WHEREVER I AM, I KNOW YOU ARE WITH ME!

I was visiting Avon, a small town near Paris (France) but my flight was from an airport on the outskirts of Paris city. As I had booked the flight last minute, my return flight was early morning.

This required me to take the last train out from Avon to Paris, then take a shuttle from train station to the airport. This needed me to stay 4 hrs at the train station (11:30 PM – 3:30 AM), before my shuttle service came to pick me. Clearly, not a good plan for a girl and I was already cursing myself for making last minute flight booking, at such an ungodly hour!

On the scheduled day, I reached the Paris train station at half past 11 PM . To my relief a major rugby team was travelling through the train station and the station was teeming with people. I was fine. I looked up one of the maps at the station to identify the street (outside the train station, as it is a huge station) and then decided to go across the road to sit in one of the café/bars to kill time. Again, as several team supporters were sitting in these cafes, everything seemed pretty okay. Finally, at 2:30 AM, the café was shutting down, people had already left and I was asked to leave.

I came back to the train station. It was deserted now. There were a few boys in an inebriated condition, who tried to bother me but I managed to keep them away (I was extremely scared inside and screaming at myself again for such an ill-planned trip). After a while, two boys came near me. As they seemed relatively non-threatening, I sat on a bench in their vicinity. Because I was sitting close to them, no one else bothered me as they presumably thought I am with these boys

But my misery was not over yet. At 3:40 AM, I got up and decided to go to the desired street. My shuttle service had told me that it will pick me at 3:45 AM and under no circumstances wait beyond 4 AM.

I went outside but did not find the shuttle. The street had two levels, so I thought maybe it is at the lower level outside the station. Strolling my baggage, I went down, but nothing. Assuming that I maybe on the wrong street, I tried to ask a few people on the street (there was a busstop) who refused to communicate in English (even though I suspected they understood me). A few guys on the street had already understood that this girl is lost and is asking for directions. Their looks just added to my misery. It was almost 4 AM and I was nearly in tears. I had a harrowing experience already, now I could not find my shuttle, which for all I knew had left the station by now. This meant, I could not catch my flight either.

All this while, I was praying very hard to Sri Sri to help me. Suddenly, this gentleman appeared out of nowhere and responded to me in English. He opened google maps on his phone and tried to locate the street, after wasting another 5-10 mins, we found the street (the same one I had identified in the first place, but much farther away than I expected) and saw the shuttle waiting. The driver had been kind enough to wait a little longer.

I couldn’t thank him enough. Had it not been for Guruji, anything could have happened that night. I know he is always looking over us. I am grateful for this blessed life.

Jai Guru Dev.

– Kanika Rajdev