And the chase begins….

Well ... First things first! Got a lot of flak, though not in written (thankfully), but verbally, from lots of you guys saying “Yaar!! Tera blog bahot lamba hai….itna kon padhega…yahan time kisko hai!” Hmmmm….so after much conscious efforts, have arrived at this much length. Otherwise you all know how much I love writing J

“But Mamta! Aren’t blogs supposed to be more about people reading it, rather then you just writing it?” My ‘Antaratma’ doesn’t leave even a single chance to taunt me. Anyway, will deal with it later, right now, here I go…..

……Well how do I start? Whenever I think of this incident, I feel like laughing my heart out. But another moment it sends shivers down my spine! It was one of those tiring nights, I was returning home from work. Work pressure and deadlines had taken a toll on me and I wanted to quickly take a nap! But my only problem was- I was in an auto-rickshaw. So, even though my body was begging me to sleep for a while, my mind - how much ever tired it was - was extra cautious about staying alert. Body won and said ‘never mind’ and I was in deep sleep. Suddenly, few minutes later, I hear this loud yell... “Madam,….Utha….tumcha stop aala…aaho madam..!”. It was morning already. And I see the auto driver switching on the meter light. It flashed around ‘1000’ reading! I was aghast. WTF! Secondly, I see the place was not my home, but something familiar. It was my school!

Why here??? Yes, I was tired, but not to the point that I tell him the wrong destination. I remember telling him clearly- ‘Ghatkopar-Garodia Nagar’”. I wanted to whack him hard, but was too tired so just gave him a cold stern look. In return, he gave me a dramatic ‘angry old man look’, like some ghostly character straight out of RGV’s ‘Phoonk2’. The only difference being, instead of blood, he wanted money—his fare. Thankfully, it was day light else I would have been dead by now! But, but this was no less scary. I mean Rs.1000 is still fine; school is still ok- it’s in the vicinity, but daylight??? How can I be travelling for so long that it was daylight already? Did he hypnotize me or something? Somehow my mind ignored all the events and possibilities and focused on the money part! (Gujju after all!).

“Bhaiyya, mee roz issi route se travel karat aahe. 45-50 tak hota hai. 1000 nai hote. Kuch bhi! Tumhi tumcha meter check karo! ” I said in broken Marathi.

“Kaay re Heroine!! Jaaast twond ughdaycha naahi !! Tula heeth basaycha aadhi saangitla hota na... Chhha..maayla….kunchya gaavahoon aalis re..…chal kaadh hazaar rupaye lavkar…!! ” he grunted. [For the benefit of Non-Marathi readers, what he meant was: Just shut up. I told you before you sat. Now don’t act like a coward. Give me 1000 bucks quickly!]

“Arre mag, aise thodi....”

“Mamta, stop! Firstly you can’t match up to his Marathi; secondly you don’t even have the money. Just stop arguing and RUNNNNN!!!!” my ‘Antaratma’ had to interfere. After gathering much gut, I ran towards my school gate.

“Tichya maari!! Palte kuthe?! ..Arre pakda re tila…ayye....chor chor..palte dhara tila..... maajhe paik dilyabagair palte…..chorrrrrr.....” he began shouting at top of his voice.[Hey where are you running! Somebody grab her! She is running without giving my fare.. chor chor!!]

Like a typical Bollywood action scene of sorts I could feel some virtual background music as I was running. Mixed with my heart beats and foot thumping, it sounded like some cheap remix. Simultaneously, his yells were scaring me. Gosh!! Why was I running as if I have committed some crime? Still, I feared to look back and see if he was running after me. Finally, I reached my school gate and hid in the small shaft nearby. Gasping for breath, I peeped out to see. There he was!!! Still near his auto. He had managed to gather couple of people and was pointing towards the gate. Suddenly, a known face appears from the crowd and talks to him. His actions and body language were quite familiar, but don’t know whether out of physical or mental tiredness, I was not able to recollect where I had seen him.

“SHIT!! What - is- he- doing - here???” Me and my ‘Antaratma’ jointly screamed after the instant realization. It was my PM! Don’t know how he landed up there. One bad thing attracts another. And anyway aren’t PMs meant for screwing up things further, I said to myself. (I hope he is not reading this) He animatedly said to the driver,”Mujhe pata hai kis ladki ko dhoond rahe ho. Mamta na? Usey toh main bhi dhoond raha hoon.! Chalo milke dhoondte hai. Bachke kahan jaayegi!” I got goose bumps hearing that. “Gawd! WHAT have I done? Now why is he after me?” As they sat in the auto, I got restless thinking what to do next. But hey! WHAT’S THIS..? Instead of heading towards me, they sped off in the opposite direction. Suddenly, everything else fades out and there is a blackout! And I see the back of the auto in front of my eyes— emerging from a smoke, the graffiti on it read – “And the chase begins…” Tin tin tidin tin tin tin….

“….tin tin tidin tin tin tin….tin tin tidin tin tin tin…..” Signature tune of ‘Don2- the chase begins’ started playing from nowhere and suddenly I hear a familiar voice. “Damn! Just wake up and answer your phone. It’s ringing since when and now I am getting irritated with this stupid caller tune!” My brother shouted handing over the phone to me. “Why do men hate anything even remotely associated to SRK…huunh?” I wondered. I was about to pick up and it got disconnected. “8 missed calls? From PM?!” I looked at the watch “Gosh! Its 11 am already! No wonder!! And…and.. today is the deliverable.. OMG Mamta ..Hurry up!!”

As I quickly dressed up and got ready to whiz off to office, my bro shouted, “Hey, watch out! Just read in paper. Today no buses – BEST on Strike. You would have to go by Auto!”

“Auto??!!!” I froze for half a minute. “Tichya maari!!....chor chor……dhara tila... ...padte kuthe....choor chorr choooorrrr!” Something familiar echoed in my head! I shook my head in disbelief and stretched both my hands to my ears!

“What’s wrong?” My brother stood there looking at me worriedly.

“Aaa…well..aaa ..no..nothing” I smiled, “Ju.. Just enacting ‘Daya’- ‘Hey Maa.. Mataaji’….!!Hehe” I struggled to match her pose.

“Huh??!I I guess you need some sleep. Sleep in the Auto!” He gave me a sarcastic look and left.

“AUTO!! Yeah Right…! Tin tin tidin tin tin tin…LOL.!” My ‘Antaratma’ said playfully.