Thursday, July 3, 2008

Car-nama : Corruption on the road


I will confess that the title of my blog is 'inspired' by a leading radio station's concept but after this incident took place, I couldn't come up with something better.

A few months back, my colleague and I were driving back from work and my colleague just crossed a traffic signal when it just turned yellow. A cop asked us to stop and then approached our car. My friend like an innocent citizen stopped his car and rolled down the window to speak to him. The cop in his typical Haryanvi accent says… “Yeh traffic signal dikhaee nahin deta ke”. My friend tried explaining the cop that the light was green while he had started crossing and that it might have turned yellow somewhere midway. By this time my friend had already stood out of his car. Seeing him get out of the car, I stepped out of the car too. The cop took notice of this and this time tells me “Madam, aap gadi mein jaake baitho”. Both these people had a 5 minute long discussion after which my friend too sat in the car. I asked him whats the matter? How do you intend to tackle this. He had to go out of India for an official trip the next day and by no means he could have left his license with them. Where was the time and the journey back home was also long considering we had not even covered one-fourth of it. My friend later told me that he would probably give some money to the cops.

A while later, the cop came, my friend rolled down his window and the cop asked my friend… "Kya karna hai". My friend says “Sir aap batao… kya main kuch kar sakta hoon… kal subah meri flight hai”. The cop says… “Ab aap apna license de do, thane se collect kar lena”. My friend now responds by saying “Sir aap paise le lo, kal meri flight hai”. The cop asks him “Kitne paise doge?” My friend replies “jitney bhi mere wallet mein hain…" The next action is funny… the cop takes off his cap, just slides it in a little bit through the window so that nobody sees him, indicates my friend to put in money inside the cap, my friend takes out a 500 rupees note and puts it in the cap. The cop wears the cap carefully and cleverly to keep the note discreetly in place and walks away.

I was shocked but laughed quite a bit on this incident after that. I was shocked not because I saw the cop taking money. But because of the funny way by which he took the money from my friend.

It is a funny yet vicious circle we fall prey to each day in some form or the other. We blame the system, but I believe we are equally a part of it, may be unintentionally but we all do it… Lets just accept it!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

'A Date Through My Rear View Mirror'

One fine morning, I was driving on a lonely road going towards Delhi from Noida. I think I was engrossed in my own thoughts and memories of my past relationship, when suddenly out of the blue I saw him… through my rear view mirror!

I felt as if a zillion watts just passed through my spine… I wanted to wave to him… it had been more than 3 months since we last saw each other… as he termed it, it was supposed to be a ‘mutual agreement’ of not being in touch!

I completely respected his decision and decided not to get weak this time… and this time when I saw him I felt like going back to memory lane. Our cars came to a halt at a traffic signal. I had the feeling of nervousness which felt so familiar. For the first time in my life I guess I wanted the traffic signal to not turn green. I just wanted to see him though my rear view mirror… just a glance which I could capture for some more time.

Anyways as it was supposed to be the traffic signal turned green and we started moving… this time his car was right parallel to mine and I honked once hoping that he would take notice… but he didn’t. I was hoping to catch another traffic signal and I think God was a bit too grateful to me that day, I stopped at the red light with his car parked right parallel to mine. He looked at me this time and waved… I so wanted to roll down my window and shout at the top of my voice… ‘Hey! Could we talk for a while?’… but I could not muster up the courage.

Our cars moved as the traffic signal turned green again and soon after he disappeared into space… I finished off my work and on the way back this time I was so distracted while driving that I could not think about anything but him… I was taken into a world of nostalgia and I just didn’t want this to come to an end.

Coincidentally, on one such more occasion I saw him though my rear view mirror… I thought I must be hallucinating… but when I looked closely the car felt familiar, it just looked like him and the number plate looked familiar too… and this time again… it was him!

I was thrilled but the excitement I had the first time was not there anymore…

I always used to tell him that one day I would write a book about my experiences in life and would definitely devote one chapter to him… although this is no book… but I think its worth the time invested to start my blog with a person who has always been so important to me!

(P.S. - this a work of my imagination influenced by my experiences)

So what got me into blogging?

A lot of my friends started blogging a while back and I was quite impressed by the idea. I had a lot of thoughts in my head about the kind of posts i would like to write for quite some time now but I was not too sure if my creativity was still on... I remember I used to write fairly well back in school. But with time I thought that I've probably lost the flare. But as people say that I'm impulsive, I woke up at 2 am one day and had the sudden urge to pen down my thoughts and thats when i decided I want to write something just about myself, my experiences with people, and lots more. Something which would get me introspect for a bit... thats when i decided the name of the blog... 'High on Life'

Have u ever got high on life??? Well try remembering the last time you had a hearty laugh, when your cheeks and stomach started to pain. When was the last time you sat with people who mattered to you and sang away to glory and never even realised that it is 3 in the morning? When was it that you enjoyed your own company and did not feel the need to be with anyone, like, watching a movie alone, or just got into your groove of nostalgia which brought a smile to your face! Has it ever happened that you've loved somebody so badly that you didn't care a damn about what people think! When was the last time you felt so strongly about your passion, may be for singing, painting, dancing, anything that you couldn't think of anything else. In case you identify yourself with any of the above or something I may not have mentioned, then you are at the right place.


Cheers to Life!
(P.S. - I look forward to any kind of suggestions, comments and constructive feedback)