When the driver took a walk

It was about 4 years back that I used to be your average bachelor-next-door, lazy, unkempt, geeky and clueless. Picture me as that guy walking down the street alone, aimlessly gazing ahead, trundling towards his bachelor’s apartment which he shares with 3 more guys. Same ol’ chapatis and alu-gobi for dinner, some general chit-chat followed by the customary call from home and then a night long existence in the world of World Wide Web. I’d be jaywalking, occasionally taking note of the newly opened eatery or the recently closed down bakery. Oh, how good their egg puffs were. I used to hate the walk. The congested, uncivilized roads of Madhapur. Heck, they call this Hi-tech city. No footpath, no signal, no semblance of order to the menace. It’s a rat race, it is I tell you. People busy getting to and back from work. Bikers frustrated at the four wheelers blocking their way. Four wheelers frustrated at the bikers almost scraping their sides. Damn these people, let me go home! Auto wallahs frustrated at everyone slowing them down on their daily business. Damn these people with their vehicles. They are robbing me of my money.  Each to his own.  Some busy talking to their loved ones on the phone, some busy texting, some struggling to cross the road and others, like me, busy walking along watching all this drama going on. It was the same act everyday. Heck, I wanted a change.

And change is what I got. Got married and got a car. Suddenly two females in my life. No more boring walks to home. It was me, my wife and my girlfriend (Chevy Spark), all in the happy family, dashing towards our home. Of course, I had a new share of frustrations now. Damn those two wheelers and pedestrians getting in my path in the most disorderly fashion. I’d miss hitting them, I’d cuss, I’d hiss with anger. When will we get civilized on the road? If this is the state of traffic on the “Cyberabad” roads, what will happen to the rest of the country? Somebody please widen the roads. Build footpaths, for Christ’s sake.

But none of that happened. Madhapur roads kept getting narrower and traffic kept getting unrulier. After a while, I guess I too became a part of it (or was I always) and driving back home again became monotonous. It was all programmed in the mind. Slow down in front of NIFT, someone’s gonna suddenly run across the road. Stick to the left in front of Hutch (Vodafone), someone’s gonna take a U-turn. Stick to the right in front of Cafe Nandini, buses are going to stop still. I could drive with my eyes closed, I swear.  Heck, I wanted a change!

And change is what I got. Four years hence, on this very fateful day of the seventh of February, two thousand and ten, yours truly realized he’s long due for a hair cut and decided to visit the saloon a couple of kilometers away. And as fate would have it, he decided not to take his car but save petrol and hence, took a shared auto. It cost the same ol’ 4 bucks. The same ol’ tradition of yielding your seat to the lady and sitting in front hanging out alongside the driver. Same ol’ Himesh blaring at the back, the obnoxious treble setting of the stereo (“Made in China”) thumping your heart out with every beat. Somehow, it all felt so good now. Anyway, the auto trip finished in a flash as I was slowly beginning to enjoy it. The hair cut also finished in a flash as I was slowly beginning to show nothing left on the scalp. Time to take another auto and dash back home. Crossed the road (Oh, how I loved hopping across the road with cars whizzing by. Boy, the thrill!). I wait for the autos to come. One comes but it ain’t taking me coz I ain’t going too far and he’d much rather take someone else who’s gonna pay more. Same ol’ calculative auto wallahs. I wait some more. Another comes but it’s not on share. Oh damn, how long do I have to wait. And then it strikes me. Bugger, it’s just a couple of kilometers to your home and you got all the time in the world. Sheesh, don’t you even remember you used to walk more than this not so long back. Now quit waiting and cussing and get your feet moving!

And so I started walking. The same ol’ congested road. With the same ol’ uncivilized traffic. But this time, I wasn’t bored. I wasn’t gazing aimlessly ahead. I started looking around. Boy oh boy, how things have changed. Where’s that apparel store who’d always have a “Buy 2, get 10″ offer? And who’s this Sarvy bakery? I thought it had a different name? Glad to see Mohammed’s book store still there. He doesn’t recognize me. I don’t want him to either, I still have the Archies comics I took from him on “rent”. Ah, so this is the new eatery where all the bachelors hog these days. Look at them in their bermudas and toothpaste borne tees hogging away at those idlies. And geez, look at those towering buildings that have come up. When did all that happen?And what’s with this new fashion all ladies (mostly unmarried) have of covering their faces with a scarf? It almost looks like a Taliban out here. Is it the dust? The weather? Ah, I get it, it’s us guys who have forced them to this with our perverted stares. Aww, how sad, I bet those big eyes have an equally pretty face to carry them.

I felt like I was visiting this place after ages while I was just there all this time. Never realised how things changed around while I was driving through them cussing and fretting. Yeah, it’s the same ol’ Madhapur alright, the same set of busy young professionals hustling and bustling along with their lives. The same narrow roads with the same unruly traffic. But after years of cussing, walking and driving along them, I felt to delighted watching it all again as a pedestrian today. And as I felt the delight and a smile came across my face, I hopped back on to the road to cross it, getting swore on at by the passing car. We never change.

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