not taking a chance. By the time we got into the last compartment, the train pulled off from the station!

I uploaded the picture we took at the beach on facebook, joined Venu and Prasanna who had already found the seats for the three of us on an empty partition and hi5'd them for making it to the train. When I was about to lay down, I got a text from my cousin with a question "Where is the setting sun? :P"