The Cab Chronicles: Solving the Mystery of Women

 ‘The heat is increasing incessantly. How are you bearing it?’

‘Don’t ask Karthik. This place is turning more into an oven nowadays’, Arvind said wiping the perspiring sweat from his face. 

‘It’s time to start. Who are we waiting for still?’ exclaimed Joseph. 

Just then, Mani knocked at the cab door. He was talking on his phone hence he opened the cab door & diligently dropped his bag in the seat & went out again, continuing his phone conversation. 

‘Now that’s what I call the marriage syndrome’, said Arvind.

‘What’s that’, Joseph asked excitedly?

‘Well, you see the time after a person gets engaged, is the happiest time’?

‘For a person?’Joseph interjected.

‘No, the telecom company’, sighed Arvind. 

Karthik couldn’t hold back his laugh & said ‘Rightly said so, Arvind.’

Arvind continued. ‘Before getting engaged, work remains a big part of the person’s life. After engagement, his phone becomes a big part of his life. The amount of time on the phone increases accordingly, which gets duly reflected in the phone bills. I saw Mani thrice today & on all the occasions, I saw him talking on the phone’

‘Yeah, telecom companies do everything at their disposal to create avenues for people to come together, so to cash in on the emotions.  I have a hunch that the months preceding the time of the year when marriages happens most, would be the most profitable quarter for the Telecom providers.

The driver entered the cab signaling we were ready to leave now. Karthik signaled Mani to board the cab, who was busy walking to & fro still lost in his phone conversation. It took a while to catch Mani’s attention, but eventually he noticed & came back. 

‘Sorry guys to keep you waiting. Just busy on a call’, said Mani

‘No problem. Carry on’, said Karthik. 

The cab started & the driver switched on the A/C which provided a big relief to all. Since Mani was on the phone, the whole cab remained silent.

Surprisingly, Mani wasn’t talking at all. I mean he wasn’t speaking much. The two words which we heard were ‘Yes dear’, ‘No dear’ that too used very infrequently. 

Sometime just to break the monotony of the conversation, Mani would speak up few other words such as ‘Uhmm’, ‘Yea yea’. The longest sentence which he would have spoken was for 4 words. ‘Is it? Then fine’. 

After 20 minutes of conversing, Mani abruptly ended the call. Joseph had dozed off listening to ‘Yes, No dear’. Karthik surprised by the sudden end of the call asked ‘Is all well’, Mani?’ The end of lullaby (phone conversation) seemed to have its effect on Joseph, who woke up. 

“All is well, Karthik, replied Mani. Why do you ask?’ 

‘It seemed strange that you ended your phone abruptly after what seemed to be an engrossing conversation’.

‘Oh, that. My phone charge is completely off’.

‘Oh I see. How are the marriage arrangements coming up?’

‘Going on pretty well. A lot more stuff to finalize still, so plenty of things at our hands. Even now, we were discussing about the printing of marriage invitations’

‘Ohh. That’s nice’, remarked Joseph wondering from which angle would the conversation qualify as a discussion. 

‘Yeah. We had a healthy discussion. She was sharing her inputs on various things and I agreed with her’, said Mani.

Arvind, Karthik nodded in quiet agreements, as if empathizing with Mani’s state. 

“So what happens after the marriage syndrome?” Do we have any cure for that, asked Joseph.

‘Well, you see. It’s quite a paradox. The solution for Marriage syndrome co-incidentally is Marriage itself’ replied Arvind.

‘I don’t get it?’ Joseph asked quizzically.

‘Well, Joseph it’s like this. For anyone inflicted with Marriage syndrome, it’s like a phase. The symptoms start withdrawing after marriage. The amount of time spent on phone reduces till a point where you would be happy to leave your phone. 

‘I agree. I feel that the amount of time spent on phone before & after a marriage follows a bell curve distribution. Increasing until a crest & then decreasing eventually to zero. 

‘Is it?’, wondered Mani thinking which point of the bell curve he was currently in. 

‘Practically speaking, the marriage syndrome is meant to help the guy and girl get to know each other. 

But nothing could be farther from the truth’ remarked Karthik.

‘I don’t think so. We get to know others the more we talk. We identify each others interest, likes, dislikes etc. Don’t you think so?’ asked Mani.

‘Well my boy, that’s the myth. One figures that it is normal to understand someone after spending time with them, but in case of women, it’s not applicable. I can say with experience that with woman, the longer the time you spend with them, the harder it will be to understand them. Actually, this topic is quite worthy of a PhD thesis. So much unexplored & undefined. The fact that no man has solved the mystery yet, speaks of the insurmountable challenges that lie ahead.’

‘Why don’t you both share some insights from your experience on ‘What to do & what not to do in a marriage, so as to avoid unhappiness in life?’ asked Joseph. 

‘I hope we could do that. As is the case, the more you think that you have solved it, the more you realize it’s unsolved. It’s complicated’, Arvind said. 

‘Maybe, but there may be some general insights which you would know. At-least that will help us avoid the pain points’, Mani asked eagerly. 

‘Well, there may be few axioms which if followed to the letter would help you avoid some amount of trouble. ‘ said Arvind donning the sage mode ready to share his gyaan!

‘So, what is that axiom’, asked Mani.

‘Remember the one & only most important axiom ‘She is always right’. No matter what the situation is, what the place, just keep this one thing in mind. She is always right. Just agree with her & life will be ok for you. ‘ said Arvind. 

‘But, what if she had made some mistake & you need to correct it?’ asked Joseph

‘Well, God save the person who is courageous enough to point a woman her mistake & moreover tell her what to do. That’s the quickest suicidal way. Not only you earn the wrath of the woman for a lifetime, you end up being the reason for every bad thing that happens. She will not rest until she has earned her revenge. Keep that in mind’

‘Uhmm’, Mani murmured wondering if has done anything like that yet. 

‘Don’t worry Mani, based on what we heard today, your conversing style is pretty good. If you stick to that, I doubt if you will ever make that mistake’, Karthik said jokingly. 

Arvind continued, ‘That said, it doesn’t mean that just agreeing with her will ease things out. You have to exhibit that you will be for her in any situation when she needs you. 

‘How can one tell that she needs me’, asked Mani.

‘Well, that I can’t say. I have thought about it from all possible logic & I have never been able to understand how one can figure that out‘

‘I completely agree with you’, Karthik replied. ‘Once, I had an office meeting late into night. When my wife called & said that she thought she was feeling little uneasy & wants to see a doctor. Since I was busy, I told her ‘That it would be nothing & that in some-time, she will feel better’. I couldn’t speak for long because of my meeting but I told her we will see about it once I reach home. I think she kind off said that she wants me to be at home immediately, but I didn’t give it much importance then. I reached home little late & being tired went to sleep. It was in the morning when I remembered about her health and asked how she was feeling now. All I got was a glaring look & ‘Nothing’ reply.

‘Was that all that happened’, Arvind asked inquiringly? It seems that you got away with it easily.

‘Well, that was just the beginning. The morning tea & breakfast surprisingly for the next 3 days was sour & bland. In order to save further trouble, I told my wife that I wanted her to rest & that I will eat at office itself.’

‘I get the idea here. If you had reached home when your wife had called you, wouldn’t that have made her happy? Next time, you can rectify your mistake & things will be easy from then on, isn’t?’ remarked Joseph. 

‘Even I thought so. But with time, I realized that it is impossible to figure out when a woman needs you. Few weeks later, something similar happened. I was on my way to office early for a meeting, when my wife called me & said ‘she was feeling a little uneasy and thought she had fever’. My intuitive mind quickly activated & recalled my previous conversation with her. I thought she expects me to be with her now & I shouldn’t miss a good chance to show how much I cared for her. I called up the office, cancelled the meeting & quickly reached back home. Any idea what I got in return?’

‘A big smile? A hug?’ asked Joseph

‘Nope. A glaring look again!’ replied Karthik dejectedly. She said I was stupid to cancel an important meeting for which I had started early & for which even she had got up early. She remarked ‘you should know how to prioritize things. you needn’t have come.  

I told her that since she was feeling uneasy, I thought of being with her. She replied ‘you shouldn’t waste your time on small things like this. If I hadn’t woken up soon, I think I wouldn’t have felt uneasy’ - indirectly blaming me for the outcome. Karthik seemed to choke as the old memories came back to haunt him. 

Joseph had dozed off again. Listening to all the contrasting realities would have taken a toll on his already tired mind & body, so he had retired to sleep. Mani had a perplexed look in his face as if weighing the incidents & wondering what to infer from them. 

‘All said & done, does a solution exist?’ asked Mani in a despaired tone, since things were looking bleak no matter how one looked at it. 

‘Don’t worry Mani, remarked Arvind. You get used to it after a period of time. It’s like the stock markets, one day you see it reaching heights & the other day, rock bottom. In due time, you began to expect it & when that happens, the reality somehow seems better than your worse expectations. You will learn in due time.’

The cab driver slowed down as we got near to Karthik’s drop point.  His phone rang at the same time. He picked up his phone & as he got down, Mani could hear him say ‘Yes dear. You are right’!

‘That’s experience speaking’ remarked Arvind as we bid adieu to Karthik & went ahead with the journey.

The Volvo Surprise

It’s being 2 months, since I wrote an article. Some of my friends had asked me as to why Iam not writing any stuff. I don’t want to give any excuse; it’s just that I didn’t feel like writing. Being unsure of how things would pan out might make a person inactive.  Fortunately, few things happen to us which shake us out of our deluded state & push us to do something which we have been avoiding all along. :P Iam going to share here one such incident.

It all begins with an unexpected trip to my grad college NIT, Trichy to attend the Technical Fest, Pragyan. I had been planning to visit my college for a long time, since I was based out of Chennai for the last 4 years, invariably ended up not visiting the college. Over a casual discussion with Alumnae, he mentioned that he has plans to visit the college. So, that was the genesis of this trip. With my mind made up on the trip, I proceeded with the next logical step in the process of planning a trip. 1) Decide the travel destination; 2) Book the tickets for travel. Three things are ubiquitous in the world. Entertainment, Mobiles & Internet. So, the ubiquitous Internet presented itself as a convenient mode for booking my tickets. I went to the tnstc online booking site and begin my search for the type of bus. Few years back, the only bus in my consideration set would have been the ‘standard deluxe’ bus costing between 150-200 bucks, the only criteria being it should have a push back seat, or sometimes when I want to indulge myself - a ‘Ultra deluxe’ costing 400 bucks in case A/C is required along with the push  back seat option. Now since Iam working now, the cost criterion was put on the back burner & many new varieties were added to my consideration set. I went on and looked at the different option for choosing the bus type. There were many options namely ‘Ultra deluxe, Deluxe, Air conditioned, Semi deluxe, Volvo A/C’ etc. It looked more like a menu card. I was wondering which one to choose; and with occasional inputs from my colleagues, we began the process of filtering the options. 

Since I have travelled in few bus types before, the thought process that ran in my mind for each option went like these:

 ‘Ultra deluxe’ – Tried and tested.

‘Semi deluxe’ – Less tried & yet to be tested

‘Deluxe’ – Untried and wouldn’t want to be tested

Air conditioned – Looks promising

Volvo A/C:  A combo offer. Definitely a good Contender to consider

The VOLVO apart from having a catchy name which was appealing, the price of the ticket which was around Rs.400 helped me in zero in that as my option. I have always believed in quality more than the price. Generally people believe that a higher priced product means a better quality, and a lesser priced product means a lower quality. I don’t exactly buy into that. I don’t say that a higher priced brand wouldn’t have a good quality, but it needn’t be true always. I prefer to follow Warren Buffet’s philosophy that if the product is of a good quality, one needn’t look at its brand or expensive price to validate its good quality. I don’t allow the brand name or its price to figure much in my decision making selection process. But in this case, the VOLVO bus seemed like a Dhamaka offer, not only you have air conditioned; it would definitely have the push back option too, a lot more comfy & relaxing since those are present even in a normal deluxe bus.  

All said and done, the day of the trip arrived. Since the bus start time was at 10:58 pm, I left my office a little early by 5pm & reached home to take a little rest. I packed up few things in my bag and left home at 8:15pm. Contrary to the expectations, the traffic was less and in spite of the State Government’s best efforts to make all the roads in the Anna Nagar – one way (due to the Metro project), the traffic kept on moving and I reached Koyambedu bus terminal by 9:00pm. It’s been few years, since I had come to Koyambedu so I took some time to find out the platform where buses plying to Trichy were put up. The buses were standing in a row, like all were on display in a showroom. I took a stroll from one end to the other. There were people milling around, trying to find their bus & some enquiring about the ticket availability. I plugged in the ear phones and immersed myself with the best past time activity – listening to music, while scanning the crowd.  

The buses had different timings mentioned on them:  9:45pm, 10:15 pm, 10:19pm, 10:45pm, 11:00pm & they were standing in a row accordingly. (What complex model would have been used to arrive at the timing 10:19?)  Since, my bus timing was at 10:58pm, I began to wonder going by the timings mentioned, my bus should stand between 10:45pm & 11pm. But there was no sign of any bus. A thought crossed my mind if the bus platform was similar to that of the Platform 9 3/4, King's Cross Station in the Harry Potter series. Probably I need to check in the space between the platforms where 10:45pm & 11pm buses were standing. Just then I saw a bus conductor come towards me. I took out my bus ticket and asked him if he knew when the bus would arrive. The conductor had one look at the bus ticket and then remarked ‘It will come at the time when it is supposed to come’. I wondered if the conductor was a fan of Rajnikanth, given that he was delivering Rajnikanth’s punch dialogues. I thanked and continued my strolling. It was around 10:55pm and still there was no sign of my bus. I double checked the date and time of the bus, in case I had mistakenly booked a bus for some other day. Fortunately, all details were right. After walking to one end of the platform, I turned around and my eyes fell upon a beautiful, marvelous sight. Contrary to your fantastical imaginations, it was not a girl. 

But the very dear Volvo bus for which I was waiting with anticipation. One look at it and it would be hard for anyone not to fall in love with it. With its majestic look plus a pure white color & a shiny LED’s at the front displaying the places & route number, the VOLVO looked like a King with a crown adorning its head. It was so marvelous to look at, that it could have been bestowed the privilege as the National Bus of India. Overall, a complete royal look! My heart puffed with pride on choosing such a good bus, that too a royal selection. The conductor began to check the tickets & a bunch of people gathered around him in hopes of getting a seat in the royal bus. The uniform worn by the conductor, the high tech ticket issuing machine which he had in his hand & the big bright door of the bus looked aesthetically inviting, as if the ones entering it were the blessed ones. Alas, that was the end of all good things - Imagined or real. 

The bus conductor checked my ticket and I put forth my right leg into the bus. One look at the interior & my jaw dropped down open.  People talk of an expectation gap, i.e. the gap between the things one expects and actually gets. Considering that, the expectation gap in this case was big enough to create a gap in an ideal expectation gap itself. I hope you got the point.  The things which I had imagined in the VOLVO and the ones which I saw before my eyes had no correlation, except the fact that there were 4 wheels below us in both cases. The bus was a normal A/C Volvo bus which is prominently used for the local transportation & has a higher ticket fare. The authorities have marked seat numbers over each seat and made it into the ‘VOLVO A/C’. I went and sat down in my seat. Fortunately, I had brought only 1 bag, but in case I had gotten a bigger luggage hoping that the seats would have been broad, it would have been a real test of my patience limits. What was funnier was the fact that there were many people in the bus who had the same dumbstruck expression on their face. Few who were mightily crushed on seeing this, were busy pouring their heart sorrows to their dear ones over phone. A man was remarking on the phone ‘And there is no TV, No push back seat, and No place even to keep the luggage’. Poor guy, I could fully empathize with him. All of the people inside were sitting like machines, spine straight, eyes straight ahead, sitting stiffly – both body and mind. The luggage’s which were brought became an integral part of the body, which was kept alongside the legs (Alongside & not under the seat. There was no space to keep the luggage under the seatL). The conductor brought in a few gullible passengers, with the promise of a luxury bus travel while charging an exorbitant fare of Rs 370. The happy faces which bought the ticket and came jostling in, soon got the ‘How did I get stuck here’ look in their faces. 

The only way I could console myself was by reminding that if a Horse can sleep standing, at least Iam better off having a seat to sleep on! Something is better than nothing. Still, as wise people say – there is something good in a bad condition too. The degree of torture was lessened by the fact that the journey was completed in 6 hours, hence reducing the torture time. Imagine, sitting like that for 7-8 hours which happens sometimes when you take overnight journey. (My colleagues had come down from Bangalore in KPN and unexpectedly, it took a good 8 hours for them to arrive at Trichy. Probably the private travel groups would have felt sad that people take their punctuality for granted and wanted to show that even they can beat their government counterparts by arriving late). Finally, around 5:30am, I reached Trichy bus stand. 

As soon as the bus stopped, people tumbled over each other to get past the door and into the open air as if breathing the air of freedom, which was kept away from them. Few others after getting down began stretching their hands, legs, body etc to ensure that the body parts resumed their normal functions again. As I got down from the bus, I could only smile & think ‘never would I have imagined such a VOLVO travel. Maybe that’s what is meant by “delivering beyond one’s wildest dreams”

P.S: Feels good to break the inactive mode finally. The return trip was fortunately better, as i had chosen the standard bus type - 'Ultra deluxe'. I tell you nothing works better than Warren Buffet's principles :)

The Stranger – Part III

Read Part I & Part II of the Stranger series.

I was left speechless on hearing that his son had passed away. Hearing it made me feel more pity for him, who was already in such a bad state. “Iam sorry to hear that, Baba”, I replied. The fact that my cousin was in hospital in a highly critical state was a troublesome situation for my family, hence I could empathize with him completely. I didn’t know what to say to him.

“He is not there anymore. He has left his parents all alone in this nasty world, saying so he started coughing again along with rivulets of tears flowing down his face. 

“Why don’t you take the medicine now?. Hope you had your lunch” I asked trying to change the subject.

“Yes, I had something in the morning” replied the old man.

As he took the medicines, the bus to the main bus terminus arrived. Being a weekend, the bus was crowded with passengers having with their own plan for weekends. We got into the bus & somehow reached one corner of the bus and held to the support railings. 

“India is so different from Bahrain. The roads are much better, people are so nice and everything goes on smoothly there”, he said.

Not wanting to let Bahrain score against India, I interjected “India is one of the diverse nations and the world’s largest democratic nation too”. 

Yes. India is certainly rich in diversity & culture, he said

Not only that, India also has huge deposits of varied natural resources, I said proudly & regretted the moment I said it. 

No wonder, you still import petrol from OPEC, he quipped. Life is better in Bahrain compared to Saudi. Or for that matter any other Muslim nations. But at the same time, one has to adhere by the state ideals. Though we aren’t an authoritarian state, we expect people to respect and live by the code as directed by our King & state. 

“Oh, Bahrain has a King too”, I asked.

“Yes, he replied looking at me as if I was mentally challenged person. We have a King who lives in a luxurious palace. You know what I had the fortune of meeting our King in person. The company I work for is owned by the King’s eldest son. So, being a head of the division I was asked to visit the palace once to submit a report to my company head (the eldest prince). 

I was trying hard to imagine the old man as a head of a division. Probably dressed up in formal suits & shoes. “So did the King meet you?” I asked.

No. I was waiting in the main lobby when I saw our King. He was returning back to palace from some work, he said. He looked at me & smiled as he went in. I will never forget the day.

I was wondering why this guy was going crazy over getting a smile from the nation’s King. Then I realized that in India, the frenzy fan following for any actors/actresses will definitely beat that of his King. 

“There would be lot many women in the palace, quipped a nearby passenger, thinking that the King’s role was to enjoy & move around with women all day. I looked around to see who had asked the question & saw that half a dozen passengers were looking at us intently. I realized that the topic of King had invited the curiosity of few nearby passengers who were glued on to our conversation. 

 “Oh… Actually No, replied the Old man. Our King was meeting with foreign dignitaries that day & was coming back from meeting them. That’s when I met him, replied the old man.

Disappointed at not getting an answer for his question, the man tried again “The King would have many wives with him always, isn’t?”

The old man gave a puzzled look. He wants to know if the King had many wives & if all of them stayed in the palace, I rephrased the question for the old man.

He has few, not many wives and they reside in the palace with him, he said.

“I heard from my friend that electronic items are available very cheaply there. Is it true?” asked another passenger nearby.

“Well, not really. But we do have ample supply of those goods hence the availability at low cost, said the old man. Few more passengers took part in the conversation. It seemed as if I was hosting a reality show with the old man as the guest. The old man was slightly surprised with the new found fame still 

was patiently answering all the questions. 

Thinking that if the conversation went forth, people would start asking random questions on Bahrain women & goods to the old man, I asked the old man “I think we have reached the bus station. So where are you planning to go now?”

“I will be going back to Kerala now to our ancestral home. Now that our son is not with us, I will have to go & look after my wife who is alone there, he said. Since the topic had changed from the King to Kerala, the passenger’s interest faded away and they got back to their normal routine of dozing & gazing outside. 

I nodded my head in agreement. I was finding it hard to console a guy who has lost his only son & hence thought it is better to stay silent rather than saying anything. 

“Son, I would need a small help, said the old man.

Yes, Baba. Tell me, I said

“I would like to borrow some money to go back to Kerala. The money which I had in my purse was stolen by those thieves. All my money is in my bank account in Bahrain which will take a week’s time to be transferred back here. Meanwhile, it will be helpful if you can lend me some money for the bus

ticket. I will send the money to you, as soon as I get my money, he said. 

“No problem, Baba. You can give me the money later. I don’t have the money now. I will withdraw it from the ATM machine and give it to you, I said.

The bus had reached the main bus stand. Getting out of the bus, we enquired the place where Kerala buses will start. The conductor directed us to a spot. We asked the driver about the ticket fare to Kerala. “Normal fare 195, Non A/C pushback -290 & A/C- Rs.650”replied the driver as if reciting a hotel menu. “There is a last bus today & it will leave in half an hour”, he said. 

I told the old man to wait near a shop so that I can go & withdraw the money from the ATM. After withdrawing the money, I came back & extended Rs.1000 to the old man. 

The old man gave me a quizzical look. 

“I know Baba. I suggest that you travel in a push back seat instead of a normal one. You would have to sit straight in a normal seat which will be highly inconvenient. Also, you would need some money to buy something once you reach there.”

“Thank you & God bless you, Son. You are very caring & considerate.” Give me your address so that I can send some gift to you. That is the least I can do for you, replied the old man. 

“Now, that is not required, Baba” I said.

“No, no. I insist.  Tell me – would you want a digital camera or a TV”, he asked.

“Well, if you say so, a camera would be fine, I said. I have been planning for few months to get a camera. Now that, the opportunity presented itself, why not make the best use of it. Thinking so, I wrote out my name & address in a piece of paper and gave it to him. 

“Let’s go & get your tickets, Baba” I said.

“It’s not required, Son”. You have really done a lot to me today. I don’t know how I will be able to repay you. I will have something to eat and then buy the ticket. I don’t want to hold you from your journey. You have your own bus to catch now.

I realized that I was yet to get a ticket for myself. Generally, I book the tickets online & hence have a ticket. Since, it was an impromptu travel decision; I was yet to find out the bus schedules. “Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you till your bus”, I asked.

“No Son. I think I will go & call my wife & tell her about my journey now. And I will inform my company to about my resignation. Then have some food before boarding the bus”

“Okay, Baba. It was nice to meet you. Take care” I said. 

“You too Son. Thanks for everything. Come to my home in Kerala if you ever come there”, he said with a smile & went off in the other direction.

I reached the ticket area & bought the tickets for the bus to Chennai. The bus was supposed to leave in 45 minutes. Since I didn’t have any work to do & the downpour was still continuing outside, I decided to wait in the bus until then. I kept my bag & sat down in my seat listening to the music in my iPod. The other passengers started walking in gradually. My weariness overtook me and I slowly drifted off to sleep. I thought about the condition of my cousin & mumbled a prayer that he should get fine. Then, the old man image appeared in my dream. “Poor guy. His situation was so pitiful. He had been working so hard abroad to save money for his family & for a better future but now all of that is just an empty dream.  It’s always better to spend your time with your family; Time spent with family is much better than spending time running behind money”

As these thoughts were flashing in my mind, my last conversation with the old man played out.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you till your bus”, I asked.

“No Son. I think I will go & call my wife & tell her about my journey now. And I will inform my company to about my resignation. 

Hold on. What did the old man say “call his wife & office?” During our earlier conversation, the old man had said that he had lost all address which he had. How can he call someone without having their details? I wondered. 

“Don’t be stupid. It’s his home & office number. He may remember it, I thought. 

“Let’s assume he can do that. But then he said he didn’t remember any other information during our conversation. How can he remember their details now?” I wondered. 

I looked at the watch. The bus to Kerala was supposed to start by 7pm. It was 7:05pm now. My bus was still filling it; hence an idea occurred to me. I went out and ran to the place where the Kerala bus stood, hoping the bus would still be there. I spotted the bus around the corner. The bus conductor had gone to get something and the bus was still waiting near the gate. I dashed on towards the bus. As I climbed in, the bus driver shouted “No seats available; Get out”. I just barged in & glanced around at the passengers hoping to find the old man. I couldn’t find him anywhere. The passengers gave me a scornful look.

The bus had started to move. The reality of the situation dawned on me. As I got down from the bus, I heard the song which was playing in my iPod. It was Frank Sinatra’s & it went 

“That's life, that's what all the people say…”

The End...

The Stranger – Part II

Read the first part here

Iam not sure if it was the old man’s tone or the fact that the tears were flowing across his face that made me listen to him without reacting back. People generally react by shooing away a stranger or be indifferent to him. But somehow, seeing the old man made me feel that I could relate to him on something. But I wasn’t sure what that was. Since we were standing at such close proximity, I could get a clear look at him. His age seemed to be slightly over 50-55 and he had very few hairs left on his head, a sign of old age. His face seemed crinkled with tensions and worldly worries and he sported a beard which grew uneven across his face. He was visibly thin made more visible by the fact that he was wearing an over sized kurta. The picture was complete with an old leather bag hanging on his shoulders which seemed to sag a little due to some heavy object kept in the bag.

“What do you want, Baba”, I asked him. (Baba is a salutation used to address elderly people)

“Help me out son.  I came here to visit my son but I have been tricked & my stuff stolen from me, and left like beggar on the roads. Saying so, he coughed violently. 

I thought that since he has come to visit his son and that he must have forgot his son’s address and got lost. Bangalore is a big city to find someone without an address or a contact number.  So, he basically wants me to help him find his son. A difficult task but at-least I can direct him to a police station. 

“Baba let me see what I can do”. Do you know where your son lives? Any address or other information?

“I had just an address with me. Now I have lost that too. That doesn’t matter now.” He replied 

coughing.

His coughing seemed to re-occur frequently. I was amazed by how his fragile body could withstand such a heavy onslaught of bouts of cough. I asked him “Your coughing looks pretty bad. Are you alright?”

“Iam unwell & I haven't taken my medication for the last 2 days. In addition, this bad climate seems to be aggravating my situation”, replied the old man.

That’s too much of a gloom for a person to handle. Bad health, bad climate, lost hopelessly in a new place – a recipe for a perfectly un-perfect situation for any person.

“Why don’t you take some medication? That will improve your health”, I replied. 

“I have my personal doctor’s medication list but I can’t buy them” he said.

“Why? Aren’t the medicines available here?”  I asked

“I don’t have the money to buy it”, he said and started coughing again.

He seemed to be in a real bad shape and his frequent coughing was taking a toll on him. Definitely not a good place for him to be standing in the rain. My heart reached out to him, so I asked him “How much does the medicines cost. Let me have a look at that list”

The old man gave me a small chit from his bag. Few medicines were scribbled across the sheet. “Let’s buy these.” Saying so, I asked him to follow me and took him to a pharmacy shop across the road. 

The old man seemed to be startled or at least that’s what his face expression seemed to look like. The pharmacy was crowded but then this is the time of the year when the pharmacy guys makes a killing. The worse the climate, more the number of people who fall sick & hence more customers. As we waited for our turn, I asked him how he had turned up here.

“My son was working in the company here. 5 weeks back I got a call from India, saying that they wanted me to come down here regarding some important thing. My wife is old and is bed ridden in Kerala, that’s where our ancestral house is. They had conveyed the message to her initially. Because she is old, she couldn’t travel here. Last week, I got an emergency courier informing about this. I was busy with my work hence couldn’t get leave immediately, still I let my boss knew about the emergency and rushed back here”.  The crowd at the shop had lessened in the meanwhile, and I used the pause in our conversation to inform the pharmacist to give the required medicines. The pharmacist packed our medicines and I paid for the bill. Coming out of the shop, I handed the medicines to the old man.

“I thought all the people here are evil. Fortunately, even good exist. Good people like you”.  I didn’t know how to react to that one. I said “It’s not like that. There are a lot many good folks too”. I suggest that you take some medicines now. It will improve your situation. Saying so, I gave him my water bottle and he took few medicines and gulped them down. 

“My son would have been the same age as you now. He too was caring and understanding as you are“. Being made the point of adulation again, was proving to be embarrassing for me again. To divert our conversation to another topic, I asked him what had happened next after he arrived in Bangalore.

“I reached my son’s office and inquired about my son. They directed me to go to another office nearby to meet someone else.  I reached the place & when I tried to enter the office they said that I have to leave my luggage outside before entering it.  There was no one outside except two young people so I asked them to take care of my luggage and I went in. I was told to sign few papers after which I would be allowed to meet my son”.

He paused for a moment. 

“After signing the papers, I met my son & when I came out, all I could find was this old bag. Those tricksters had taken away my money, belongings, clothes etc. I looked all around but couldn’t find anyone”.

The old man really seemed to be very naive. Trusting someone with your belongings without any proof meant a clean sweep of one’s stuff. “By the way, did you ask them about the papers which you were asked to sign? 

“Oh, that. “I didn’t get time to read it, as they were forcing me to sign it quickly. They said that it’s routine paper work for any visitors. I was more interested in meeting my son, so I didn’t bother much about it”.  

There you go again. Signing a paper without reading it in India meant one thing. Being made a complete fool. I didn’t want to bother him further by saying this could mean more trouble later. This man seemed completely out of place. I got curious to know which part of India was he from as staying in India and still being oblivious of all these facts. “Where do you work?”

“Bahrain”, he replied.

So he had traveled from abroad and found himself in this situation. No wonder, the beard explained the place he came from. Then I recalled that he had said that he had met his son. Then why the hell did he leave his son. All he had to do was to go to his son’s office and meet him. His son would take care of him.

“You said you met your son. Why did you leave him there and returned back”, I asked

“I haven’t left him there. I have him with me”, saying so, he took out a small pot from his bag.

“What do you mean”, I asked him.

The old man said “My son died last month in an accident in his firm”. It dawned on me that when the old man had said that he had met his son, he had meant his son’s ashes in the pot which he had collected from his son’s company.

To be contd...

The Stranger – Part I

The day began as any other day except that it had rained the night before and now a slight drizzle was greeting the morning visitors. I walked up to the balcony to take a breath of fresh air and lazily looked out at the roads. There was some traffic in the roads. It was ‘Friday’ today and as people have plans for the weekend, they tend to get back home sooner and hence to leave sooner, many start for their office quicker in the morning.

‘Not getting ready for office yet, Arjun’ said Ganesh, who was my roommate.

‘Yup. In sometime. Just observing something, I replied. 

‘You and your observation, God only know what you observe’ said Ganesh smilingly. Ganesh makes fun of me saying I had an inclination to observe everything and anything under the sun. It’s just that I get lost in the thoughts seeing something, which I end up explaining as observation to him. 

‘So what plans for the weekend?’ Ganesh asked breaking my chain of thoughts. 

‘Dunno. You tell. Iam fine with anything’ I replied. 

‘Ok, how about watching a movie and then hitting the mall’ asked Ganesh.

That was our favorite hangout place which had its own benefits. With less out-flow of resources (read -money), the potential gains were extremely high. All that was required was time to spend and we had loads of it with us. ‘The usual plan, ha?’ Iam fine with it. Chalo, I need to get ready now.  It’s 8:15 now. The cab pickup is at 9:00 am’. Saying so, I came back into the room and started to get ready. 

Within 30 minutes I was ready. ‘I will call you in the evening, once I leave office’, saying so I started off for office. The cab was waiting at the scheduled place for the pickup. A 15 minute walk to the office took 45 minutes to reach the office because of the morning traffic rush. Still, one can use the extra time to catch some additional sleep.

By 9:45am, I was in my cubicle all set to begin the routine day. It’s been 3 years I have been working as a software engineer and the routine was coding, debugging and testing. 30 days a month, 365 days an year. By then, one gets used to the normal routine. That day would have been another routine day except what happened next. My phone rang. I looked up the display and saw my uncle name. Strange for him to call me at this time, thus wondering I picked up the call.

‘Namaste Uncle. How are you?’ I greeted him

‘Iam good, Kutti. How are you? How is your health?’ [Kutti was my pet name at home]

‘Iam doing well. You tell me, how are everyone at home?’ I asked.

I expected the usual reply of everyone well at home etc etc. Instead I was greeted with silence on the other end. 

‘Uncle, is everything alright?’ I asked.

‘No Kutti. Chitti met with an accident yesterday night. 

I was stunned. Chitti was my elder cousin & he was very close to me. Words were hard to come. ‘How is he now?’ I asked.

‘He has been taken to the hospital. It’s a very serious one and he is critical. All are coming to see him. So thought of informing you. It would be nice if you can come to see him during the weekend’. 

‘Ok. I will be there for sure. Have you informed Dad and Mom?’

‘Yes, they are on their way now’.

‘Please be hopeful. I will pray for his quick recovery’, I said. 

‘Yes Kutti. Our prayers are for his quick recovery. You come home safely. See you tomorrow. Bye’, saying so, Uncle ended the call. 

The rest of the day passed in a daze. My elder cousin, who was 3 years elder to me was more than a cousin to me. We had stayed together for 5 years when we were young. Later, we used to visit each other often and the bonding became tighter. After schooling, we didn’t time to see each other much but we used to connect up over phone. He pursued medical stream while I choose engineering as my interest.  We were planning to connect up in few months, but it never occurred to me that I will be meeting him in such scenario. 

In order to escape the Friday evening rush, by 4pm, I told my manager about the situation and he accepted my request. I went home by 4:30 and by 5 pm had packed the things required for the journey. I checked my purse and saw that I had only 250 bucks left. “I will withdraw money from the ATM for the bus tickets, after reaching Main Bus stand” thinking so, I left for the bus stand with my bag-pack on my back. I called Ganesh on my way and told him about the situation and my plans to leave for my hometown.  The downpour had increased meanwhile, so I opened the umbrella & held it in one hand and continued walking carefully on water logged road. It was cold outside with a slight breeze of air. 

Thinking that having a hot tea would be a good idea, I stopped at the Shanti Bakery which was our favorite eat-out destination & ordered a cup of tea. While I was waiting for it, my eyes fell upon a person moving in the road. I wouldn’t have noticed him if he had been moving like everyone else, he was moving in a wayward manner, and was walking front and back. Sipping the tea, I tried to get a better look at him. A closer inspection revealed that he was old & was trying to get the attention of the passer-by’s. It was as if he was trying to ask something to others. But people were quite pre-occupied with their own thoughts, so very few noticed him or stopped to listen to him. But the man kept on trying. “I wonder what he is asking for” thinking so I paid for the tea and started off. 

I walked on for few feet and then crossed the road to reach the bus stop.  I was reminiscing about my childhood days, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see the same old guy standing before me and his words were ‘Son, Please help me!’

To be contd…

Compromise or Conscience !!

If a Man must choose either his comfort or conscience, which one should he choose ? The likely answer will be Conscience. But does that really happens ? Suppose the Question is which will he choose ? Probably, Comfort would have been the answer.




This is what has been depicted in the movie Halla Bol. When faced with a critical situation, a man tends to take the easy way even though it means being blind to some things, acting as if that thing has never happened. But pretending isnt going to help in the long run.

Ok now coming to the movie, Devgan is a part of the street play group where he is considered as an actor with good acting talents. The group is lead by Pankaj Kapoor , who was formerly a famous dacoit who surrendered after hearing to the King Harichandra's Story. Later, Siddu(Pankaj) continues enacting street plays on themes which create social awareness among the masses. Devgan goes on to become a SuperStar in the tinsel-world. As he realises his dream, his personality also undergoes a total transformation, innocence replaced by deceit, truth by lies.. From a Man, who lived for his ideals , he became a Man, who prioritized his public-image more than his ideals.

Then an incident happens, which changes his life. He has to make a choice between Conscience or Comfort. Initially he pulls curtain over his eyes to pretend he can escape from the truth, but eventually his conscience takes over and he begans his fight for justice.

And that has been depicted well in the movie, When he becomes a Actor, he has all the money and fame,which the world longs for, but he loses everything- his wife's love, parents love and more importantly his own self worth. Ironically,once he decides to change , he loses everything the world gave him- his image, name & secure living.In return, he wins back his near & dear ones love. C'est la vie :)

How he fights for a cause and overcomes the obstacles to come out victoriously ( Yes, he does wins in his efforts.. Have you ever seen a Indian Movie yet ,in which the Hero doesnt Wins ?? ), you have to see the movie yourself to know that. :-)

Another noteworthy point made in the movie is that when an injustice happens around us generally we tend to ignore it. Why bother ourself with something when it doesnt involve us. As long as the scapegoat is a third person, why invite trouble ?? Thats how we tend to think first.,. Unfortunately, when we fail to stand up for a cause for another, it always means that anyday it will be us facing the same situation.

Like a saying goes " If you are not a part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. "

Actually, i wrote this post due to an incident which happened near my locality. I was standing near a shop, when i heard someone shouting and screaming. I looked towards the source of noise,to find a old lady shouting at a man, who was shabbily dressed. Seems the man had physically brushed himself against her. Didnt know if the man had done it intentionally or by mistake but by the way the lady shouted it looked like the man's intentions were bad.

What was surprising was that no one showed any signs of anything happening. Everyone around her went on with their own work, without even batting an eyelid. I am not suggesting that they should have catched up the guy and thrashed him up. (incase he was innocent), but atleast anyone could have raised a voice in support of the lady.

Hopefully the guy had went his way without causing any commotion. If it would have been, iam not sure how many would have come to the lady's rescue. (Even i was a mere spectator to the proceedings, telling myself, that if the situation got out of control, i will do something. So thinking of it now, it was wrong on my part...)

Not only this, few other incidents which have been happened in Bangalore, over 2 months or so, 5 software engineers rounded up by few rowdies and beat up in the Night, a young teenage girl being eve-teased by few guys who caused her injuries by dragging her along the road and she was traumatized for a long time.

I know these incidents are incredulous, yet they do happen. And one of the reason being, people not taking action against the wrong-doers and remain a silent spectator. We have a choice at that instance. Either to stand up for a cause or else fade into oblivion. A choice between Compromise or Conscience. The compromise choice will sound easy,yet there will be a small voice shouting all along saying that we should have stood for a cause..! Either we wait for something to happen in our life and then take action or else live a life with the conscience banished to oblivion !!

Taking the conscience path will invite pressure, troubles which will test our loyalty to it, But if we hold on till we win the battle, it will be an entirely different scenario, better left to be experienced, rather than expressed.

Make your Wish - Compromise or Conscience ??