It was Thursday and
surprisingly sunnier than other normal rainy days. It seemed like the rain had
spared Bangaloreans for a day giving them the much needed break; just like
teachers sparing small kids from a day’s homework allowing them to enjoy their
evening games. Relief and smiles at the receiving end! All my roomies were
fresh with the Sun and had woken up early, ready to reach their office before
the mood of God changed and again he started blessing Bangalore with more rain.
Of course, Bangalore needed more rain. But what we Bangaloreans not needed were
the muddy roads, potholes and water logging on all the roads that came free
included in the rain’s package.
I too was having the same
freshness that day and happy with a small thought in my mind. I could ride my
bike without any fear of getting drenched and with a strong feeling that my
trousers would not get splashed with the dirt on the roads. This would save me
from knocking the doors of our Dhobi pleading him to do his usual miracle and
remove the stains from my trousers. With a hot water bath I felt fresher than
ever. My daily routine kicked off as I robotically got ready and stepped out of
my room to sign off a Mission Impossible.
Though the outer looks say it has
aged up, it’s still young and energetic. I bet it can compete with any bike of
the same power. I am now talking about my reliable bike. It started up smoothly
with my first kick and carried me towards the office with the speed and style I
wished.
As I rode into Bangalore's outer
ring road, I could still feel the effect of morning fog over the city and the
effect of weather over the citizens. Most of the Bangaloreans waiting at the
bus stop had their warm clothes on their body and were waiting for their cabs
and buses. Without wasting much of my time searching for few good looking girls
in the big dull crowds I sped off to my office hoping to make it the shortest
time ever. To tell you guys the truth, I was just afraid of a possible downpour
anytime, the specialty of Bangalore and this was the only reason that stopped
my eyes from their routine hunt for beautiful girls waiting at the bus stops.
Else which straight stud would miss a chance to look at the charming girls to
start his day with and hurry towards the dull boring office? I repeat I am
talking about straight studs! From the ring road I turned into a short cut and
tried keeping the same speed in that narrow road but because of a record number
of road humps, which the BBMP had put in hoping to enter the World Record but
failed just because the design and size of the humps dint match the required
precision, I had to slow down my bike. Just like me, my bike also saddened as
it had to do a few uphill and downhill tasks. After crossing all those humps by
when I had checked all the gears and brakes and all the parts of my bike, I
moved out into the main road.
Just one traffic signal was left
between me and my office. Once I crossed that signal it would be just a matter
of minutes to safely land into my Company’s parking area. But as elders say, no
exam paper is complete without a final question which carries the highest mark
but is equally tougher and many a times it is out of syllabus. This signal was
the biggest barrier of my daily office stretch. Not only was this the only
signal I had to cross daily but also one of the busiest signals. All thousands
of Software Professionals heading towards Whitefield offices or ITPL building
had to cross this signal spending a countable part of their life at this
signal. To be simple and explain it more orthodoxly, this signal was like Agni
Pariksha for each software professional, the only major difference being
this had to be taken daily. This was called the great Graphite Signal. My part of
Agni Pariksha that day proved its worst. As I entered into that main
road the first thing that I saw was the Green Light glowing at its brightest.
With all the optimism I rotated the accelerator to its possible max hoping for
an unimaginable unbeatable speed just the way portrayed in the Hollywood
Flicks. Alas, the speed was not enough and when I was just few inches from the
signal and behind three bikes hurrying in queue to cross it, the thing which I
was fearing deep inside a corner of my heart turned true. The color of the
signal changed to Red and I had to apply the brakes to their fullest. It was
like storm at its top speed hitting the town ready to root up the whole town
being stopped at just one swing of the wand from a magician and then the storm suddenly
not only stops but also vanishes without even leaving behind the smallest proof
of its existence.
I finally stopped behind two
bikes. I know you smart minds might now be thinking of the third bike I had
mentioned earlier. Dear readers, who think more than what is actually needed,
that rider was so witty, he just managed to jump the signal and escape into his
freedom. Within seconds, I stopped the engine following my motto of “Forget
Girls, Save Petrol - Researches show earth would be running out of petrol well
before it runs out of girls!” Let me tell you friends, I know girlfriends
are the costliest affair a boy can handle but in the recent past few months, of
course with the help of our honorable government, Petrol has overtaken
girlfriend’s position to the top position in the list of most expensive and
most unavoidable necessity of a boy’s life! You don’t need a girlfriend for
having petrol, but think, you definitely need petrol for having a girlfriend!
This is another reason to support my new motto on saving petrol. I tried to
look at the length of the queue of vehicles coming from the other direction and
it was just like a never ending parade of ants, one behind another, without
even a gap between two vehicles.
I did the most common thing every
Bangalorean does at least once in his daily life, sarcastically praised the
Bangalore Traffic and then took out my IPod from the pocket of my Jeans and
changed the song. I started banging my fingers on my bike's petrol tank to the
tunes of the song being played in my iPod and then, bit relaxed, I started
looking all around me to find few interesting faces (obviously beautiful faces)
and ended up finding all dull faces with only one aim in their life - reach
office at the earliest possible time and start their work before manager
notices them not being at seat and keeps it in mind just to be discussed at the
next appraisal meeting, the royal chousing session!
Trying to make all kind of
disgusted faces, using all the muscles of my face, I started looking at the
buses coming from the opposite direction and turning to my left, the way which
leads to my office.
To be Cntd…
Vishal…
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