Take Diversion

I wanted to go home and crash instead I crashed and went home.

Having taken a late night flight from Chennai to Trichy for a market visit, I reached there by around 10:30 PM. The cabbie did not pick up my call so I took a walk around the parking lot and found him asleep. It had rained for the two previous nights and the weather was awesome. I was seeing Trichy that way for the first time in two years after I had completed my MBA there. I rolled down the window and started enjoying the mix of drizzle and slight breeze that hit my face.

I had crossed Ariyamangalam ( Just 5 minutes away from home) when I saw this bus coming straight ahead. I thought it was going to be a head-on collision. Thankfully the driver had the nerve to avoid it at the last moment. Not giving much thought to it, I started looking out the window enjoying the cool breeze. Between the bus and what happened next, the cool breeze, I think, would have only had the slightest of relationship with my delighted face. Something inside me told something was wrong. I realized that suddenly we were accelerating at an alarming rate. The last thing I saw before I heard the ‘thud’ was a mound of  sand/mud straight ahead. I turned my face just in time and my cheek hit the front seat around which a cushion was wrapped. It was like a video out of the collision tests that are shown on Discovery Channel. Only this time I was sitting inside there in place of the camera. The first 30 seconds after impact were like a blur. I did not feel a thing. I was just sitting there senseless. My luggage had toppled from the seat. The novel which I had been reading was upside down on the floor of the car.

It was 11:30 in the night and people from the nearby tea-shop ran towards us. I stepped out. The people had helped the driver climb out. I asked if he was ok. As he opened his mouth to answer me, blood poured out as if a tap had been open. The impact had torn his lip and his front two teeth had been smashed. The good Samaritans had called for an ambulance. I had to do a couple of sit-ups to check up if I was Ok. Thankfully I was!

What was really amazing is the fact that In spite of hitting the rough at a good speed we managed to escape with only minor bruises and a cut lip. After informing the driver’s mom, I took a bus from there. I rolled up my trousers and found a few bruises on my knee. As the bus left the scene of the accident, I saw the people keeping the “Take diversion” board in front of the mound. Some one had dutifully removed it from where it was supposed to be and carefully laid it on the road side. Looking back I can only think of the number of pictures that flashed in my mind in that split second just before the collision. I thought it happened only in the movies.

If we leafed through those pictures we would probably understand, without any ambiguity as to what are the most important things in our lives.

Probably its high time we  ‘took diversion‘  (at least a little bit) from our frantic lives and spent a little time with our dear ones.

Heaven on Earth

R.S.K……

For all of us who studied in R.S.K,It is not just a name,Its a sentence,a sweet story, an unforgettable poetry.

7 years had passed since I had stepped out of school. And now I was stepping in again.

It was last Sunday.

As I passed through those familiar gates a strange emotion crept in me. Just like the wind that made an onslaught on my face, a million sweet memories also did the same to my brain. The three of us- Giri,Lakshmi and myself, walked towards the building that had seen the best moments of our life.

12D was the class where we last sat in and luckily it was open. As we walked in I felt as if the class room had grown smaller after we left. Each of us sat in a bench. The bench too looked small even to me. We scanned the benches to see if there was something that we had scribbled. It was unparalleled  optimism after 7 years. We saw “Danger Boyz”,”Cute Galz” but couldn’t find any “Terrific 2002 Batch” or for that matter any of our names. We traversed backwards through time as we checked out 11th,then 10th and then the  9th standard classroom of ours.The time-machine would forever be No.1 in the list of “Mankind’s  unfulfilled fantasies”. The walls looked older but the warmth had not left the premises.

The banyan tree, strong as ever, welcomed us. As we walked under its shadow I remembered  so many of our punishments,every celebration that rocked the campus,all our prayers,chantings during  anxiety filled exam days, group discussions,common lunches and so many more moments.

Next was the basketball court.A small group was playing like we did more than half a decade back.Giri asked for the ball. I told him”Dude you must be out of form”.He did not even care about my comment and took a shot and it went in. I took a couple of shots in the football field. I challenged  that I can take a direct  shot at the goal from half-court.Almost 10 months of inactivity had taken the power out of my shots. The goal keeper collected the ball in two bounces. I gave Giri and Lakshmi a wry smile.

We crossed the ground and reached Junior school(where we finished standards six,seven and eight). We sat on the Assembly stage and chatted about some of the sweet little crushes,small victories,fancy dress contests,Heat&finals,Sports day,music classes and the list went on.

The only thing in my mind was “should have walked in on a working day’. It would have been great had we seen our teachers. If one of you is reading this -  ” We miss you“.

As we left the campus,I was able to see the evening sun hitting at an angle that we used to so often enjoy after a day’s practice. I could feel the warmth but I knew full well that it wasn’t just the sun. If someone had asked if I believed in Heaven, I would have just smiled.

It had only been an hour since we stepped inside but when we left it felt as though it had been a lifetime.

It indeed was.

Make a difference?

This is not a message.

This is a story.

I leave it to your discretion as to deciding what my true intentions are.

The past two Sundays have been the most memorable in the past few months. This time there were neither water puddles to bring me down nor the breath-taking natural beauty of rural Kanpur to delight me. And yet those were moments to behold in my heart and eyes.

I went out with 4 girls.

And every second of it was good.

Now before you let your imagination run wild and think of multiple ways of taunting me through this medium let me clarify things to you. Two of them are in class IV, One is in class III and the last one is 3 year old. These are kids of people who work in the guest-house I am staying in. Everyday when I come back from office these kids greet me. So I just started talking with them. I came to learn that the entire family lives in a 8×8 room. They  used to wear the same clothes day after day. The only two places they knew were their school and the guest-house.One day I casually remarked “I will take you guys to the park” and conveniently forgot about it. And last sunday(sunday!! Yeah we did work) when I came back from office these kids were all well dressed up and ready. I was surprised and a wee bit tired as well but did not feel like saying no to them.

So I took them out.

Let me tell you, we were 5 people in one rick and these kids were screaming with joy. We were a spectacle to every passer-by. They went on almost all rides which they called’ Jhoola’ –there was a merry-go-round, one swinging boat and a Giant wheel. From there we went to a nearby sweet shop and I got some sweets for them. And while we were returning they kept saying that they were extremely happy. Even the little one who doesn’t talk much was not her usual self that evening.

And guess what, I spent just 100 bucks for the whole thing and yet it was one of the most fulfilling days. So we went out yesterday too. And we took two more little guys with us. And the experience was equally great( though I had a tough time asking the little one to hold on to the steel bar when the merry-go-round was in motion).

It might be a difficult task for me to spend time the same way but I am planning to squeeze it in somehow.

So what is the point?

Is it a “Hey- I want- you to know – I did- something- good” kinda post. Maybe , maybe it was 10% of my intentions. Or is it “come- on –guys- you can- make a- huge difference” kinda post. Maybe, maybe that is another 10%.

The truth is that doing something this small made me so happy I am looking forward to more of it. Maybe it is something that you will also feel when you do it. Not all year long but once in a while.

I felt so close to these people. And I could feel how happy they were.

Its not like my heart is bleeding but something in me has changed, It has made me happier.

Adventures of a Super Hero

This was a mail that I had written to my friends when I was working in Kanpur.

Maybe I am suffering from Exaggero-Mania! Maybe not!

The rainfall has been so consistent that whenever I go out on an official trip the cab travels in water. That’s true! The water rises up to knee level (Its virtually a river out there) and the cars have no other go but to cut through it. Though for the first two minutes you think you are in a cross country rally ( or like 007 on a hot pursuit on a wet road)where water gets splashed on either side , soon your joy turns into dismay as your car puffs, pants , stutters and gasps as its internal organs get clogged with water. But I don’t really hate all of it because everything else turns lush green. And it’s a sight that some of us would love to click.

And again this happened this Saturday after it had rained for a day or two. It was 11 in the night and I had left late. I reached a road that was filled with water, say up to my ankles. It was still raining. Worse the neighborhood was in total darkness. After waiting there to get a lift I finally decided to take a walk on the road no matter what. After about 10 meters, when I had actually started walking comfortably I reached a spot where I took another step but I did not touch firm ground. My foot kept going and going until I fell forward uncontrollably.

For a second it was a Spiderman moment as I could see my laptop bag flying,with me trying to grab it and hold on to a nearby platform at the same time. I had gone chest deep under water when I managed to hold the platform (Clutching my laptop bag on one hand and dear life on the other). There was not a soul on the road to give me a helping hand. It took me a minute or so to gather my composure and pull myself up. Adding to the agony I lost the display on my mobile.The misfortune did not end there. There was not a single rickshaw in sight. I had to wait for sometime  under the pouring sky for an hour to catch one.I reached home at 1 shivering like a duck out of water. So much for doing Spiderman, he got the tray and a cute girl. I got a drenched T-shirt and a broken mobile.

The First Step!

24 years! I spent 24 long years in a south Indian town called Trichy. I had never stayed anywhere outside Tamilnadu for more than 10 days in a row. And then I got the job which required that I go to Kanpur. Far far far away from home. As I boarded the train for the first leg of my journey, tears found their way out from somewhere inside my eyes.

I had a great time in Mumbai during the first 10 days. I did not miss friends much because Shazzy(my friend from college) was there. After boarding the plane to Delhi, I looked outside the window and a realisation struck me. I was going to be alone for the first time in my life. After a five hour wait in Delhi airport I took the flight to Kanpur. I was going to live in a city where I knew nobody, where none of my friends lived.

Life has undergone a radical change since the 17th of May (the day I landed on a totally empty so called airport… a landing strip actually with a terminal the size of a barn and not even a conveyor belt was there ). No amount of preparation could have helped me face that place. I might as well have been posted on another planet. Or so I thought!

The first month and a half was the most nerve racking time of my life. Everyday had its share of ups and downs. I mean there was never a day when I was fully happy or sad. At times I used to feel maybe if I wrote a book about my experiences in Kanpur it would have a 60% chance of becoming a best seller.

A lot of interesting experiences but none of it scored over my loneliness. There was a constant battle with Hindi everyday. More so at work because that was where I spent most of the time.I had to toil for 5 minutes to ask a godown worker “Please do tell me when the consignment comes in”. This is just one example.

At times it would look as if I were all alone.I started spending a lot on phone – about Rs.100 a day. Oneday I learnt that one of my friends was living close – he was in Varanasi-500 Kms away. Close isn’t it!

When I got my first month salary I was elated. I celebrated it alone with a cold coffee in a Barista.  As I sat there sipping the coffee ,I saw people who had come in groups give a wierd look at me.

A lot of other experiences were new to me – the daily ride I took on rickshaws with no roofing , the tea or lassi I had from mud containers , and almost every other delicacy I came across. Also it was the place where I encountered the worst traffic. People would drive towards you from every possible direction.

It was all new to me. The people , the food,the culture  and the list goes on.I learnt that Kanpur was not just any city. It had a lot to offer. It was upto me to take it.