The
guy was riding on his old hawk to the workplace which is about 6 miles. The way
people ride and drive in this city is renowned for its haphazard notoriousness.
The
guy had worn his regular outfit that usually is barring the dress-code rules in
the company he worked for. The guy had headsets on, that didn't cost him much.
The typical tech-factory CDAC emblem on his shirt, the MNC-Badge hanging to the
waist buckle, and no wrist watch was only emphasizing that he works for a good
company and on a computer, and probably as a developer. Developers have already
got so many virtual leaches to piss them off.
Though
the bicycle was old enough to trash, the guy had religiously loved it for it
being his first road-bike ever. If you are in a good physical shape, a bicycle
can really be less irritating to ride than a bike in the rush hours of day, simply
you being clearly out of the rat race in the traffic.
The
guy wasn't a too good a rider at all, occasionally, he would just set off to
his home roughly 90 miles away on this bicycle just because he wants to.
Traffic does annoy anyone, the guy wasn't an exception. Though he would
normally manage to sneak out of the rabble at the traffic
signals, desperates honking at the red light, sometimes, very
rarely someone, more often an educated illiterate would get to bear his tough
looks, or worst case a wrath of bad words for dashing derailleur on his bicycle.
The
guy would nod in complete despair and speak to himself, "Didn't they go to
school where they teach a Red light is a Stop and a Green is a Go? Honking at
the people up front waiting the light to turn Green, doesn't change the light
to Green, or does it?"
There
are so many situations wherein a Cyclist has given lesser priority over even a
pedestrian.
One
morning when the guy was riding easy on a reserved bicycle track, came across a
fat lady strolling right in the middle of the track. The guy rang the bell so that
she gives him a way. But the fat lady had other ideas.
(Translated):
The
Fat Lady, "Whats the hurry about? Can't you see I am walking? Is it not
now up to us (older citizen she meant, though she didn't look any older than
mid-40s) whre to walk?"
The
guy tried to explain, "But aunt, this.. <interrupted>.. listen..
<interrupted>.."
Now,
that Fat lady would talk a bit louder, such that the guy needed to take his
headsets off.
The
scene was a good recipe for other older-fitness-enthusiasts to gather around,
like the guy had hit the fat lady.
The
guy looked at the mob pitifully, grinned and took a stance to explain.
The
guy didn't speak much, just pointed at the board that has a Bicycle symbol
drawn on it and said,
"The school where I went in, and the books that my
parents made me read when I was a kid, they all taught me with this picture and
words 'bicycle' written below it. Hope you all had chance to go to one
such basic schooling facility and read similar books. Did it never occur to you
all that why would a corporation have pavement reserved to walk and a track
reserved for Bicycles only(waving the two fingers to emphasize) where we are
standing right now? You guys are mature and old, behave like you are!"
The
mob made way for the guy to go, the fat lady was never seen next morning or
ever after. The
guy would though feel bad for the Fat lady and thought, Why are we so much into
the victimized state of mind? We all have handful of things to whine about.
Some
other day later, the guy was riding his way to a movie theater. A reputed movie
theater can either be a good bird-watching place or can be a place where the
crowd tries to behave well and not turn into a rabble, possibly not out of
conscience, but out of shame. The crowd we call as public. The guy was never a
block to fit in such a crowd, though he would make sure that he has his mind
focused on what he is there for, and not on what he should complain about and
get irritated by.
The
guy and his friends who rode their way to the theater finally bumped into the
seats. There was a group of girls, typical college group that he discovered
later, who came and took the seats next to guys. These days a few of the
theaters follow a thing that after a few minutes of relatively tolerable
jewelry ads and health advice, they play our national anthem, which to me is
perfectly alright and good-to-have thing. Just when the instructions to stand
up in respect were flashed on screen, one of the girls exclaimed, <Translated>
"See,
that's why I was asking all of you not to hurry to screen and we had enough time
to get us coke and some more chips."
The
other girl in total agreement and disappointment said,
"Yeah, makes sense.
I forgot that they play this thing at the beginning, damn, we shouldn't have
hurried and instead could have got chips and coke, now we have to wait till the
interval."
In
the mean time when they were whining about it, the anthem was over and people
were taking their seats.
The
guy, again in complete despair bumped into the seat and thought, Why are we so
irritated to stand for our national anthem and/or being ashamed of doing so?
And, then we expect ourselves staying in a better country than our very own.
Its not India who made us what we are, its us who make India what it is. The
guy grinned again, took a sip of a western beverage, suppressed his thoughts
and was lost in the mob..