Look at the picture.
Tick tick 1,2 and 3.
Time up.
Now think of the first image that your mind conjured up.
What was it?
Was it that of our earth being hogged up by billions of teeming junta consuming every possible bit of it?
Or was it a symbol of Indian cricket team plummeted under pressure by again billion odd people of the nation (especially after a defeat).
To generalize safely,and reducing the cynicism,the image probably was of something overcrowded,something difficult albiet in perfect harmony and balance.(The great thing about this line is that is somehow can be fitted to anything you thought :))
Anywho,if any of you out there was blinded by the flash of people lugging onto a “Share auto” in the land of Nizams,with the number of occupants ranging from minimum of 6 average size adults (average!!!huh,darn misleading,oh ya,driver excluded) to a number than your mind and body can comfortably concieve.Go on,try,you will never guess it.
“Share auto”, a curious term which tends to drift away semantically (and incorrectly) from the actual meaning of “Share fare auto” has been one of the many things that I have come to appreciate and lets be candid about it- go gaga over it.It has been 4 months already here and “this” addition to my list of things over which I have gone “gaga” in Hyderabad has prompted me to write something bloggish and not the usual abstract crap I usually end up scribbling.(”Gaga” here just means crazy over these things,and in no way to be interpreted that the author of the post is suffering from the chronic gagaism).
With most of the student life spent about trying to hopping about,memorizing bus numbers and trying to communicate exactly where I needed to get down spent in Chennai,followed by leading a princely life in the “City of riches” Bangalore where people don’t seem to be really keen on sharing and insist on hiring a “Complete auto” for reasons which include :
1) Why should I,I am a s/w guy earning crazy amount of money
2) What if I meet somebody whom I am aquainted to,just imagine all the socializing thing that has to be done
3) Oh please!!Write the bus numbers and stop names in English for crying out LOUD!!!!
But Hyderabad is different,and why you need to take this comment of mine seriously is this.
I belong to this category of peoply euphemistically known as “Direction Challenged” and I am sure it has a medical term associated to it.(Its called Direxia-and yes,I made that up)
Equally sure that it is inherited and I believe I have got it from my dad.For him compass and the whole concept of NSEW is as alien as the concept of rationality is to a banana republic investing to buy a single “Fighter aircraft” ( hope you get which country I am talking about).
Sorry to digress but I mean, common guys,it really beats me what would you do with that uno plane.Scare off a super power from attacking you!!!!And the probability (read improbability) of it doing that!!!Gwad..
But you get the point right?Dad’s pointers to some believing soul as to how to reach the next block will almost always result in the poor guy writhing in a maze of Dad’s left ( as mom puts it) and the right left (pun intended).
So is my story,its really easy for me to lose the directions to a new place or to an often visited place or to a place where I stay.Good part is that I know its like that with me.Thank heavens that most of the time I go out,it is with a group of adventure loving guys and gals who take pride in treading their way through new places.
It always surprises me though,as to how they take the correct left and are never stranded. (hey guys,me neither,I never ever got lost,believe me) Sometimes that ego zone of my brain tries to jump out in sort of a existential protest and makes me look for routes and locations,but so far these attempts have only been successful in coughing up double (a conservative estimate) the amount for the ordeal.
Enough of painting the picture for you.
Enter my rescue angles.Motorized,fuel guzzling,heavy duty battle machines.Oh sorry,did i say battle machines?No,no, I mean just heavy duty machines (phew,writers and their exaggeration,sometimes makes you disbelieve everything they say,hey,come back here,Gwad!what a cynic).
And the day when I had to take on a seemingly elusive journey to “Kukkatpally” from “Kondapur” (or was it “Kothaguda”) and when it seemed that humanity was at its Nadir,so as to say that “Non Share auto” guys realized that I was the new kid on the block and were quoting prices enough for me to censor them and rate them as PG-40 along with not suitable disclaimer for heart patients.
When all seemed dark and sullen,slightly overcast and moist ( don’t confuse this with my mood or something,thats how the weather was that day),zoomed passed by me a wonder,chanting the magical words “Kukkatpally”.Hey!!!that’s me!!!I mean stop!!!But to no avail….
I missed it.
Suddenly the day seems dark and sullen,slightly overcast and moist ( this time,state of my emotions).
It was as if this elusive dream of reaching “Kukkatpally” will forever elude me.
And suddenly the impossible happened ( beats me how impossibles happens,but thats what people say)
That thing of beauty stopped.It stopped and took me to my destination,not before getting my blood pressure all shot up when the driver was waiting for more people after seating (seating ???) 12 in that small contraption and destroying my ear drum partially ( I am still hearing wind blowing continously near my left ear) as he played jarring music at blaring volume throughout the journey and humiliated me in that lovely Hyderabadi Urdu/Hindi accent.”Kya miyan,kya tho bhi 100 ka note de rahen hein,nawab samjhe kya hamen,chutta dijiye”.
Translation :What gentleman (I doubt if he meant gentleman,his eyes seemed to say otherwise),giving me a Rs.100 note,do you think I am some king or something,pass on change.
And when I got out (quite an ordeal,mind you),parts of me kept passing out,as if out from a military camp or something ( I got this line from hitchhikers guide to galaxy,loved it,got a chance to use it..gee)
And after this even though the ”Share auto” trip looked like a bad idea compared to the relative comfort of ”Non-Share” counterpart,there was something emanating,that spirit to “Share” I guess which has got me hooked on to take the share joy rides.
A spirit which has kept our country going,going on despite so many differences,differences of language,caste,religion and so on.May be the analogy sounds really far fetched and may bee a tad too quixotic but here it is.
Its my country,it does’nt say no to anyone,it accepts all,it loves all and takes pride in “All”.And not unlike the “Share auto” which charges you so less,just expects one thing.
Tolerance.And tolerance in its most pristine form.Not to tolerate just because somebody wrote it in a document 59 years ago (constitution,secularism…hope that rings a bell), but because thats who we are,a nation of differences,people with different affiliations and destinations,but yet on a/in a ( on a - a correct usage when you see 5 people in the front and 6 at the back of the “Share auto”) common vehicle.
Well,my quixotic association with Hyderabad “Share autos” will go on for atleast a month,and in that time I intend to go about places,not destinations mind you,just places,because its not that often that you run without a destination in mind,work without and outcome in mind and even less often take a trip in a share auto without knowing where you want to go 
[Source of image : Google images-where would we be without you]
No comments:
Post a Comment