Shreya finally left from office now and it had started to heavily rain. She cursed herself for not leaving an hour earlier, because then she would have been home by now. And more so, she had worn her new clothes to office, which she didn’t want to mess up. She had to find a ride and every cab that said Ola, was asking for a Uber high price. It was pouring so heavily that the roads were filled with almost a foot high water and all she could do was hold her umbrella tight and call out for every passing autowaala hoping that at-least one of them would agree to give her a ride back home at a reasonable price.
Shrishti finally decided to get down her ride and walk. The service roads were filled with a foot deep of rain water, muddy and flowing. She felt happy when the rain subtly sprinkled on her face. She dipped her feet into the muddy water as if it were a paint brush , and she was now ready to paint the town brown.
Honkkkk, she heard.
Honkkkk, she heard, and when she turned with an angry look she saw a speeding idiot on a bike grinning and going away after almost hitting her.
"Madam, auto beka", said a voice behind her. At the same instant, (as melodramatic as she was).... Background Happy Waala Music Plays!!!
LaLaLa LaLa
LaLaLa LaLa
La La La
Finally, an autowaala, in BANGALORE, agreeing for a ride, on a rainy day, with just double the fare. It was ecstatic (PUN INTENDED).
She boarded the auto and finally came out of the gate of the techno park. The roads were filled with vehicles and angry people. The cacophony on the streets made her head ache even more. She increased the volume so that the surrounding noise could drown away and listened to the radio, which was playing one of the latest songs "Re Sultan!!!"
"Re Sultan!!!" was the song being played, somewhere at a distance. Shrishti decided to follow the sound and hoped to find something interesting. It was already fascinating that she was walking freely in the middle of outer ring road, since the vehicles on the road were hardly moving an inch. She maneuvered through the grumbling and shut down engines, briefly appreciating some of the high end cars that were stuck too, to reach the source of the song. She saw that there was a hand cart or typically a thela, which had some old transistor sort of a thing to play the music. There was a small stove under the umbrella, which had garma garam chai and beside it was a plate full of mirchi bajji. She saw a group of people almost half drenched with streaks of mud over their clothes, all of them either coming from or going to office. These people each of whom, like Shrishti were tired of waiting for the vehicles to move, and so they came out, sat on the elevated road side and start enjoying what we call as tapre ki chai, ekdum malai maarke. Who was Shrishti to judge them ? She was rather one of them. She asked one of the girls how the tea was, to which she replied, "Much better than the traffic". Shrishti smiled, took the tea in one hand and mirchi bajji in the other, sat on the roadside and got lost in her thoughts.
"Na jaane kis baat ki khushi hai yeh,
Shor se befikr hone ki,
Ya fir befikr hoke sukoon paane ki. "
And suddenly she hears a splash!!!.
Splash!!! A cab driver just managed to takeout the Tyre of the cab out of a pothole, and then a jet of muddy water splashing the nearby vehicles and finally Shreya's new clothes splashed with mud.
Typical Hindi TV Serial Alert!!!
Nahi! Nahi! Nahi!
Shreya was already pissed off that she had to listen to the music with high volume while having an head ache, so that she could tune out the chaos outside, but now even her clothes......
Aarrrggghhhh!!!
What had she done to deserve this day.
Splash!!!
And Shrishti saw some kids jumping into puddles of water playing football with a worn-out ball. Even better, she saw some of her own bhai bandhu with a gale mein patta, playing with them. Her spirits were elated. It was pure nostalgia. "What had I done to deserve this day"; she wondered. She kicked the ball to one of the kids, jumped on the puddles of muddy water and started playing with the kids. She was almost near home, and even if she had started walking almost an hour before she was filled with enough energy.
Enough :)
Enough... Shreya couldnt take it anymore. It was almost 1.5 hours in the auto, and she was just half way home. Her auto had barely moved 200 meters in the past half an hour. She finally decided to get down her ride and walk.
3 hours later, I finally reached home from office, with a part of Shreya and a part of Shrishti within me.
And Alas!!! What had I done to deserve this day,
Or am I always the two-headed snake,
A part of me always resenting the storm,
And a part of me always dancing in the rain.
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