The drive back home was real bad that day. I had started around 8:30 from office, with a faint hope that I could be counted among those hallowed lucky drivers who consider themselves intelligent enough to avoid peak hour traffic on Mumbai roads. But as usual, I was proved wrong. It was a real bad traffic that evening.

It took me an hour to reach Bandra Bridge and I was yet  to do the regular ‘bumper to bumper crawl’ till the airport. One hour and fifty minutes later when I was at Malad signal, trying to change the CD, the incident happened.

The pale green Hyundai Accent standing before me started rolling back. It’s quite common for drivers to release the right foot from the brake pedal to adjust the sitting posture or scratch a bit, after driving for long hours. So I honk once and wait the car to brake. The distance was approximately 5-6’ between me & the Accent at the initial standing position and I thought there’s enough distance for the car to stop. But I was surprised to see the car continued rolling backwards. Now, the road at Malad signal is uphill and car was gaining acceleration while rolling down. I pressed the horn in an alarming tone, something like “Honk- honk honk-hooooooooooooooooonkkkkk !”

But the car, like a giant piece of shit rolled on and hit my fender. My hand brake was up, still I felt s small jerk. But there was more for my surprise. There was no visible effort of the accent to pull forward and release that ‘ass to mouth’ position.

Hooooooooooooooooonkkkkk-honk-honk-honk hooooooooooooooooonkkkkk !! I did it vigorously . Still, no change in ass to mouth. A ball of fire start traveling from my veins upwards inside me. I can feel the shrill beep-beep-beep rising inside my brain like a fire detector, activated. By the time I undo my seat belt and come out of the car the frequency of the beeps were deafening. The ball of fire was inside my head, expanding fast.

I walk up and knock the door of the accent driver. A middle aged man with grey moushtache comes out from the rear seat and shouts at me “Why did you hit our car?” Done. The beeps were not audible anymore, as it crossed the supersonic limit. The ball of fire exploded inside my head and the thousands tentacles of poisonous fumes were about to exhaust from my ear, nose & mouth.

I said “ What?”. I could not say anything more than that. I tried concentrating od the moron behind the wheels and wanted to see what kind of asshole he was.

I kicked hard on the ass, the cars ass. That worked. The car stopped and the driver, now visibly agitated tried to come out while the ladies trying to hold his hand to calm him down. While he comes out his dad inspects the fender of my car and says “ See, nothing has happened”.

 But did’nt you hear me honk? Why did your car roll on the first place?”- I howled.

 
 ‘ That’s because the car was standing on a slope’- driver’s dad says matter of factly.

“Moreover , nothing has happened to your car”

 “ Why were you not pulling the window down or coming out of the car when I was asking ? It’s not whether the car is damaged or not, its about your attitude.’- thick fume comes out of my ears.

The dad, probably seeing the fumes coming out from my ears, gently puts his arms on my shoulder and says “cool down please, we agree it was our fault”.

 ‘Do you know I have been driving for the last 2 hrs?’ Don’t you think it’s not funny to be hit by a car rolling back wards? Why can’t you use your hand brake?’ – the fumes exhaust doesn’t seem to cease.

 ‘Okay, please cool down, lets get going; we are also driving for 2 hrs’

 I looked at the man, trying to defend his non-driver son. A sudden sense of pity engulfs my mind. The fire started subsiding, the fume gets thinner. I tried to say

 “You should ask your moronic son to learn how to use the handbrake and it’s time to tell him that his driving sense are as good as the washerman’s donkey. First your son hits my car and then you are stupid enough not only to defend him  but also to charge me for your mistake. What kind of family are you?”

 By then all the other cars behind starts honking. In Mumbai time is Money.

 I get back to my car and drive over.

I could not get emotional closure. Like many other incidences in my life it remains unconcluded.

So is this post.

Friday, 30 Nov 2007 will remain as a memorable day for me for multiple reasons.

I completed 1 year in the present organization. Last year 01 Dec when I joined, “Employee learning day” was being celebrated through quiz and other activities involving employees. This year alongwith the quiz, there was a competition on creative writing. The underlying theme was to bring out the imaginative person within. There were two topics to choose from, a funny/ silly incident in life OR the Cinderella story told by the ugly sisters.

I had too many funny/ silly incidents in life and it was grossly difficult for me to choose from and confine my narration within the predetermined meager 250-word limit. So, I decided to tell the Cinderella story, in contemporary context.

It went like this-

We are two sisters with normal feminine look with hair without peroxide bleach. We lived with our stepsister called Cinderella. Because of space problem, we had to ask her to sleep in the kitchen near the microwave. She was fond of piercing and tattoos and her looks- critics would say as “mirror cracking material”.  In her pastime our mom solved sodoku.

Vicky, son of the local MLA, who was a millionaire, once threw a dance party. He was a handsome hunk and we were all excited to meet him. Cinderella opted out, in spite of several persuasions from us.

We rocked the first night along, dancing. There was a charming girl in miniskirt, no one could recognize, but Vicky noticed her and immediately got smitten. Next night, he noticed her glass stilettos. He then quickly browsed google in his blackberry and found one such shoe was sold recently on e-bay. The girl left before he could catch her.

Next morning, Vicky announced that he would marry the girl who would produce the e-bay email confirmation for the stilettos. Same day, we found e-bay in our PC’s browsing history. On insistence, we learnt that Cinderella won a prize for a sodoku competition and she was entitled for a Chauffeur driven limo for a night plus a lifetime free credit card! Cinderella ordered exotic designer outfits online and booked the car for the weeknight.

Later we found that the sodoku was solved by our mom !

I won the first prize of 3000k.

I don’t mind quitting my regular job if spending 10 minutes time & 250 words gets me rewarded with that kind of money. I would then spend as much hours & words I can :)

Yesterday I also received the engine no & chasis no of the new car I booked one month back. Now I know there’s a car manufactured for me, yeah!

It was a dark & cold evening. The dim light hanging from the gazebo emphasized nothing but darkness. I could see her eyes, looking nowhere. I noticed she had a beauty spot below her lower lip on the left. The water in the swimming pool was dark, still and unwillingly reflecting the lights on the garden around. The guest rooms around the garden stood like mourning confidants, with a vow to stand by her. The painted glass of the dining hall windows was shining like tears. It was a dark & silent evening.

I tried to converse, but did not know what to speak. Her father built this resort spending his sweat & blood for 3 years. His creation, his passion is now inherited by his daughter. His accidental death turned her fate. She retuned to be on her mother’s side, leaving her overseas study incomplete.

This resort is up for sale. The family can’t manage this establishment on remote location away from their base in the nearest metro. He who pays the largest value for the resort & the land will buy the right to demolish the property & build something that will sell for more money. How to value a man’s hard work, his joy and his creation?

Next morning, I left silently. I did not have the heart to say good-bye to her. I wished that the resort stayed as it was, like her father dreamt.

……………..

Later, I searched with her name in google to find out that she inherited one thing from her father well - Car rally. She is not that timorous, I thought to be.

My new worklife has started from 01 Dec 2006.

Am enjoying the new atmosphere at work, the drive to work, but not the drive back home.

The people and the working environment are altogether different from what I have been into all these years. It’s a new experience.

Most of my colleagues are highly qualified from great Institutions, sharp, intelligent and young. Was happy to note most of them are drinkers and generally good-humored. They work hard during work hours and change to a complete party animal in the evening. I found my buddy in Aniket, a big time OM drinker and a jolly good fellow. He reminds me of Friar Truck of  Robin Hood.

Am like a new species in this organization. May be it’s the “honeymoon period” so everything seems pretty & rosy. I will wait for the initial ecstasy to settle down. I was lucky enough to attend a “off site” at the Upper deck, Lonavala. After the exercises I believe “ Everything is possible, almost!”

Advantage- got to know my colleagues, my boss & his boss as a person. The obvious fence of inhibition with a newcomer gave way quickly, staying together for two nights.

Disadvantage- got drunk a little, liven up the party and became conspicuous. Hell, am just 15 days old and have not proved anything.

Now that everyone knows me by name, its time to deliver some result. Time to reinforce their trust to me.

Before I do that, let me attend tonight’s JLT party at Bandra, Hawaiian Shack!

Boss: Hope you are joining the party tonight?

Me: I have left the car home.

Boss: Good. That’s wiser.

Respect & hatred are close emotions, when reached at extreme. Its like two sides of a coin. High respect when shattered by distrust, transforms to enormous disgust, hatred and repulsion.

Root of anger is always fear. An agnry man is afarid, he is weak. Eventually his fear will destroy him.

Devil is in my side. Let God save the weaker soul.

Off late, I remember this song of Bob Dylan.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.......

Two years back I landed in Mumbai with a vision. After two years I have lost faith on the same, which has compelled me to change.

I am leaving this job. I don't want to look back, just go ahead. And junk the emotional garbage.I had taken a decision two year ago, which I felt was right, that time. The decision I have taken now is again, right. Who decides what's right and what's not? Am devil's advocate.

What have I lost?- nothing except few nights sleep, Gained- experience, maturity, patience.

Am in notice period now, joining the new organization from 01 Dec. I have been given enough opportunity in life to do well, and I think I have done well to some extent. The good thing about notice period is that you have enough time to think, read and write and have a good time generally.

I just want to be rembered by my friends and colleagues for the good things I have done. Hope to meet them in life again.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.......

I am writing after couple of years in my blog. Thanks, they have not deactivated my account or it has not been plagiarized. I got little dejected with life and work after landing in Mumbai. I actually thought I will never ever be able to write here again and eventually almost forgot that I had a blog. Probably, I have lost all my blogger friends in the last two years, who used to comment on my silly posts. I just hope they come back to me.

Life is a nice surprise always and I am back now. Lets me try to stop and think  about the change happened in last two years. Quite a bit f change- I have bought a flat in Mumbai western suburbs, had been blessed a cute baby boy, started growing moustache and a gotie, gained weight, reduced drinking and smoking, alomost stopped driving my bike and travelling in train, survived  couple of floods and bomb blasts in the city, using my car everyday for work, earning a bit more. Life is moving on.

But I would not say that even if I die today, i will carry a sense of satisfaction with me that I have lived my life. No way. There are so many things to do, so many books to read, so many places to go, so many movies unseen so far. Then I have to bring up the kids, to make my family happier, to take care of parents, i mean i have a life-load of task. But yes this is a stage where I can stop for a while, before taking life head-on once more.

I have just started writing on a review based website called mouthshut.com. My friend arnab mentioned about MS and was pushing me to write something since a year. Cool place, full of literary geniuses and serious movie buffs. I got registered almost an year ago, but was'nt geared up to write a review. I did it just day before yesterday and got quite encouraging feedback, from the hardcore star writers there. Even i was lucky to get  comment from the CEO of the website !

I have put a link of my blog in my mouthshut profile page, expecting people to drop in and actually see this blog.

Also this blog is a proof that i am flying elephant since long. And elephants can fly.

-

I forgot when did I post here last.

My present life does not allow me to surf, chat, blog. I am missing my blogger friends, while I am away from the blog world.

I am in the real world and reality bites.

I start my day at 7:00 AM rush to the railway station in 10 mins in my bike, then climb the stairs of the overbridge in  3minutes to catch the 7:24 Churchgate fast. I f I miss that I am screwed for the rest of the day. This is Bombay.

Run. Run. Run.

I can’t drive to office all the 40 kms more due to my back pain while driving in a snails speed on my way back home than the reason I can’t afford the petrol cost. And car takes twice the time taken by train. If I am back home by 9 Pm, that’s real early.

I stay in 19^th floor. The window allows me to look at the dwarf buildings of the gray concrete suburbs. I don’t see sunrise, or sunset. I have to race with sunrise. Sunset is irrelevant in my life.

Life. Life. Life.

May be its time to close my blog. Or may be just keep it as it is…till they close it for me.

May be I can just reply those offlines in the messenger inbox when ever I log in.

I am over & out.