Ride in the Rain sometime... |
On a normal day, the song ‘November Rain’ by Guns n Roses always gets the play button push on my cell phone. But this was no ordinary day, heavy rains lashed on my room’s window as I struggled to push my right foot into the shoe with the laces tied a bit too tightly for the occasion. Hopping from the window to my bed, I grabbed my cell phone and gave the headset a sad but meaningful look. Forget about listening to songs and humming a melody or two, this was a day when you start searching for poly bags to keep your beloved cell phone safe.
I checked the lock screen on my cell phone. Besides the beautiful wallpaper of my heart throb Audrey Tautou, the clock on the screen indicated that I had exactly forty-five minutes to reach the classroom doors. Life is hard, especially when you mistake a box of peanuts for a box of cereals at night and wake up with a coffee mug and an empty cereal bowl next morning. I could hear the clouds thunder outside, but the bubbling sounds within...made me swear that I’ll fill my room with cereal boxes once I return.
I stepped out of the building, onto the road and SPLASH! God bless the municipality for only they know how to make the worst roads all over the world. One big crater on the road filled with mud water got the beating from a passing SUV, and the result was a huge wave of brownish water embracing my denim jeans. These are times when you can’t stop yourself from thinking that whether God does it all on purpose or not. I spell out a few curses in Hindi. It’s strange how a few dirty words drain out all your anger, almost magical.
Moving on, I literally tantalized the autorikshaw-wala as I won a battle of words and emotions to make that trip to the nearest metro station. Well, I don’t know much about revenge. But I've heard this one proverb, it goes like, “Revenge is sweet”. It sure was loud when the autorikshaw-wala bombarded me with Tum toh thehrey pardesi on a sound system which might cause Tiesto or even Guetta to faint. This guy had a big plastic sheet covering him and a poly bag wrapped on his head like a turban protecting him from the rain. Whatever happened to raincoats, may god bless them.
Surviving the ‘pardesi’ attack, I entered the metro station only to be stopped by the CISF security personnel for their two and a half second frisking and surveillance procedure. Well I reached just in time to catch the metro train stationed at the platform. Breathing heavily I search for that corner where I’ll be at peace for the next twenty minutes or so. We all have this one spot in the wagon where we like to stand. You see, getting a seat in Delhi metros is only a myth. But you always have this one spot where you like to stand, and when you finally get there, you feel blessed. The train started moving and just then I noticed a lady running towards the stairs on the platform. She slipped as if she had stepped on the world’s smoothest banana peel and landed right on her back. The sound of her landing could be felt inside the train. People gathered around the poor lady as she moaned with pain, the train gained pace and we entered the concrete tunnels.
“It is too damn fast this Delhi life, really hard to keep up”, said a tall and dark man standing next to me as he smiled awaiting appreciation for his special comments on the incident. He looked like one of those South Indian movie stars who never make it big. He even smiled like them, I kept thinking to myself... “Which was the last South Indian movie that I watched?” Oh yes, Ayan it was, nice movie.
“The government has failed to acquire apt number of metro trains for this large Delhi population. I see people running here and there all the time. These politicians are busy taking money and handing out bribes. God bless the country.” said a man as old as time standing right behind us. The lines on his face were so deep; one could find hidden water resources inside them. He had very little or no hair on his head and the lights inside the wagon shot off from the screen of his temple to send beams of light all across your eyes.
He could hardly stand and was waiting for someone to offer him his or her seat.
In the mean time, I failed to understand how a slippery floor, a women making haste and corruption could be inter connected? Some things just escape my mind, or maybe they’re actually meant to. The metro glides peacefully and I keep checking my watch. I look at the floor, brown and wet every bit of it. People smelled of soaked water or worse. I was getting impatient. Metro rides are not my thing and that too on a rainy day. I checked my watch again, there was enough time left.
All of a sudden, somebody shouted, “Bomb! Bomb! It’s a bomb.”
My heart skipped a beat as I turned my neck slowly; I wasn't looking at the watch anymore.
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