It wasn’t a particularly exciting morning to begin with. I had picked up an argument with my dad which sort of ended into a heated battle of views. I was hard hit by his decision that I am not allowed to use his car under any circumstances. To which I rigorously defended myself!
I admit that I had ruined the front bumper and broke one of the headlights (besides the gear shaft that I dispelled last month) while ‘trying’ to park in our parking lot. To my dad that was an unforgivable mishap. Especially, when the incident is supposed to have taken place in his vicinity... right under this nose! It was my dad’s controversial statement ‘Madiha! Grow up!’ that resulted in the end of the argument.
An egoist that I am, man! That hit me harder than a torpedo! I tried a few (now well worn out) cliches ‘I can be independent and can live on my own’,‘ I don’t even want to touch your car!’ in a vain attempt to blackmail him. But he lived up to his reputation of ‘my dad’ and nodded in reply ‘That’s exactly what I wanted you to say’ he chuckled and left.
The situation might not seem that awkward to a lot of people but to be honest it was pretty miserable for me... my internship was suppose to start in a couple of days. Well, agreed that I inflicted the situation onto myself. But hey! He should have been a little more considerate about the very first step that his daughter was about to make into the big bad world! Ahhh... my hard-earned internship looked in jeopardy. I needed to think!
I pondered over and over again. There was no way that I could go to my dear dad and ask him to make a little shift in his decision. I have something called self-esteem (though in meagre supply!) What about asking a friend for a lift? That seemed pretty out of question as well.
In summer time, unlike me, my not-so-ambitious friends were off to greener pastures to cool off. An idea hit me like a bolt and in an instant I got up and called the office. ‘May I know if you offer pick and drop arrangements!’ I asked as sweetly, in my husky voice, as I could muster. My joy held no bounds when the female replied in assertive. I smiled sweetly and with one throaty laugh I put the phone down. So, was it easy or what? Another throaty laugh!
‘Mum, I have done it’, (how filmy!) I told my awe struck mum, as I hugged her with all my might. My mum, oblivious to the whole situation, had no clue what was making her already hyped daughter, overexcited. But since has grown immune to the stints that I pull out every now and then, she too joined the ritual of celebration (as requested) and hugged me harder! Ahh... mums what sweet things God has created on earth!
For the first time in my life, I actually up ‘early’ and all set to take a plunge. I read through the morning headlines, then scanned the whole paper and even sat through the morning news bulletin of CNN. It was actually hard to believe but I had spent good three hours just waiting for the thing to arrive before the clock struck half past ten.
Man! That’s kind a funny... that sweet (read menacing) secretary who offered me the van service probably got herself killed, she eloped with her boyfriend a night before, or maybe some wandering torpedo hit the very building that they all live in! What the heck. There was so sign of that coveted van and it was almost half past eleven.
Perturbed that I was, I made one last attempt at calling at the office hoping to hear that sugary secretary but no one seemed to be picking up at that place... conforming my fear of all of them meeting some deadly end. Using my dad’s car was out of question for sure. That didn’t leave me with much of a choice. How do I reach the darn office? Looking out of my balcony, I gazed at the passing cars and the busy people and felt so un-utilized. As I was appreciating the peripatetic skills on display a la bus art (our very own desi things), a brilliant idea took me by surprise.
Warding off scary thoughts I stopped one of them bustling over the road. It said some really funny pathan name... ‘Gulkhan Coach’.
Now those of you who think that I might have met some un-fateful end, that Gulkhan Coach must have taken me to some unknown, unheard destination and I have another exhilarating story to began...
Believe it or not, I had some awesome time and not only did I reach the office safe and sound, but also made sure that the whole world (my dad topping the list) gets to know about it and get all oooed and aahed by it. To be honest it was a great experience, a wonderful opportunity to observe and analyzed people living around us, the awesome world that’s sprawled all across that we somehow never get access to, apart from our own minuscule world (I hope you’d have assumed that I didn’t stop travelling in those works of art after that very experience).
Everyday I hear so many conversations, so many languages and wide array of accents with which people speak Urdu over here. As for my dad, I am glad that he didn’t change his decision that day, it taught me to be on me own, to be independent and above all, carry myself through the hardest of situations. A lot of those over-protective parents who might be grimacing and I-do-not-approve-this-kind a-behaviour-from-my-kids, believe me, its not that bad after all, the connotations that are attached with the public transport are not so correct. Of the last one year since I have been using these buses no one ever insulted me or made me feel bad. In fact its been an opportunity to see the world through a very different perspective.
