Some people have to work really hard to put bread and butter on the table, and I am one of them. Getting up early in the morning is how my day begins. I have to race against time to reach the office to get proper parking. This race has many hurdles in between, and when these signal are operated by enthusiastic traffic policemen, I have to prepare myself for the delay. If I find a proper parking place, then I have to look around to make myself sure that the car is safe from people who always take someone else’s car as a canvas and draw their lines of faith on it.
As working hours draw to a close, I plan to reach home a little early on a weekend. One day, after reaching the place where I parked my car, a paan ki peek on the bonnet was the first thing that welcomed me.
The drive from the office to my house is only fifteen minutes. After a hectic day, I turned to my Celine Dion tape to allow my mind to relax.
Since it was the end of the month, I was trying to save petrol and I didn’t turn on the AC and had to leave the windows open.
To add jhankar to Celine Dion’s voice, two rickshaws started accompanying me. Suddenly, the words of Celine Dion’s song started sounding like ...this noise will go on and on. The noise of those rickshaws, after a 9 to 5 task, sounded like the fall of the Twin Towers and the smoke kept reminding me that I have to get a facial.
As I stopped at a signal, a beggar approached my car. As usual I told him “maaf karo.” The beggar got angry and went away mumbling: “Maaf to Allah karay ga tujhay, mar ja tu!”
Whatever he said didn’t scare me. Belonging to marketing, I have heard worse. I envied the beggar, rightly thinking that he must be making more money than me.
For a while, I toyed around with the idea of switching my current profession for the beggar’s bowl. Alas, a well-spoken and good-looking person like me can only present sales letters!
I covered the distance of 15 minutes in what seemed like 15 hours, as the rickshaws were still on my tail and made me feel like a jet pilot being bombarded from all sides. As I was thinking of how to leave them behind, one of them came on the right side and all I could see was one leg coming out of the rickshaw.
I thought that the driver was upto some stunt, but he was indicating that he would turn right. He turned and I waited for the other rickshaw to do the same, but my expectations were in vain. As it followed me home, I saw my neighbour alight from it.
I read somewhere that the noise made by rickshaws causes memory loss, besides air pollution. I didn’t believe it till I had parked my car. As both of us were climbing the stairs, he said to me: “Mausam acha hai.”
I replied: “Haan, horn bajta hai.”
Neighbour: “Fuel mehanga ho gaya hai.”
I replied: “Samuel bhainga ho gaya hai? I told him not to watch TV from close.”
After reaching home, the only thought that kept me a little relaxed was that it was a weekend and I shall get up late in the morning.
I dreamt of noise-free traffic, people standing in queues, no beggars, no bomb blasts, policemen wearing uniforms that fit and above all, the newspaper headline “Kashmir issue solved, South Asia in peace!”
As I was going through these important issues, a penetrating voice woke me up, “Raddi paper walay.” I looked at the watch, it was just 8am.
As I picked up the newspaper, it said: “Rickshaws to have silencers in six months.” I simply smiled, thinking that another in six months, the whole nation will have turned deaf. Silencers or not, we shall know how to turn a deaf ear!
Some people have to work really hard to put bread and butter on the table, and I am one of them. Getting up early in the morning is how my day begins. I have to race against time to reach the office to get proper parking. This race has many hurdles in between, and when these signal are operated by enthusiastic traffic policemen, I have to prepare myself for the delay. If I find a proper parking place, then I have to look around to make myself sure that the car is safe from people who always take someone else’s car as a canvas and draw their lines of faith on it.
