Thursday, February 2, 2012

The journey of duty

Sitting (NO! hanging) from the 1st seat of the auto rickshaw (Americans call it the tuk tuk) along with the driver there are variety of scenes I witness daily. Some days we guys get lucky and get the rear seat of the tuk tuk but other days ? well we have to hang along till the journey ends to reach the office or back to the room where we started from; thanks to our female counter parts who do not even look at the face of the guy who sacrifices his seat to let lady sit in convenience on his seat .

In the wee traffic hours, sound of horns much due to the reckless driving of the auto driver are the most annoying while going to the office with a fresh mind to achieve something that day. Returning back has another story; High beam lights on the face when there is no more energy left out to bear it after the long day of hard work. Only thing possible and done then is to close the eyes till the vehicle passes. Here the agony of the guy does not end, he has to cling to some part of the auto to prevent falling off it when it speeds on road. To make the thing worse Indian roads are the perfect match to the situation to make it a night mare to commute to the office.

Wheezing along the spanking new bikes tell the tale that a guy got married and got it in dowry or jumped a new company and got a good hike which allowed him to get this bike. Much to the jealousy of the front seated guy, the new bike owner makes way through the traffic and escapes it like a snake. Mid timers like men in late 40s and in managerial positions try to rush through the traffic on their hard earned hatch backed cars.

Being in an tuk tuk has its own charm also. If lucky you get to sit next to very beautiful girls with nice fragrance who you thought are always out of your league. Not sit by the side but by the way luck has it many times almost with full body contact by the side. some time you also get sandwiched between two heavy guys(Some new generation guys might like this but not all)You get a very close view of the next auto passing you or the young girl sitting in the pillion seat of her boy friend's bike.

The main good thing one feels in this daily commute is that you have some time to your own. In the daily rush to the office and back to room this is the time which help you be alone with your thoughts that get triggered by the side scenes along the route. You see a poor child and you imagine what I would be doing I were in his/her place. You pass by a cemetery you get all spiritual and think nothing is permanent and the next moment you pass a nice bar, you start thinking when will next Friday come? If a new car model passes by the heart burns thinking 'Will I ever own one of that type?'. Thinking of kids being stupid who try to show of their 'dad bought' bikes by speeding across. But once in a while the wish comes out of the mind to also have a bike that will be a head turner. Maybe the person can buy one, but living in a city foreign to their native state makes them think twice before buying the vehicle. Different things like the shipment, road tax, police charges, broker charges etc go through the mind of the person and eventually the idea gets delayed so much to a point that either he gets married by then and has to buy one vehicle or makes up his mind to buy a car instead.

This is how an IT guy from another city goes to his office:)

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