After the rains, the 40 min travel to office has hiked up to 1.30 hours travel much to the chagrin of all of us .. there wre days when i used to njoy the travel hours .. but when the deliverables are in the peak and u s'times r forced to work late and weekends, then u stop njoy'n these hours ... esp. in the mornings ...all that is in the top of ur minds is that u need to reach as soon as possible ....
today being one such day, i was impatiently sitting in the usual last seat ( my stop being one of the last ones, the bus is alwayz full by the time i board and thankfully, at least i manage to get a window seat even if its the last seat) ... t'was already quarter to nine .. the bus was wading (yup!!! the roads r flooded with rain water knee deep at places) thro a particularly horrid stretch of road and i was barely managing to keep my head from hitting the roof of the bus and the seat in front of me .. when i saw a kid and his dad .. they wre trying to walk on the footpath which was flooded .. s'one had put sacks of hardened cement and big rocks so ppl can hop on 'em and avoid getting wet ... the kid was hopping on the stones when suddenly he lost his balance and fell into the puddle of water ...
Everyone nearby cast worried glances at the kid until they saw his soaking head emerge with a big grin.. t'was their turn to smile at the happy kid ... the dad then lifted the kid on his shoulders and they crossed the flooded stretch both smiling from ear to ear ... the kid at one point let go of his Hawaii chappals and the dad had to fetch it for him .. and he did that without getting angry with the kid ... t'was a pleasant sight after seeing ppl alwayz irritated with the after effects of rain .. and rightfully too .. the rains had made Chennai all the more dirty than wat t'was b4 ....
it made me forget my immediate worry of reaching early to work and i , like many in that area, njoy'd the moment ...
but then like all gud things come to an end .... this gud feeling too lasted only until i saw the father and kid enter the wine shop !!!

CRASHHHH.. .. screeechhhh ... crunch .. runch rrrrunch!!!!!! .. i turned around to c wat the commotion was all bot , though t'was not hard to guess wat wud ve happened .. a bike had crashed into a car that had braked suddenly caz of the red signal ..

The traffic signal in the venkatnarayana road has alwayz (from the day i ve been in Chennai) been this way .... the signal turns red in 30 seconds and not many vehicles can make it in that 30 seconds ...... so obviously some try to drive even after the signal turns red and create a big head ache for the traffic police .. and some other unsuspecting new-ones-to-that-area end up braking in the last minute .. and the above incident is wat happens ...

the car owner was yelling at the biker and the biker was defending himself ... everyone else - which includes me too- wre jus being audience to the scene .. the traffic police who was on the other side of the road was looking in our direction - unable to cross the road as vehicles wre zooming past in the other direction and not knowin wat to do ..

A poor woman with a few months ol’ baby was begging for money from all the ppl waiting for the signal to change to green … many cycle-walas wre busy lifting their cycles and putting ‘em on the footpath and makin their way to the front of the waiting crowd of vehicles .. and in the process making it tougher for the ppl who wre walking on the footpath ….

A dog appeared outta no wre – actually, from the side entrance of a wine shop which was, sadly , doin a very gud business even though t’was jus six thirty in the evening .. I jus looked at the dog weaving thro the maze of vehicles and it went on to the ‘kaiyendhi bhavan’ (road side food shop) and wagged itz tail sweetly to the owner of the shop … he gave him s’thing to eat and the dog licked his legs and settled down to ve his dinner …

The sound of s’one tapping on the glass window of the car in front of me diverted my attention form the dog … t’was the lady with the kid askin the car owner for some money … my mobile seemed to scream rite at the moment .. t’was a fren scolding for not returning her cal .. “very sorry re .. outgoin is barred as I ven;t paid my bill .. ‘ll cal ya once it gets activated .. “ - that was me …. And suddenly I was guilt stricken .. here I was paying a phone bill of 1500 bucks or more a month and there wre ppl who wre begging for fives on the road … I hunted in my jean pocket for some change and unsuccessful, got down from my Robbie and took out my wallet from the box under my seat … took out a five rupee coin in my hurry and gave it to the lady and the signal had turned to green by then …. Ppl behind me started horning as I was blockin their way and I was still tryin to get my keys clumsily in itz place .. everyone started givin me this u-clumsy-brainless-female-blocking-our-way look …… but there was this ol’ man in a cycle who waited patiently and gave me this take-it-easy-itz-part-of-life smile which relaxed me a bit and then I was on my way after the 90 seconds wait in the signal …

Initially when I drove in Chennai, I used to curse these long waits in the signals but nowadays I don’t .. however much of a hurry ‘m in, this one and half min wait in the signal makes my nerves relax .. gives me a chance to look at ppl other than me, my family and my frenz .. makes me realize how much I have taken for granted in life … and also, I get to c ppl with so many different mannerisms and characters …and helps me acquire patience .. :P .. itz a fascinating and educating experience altogether .. :))))
cheerz, anu :)