Auto Rickshaw uncle!

It was my first week in a new city. First few days everyone gave me a long lecture on 'The Dos' and 'The Donts' in the city, everyone in my office being from a different part of India (all girls), they gave me the worst of it all. Something that kept repeating again and again was, 'dont EVER go alone here on the roads.. its not safe'.. 'Make sure you go back home when it is still day light'

I dint have any friends in the city. So on the first weekend in the new city, everyone was planning to go watch Rajinikanth in Endhiran.. I just went along. What I dint realise was, I cant just go to an evening show in this city-How am I gonna get back to my place..?!! I was the only one in the group who dint have someone along.

By the time it was interval it was 7:30 PM. That is when the realisation hit me and I panicked. I walked off, mid-show as I had to go back on my own, also I had watched Endhiran first day-first show already in Hyderabad. My guest-house from the theater as told by my other mates was far and its very costly to take a Rick, so on their instructions while they were watching the movie I took a bus. In the bus I waited till the ticket collector came to me, holding out the money I said as confidently as possible the name of the place..."Pooja-pura"... something something in Malyalam and no ticket. F... wrong bus! I got down immediately but it was two stops away from the route I was supposed to take. The time was 8' O Clock- I realised I was really really hungry. I just turn around and see... what am I seeing in Trivandrum city.. Pizza Hut..??? Yeah.. it is really a Pizza Hut.. wow I found a Pizza Hut in this city.. wow! There were some people on the road, shops were still open.. I just walked into Pizza Hut.

The dude serving me was extra slow..and it was definitely not 30 Mins.. By the time I came out this time (9' O Clock) the roads were completely deserted. No use thinking about saving money now.. I just decided to take a rick. None in sight. 5 minutes down and I started panicking BIG time now, the power in my phone just told me it was goin to die in 10-15 mins max. I just cut the call I was on, with a friend talking crap...(KC) just to distract me of fear and focussed on finding a Rick. I asked a passer-by the directions to go. Crossing the road to get to the right side of the road I saw an empty Rick coming my way and stopped it in the middle of the road literally by standing in front of it. He jerked it stop. "Poojapura povuma.. Cheta..?" I was trying to show that I knew the place and was also familiar with the language. The Rick guy was a very dark, huge-sweaty-round-faced-mustached guy. He insantly agreed to come.

Relieved I just sat and breathed. The roads which he was taking were completely deserted and extremely small, it was definitely not like this earlier that day....it did not look familiar at all. They just twisted and turned and were very very gloomy. Panic started again! This guy jerked the auto stop in the middle of the road- he might be drunk, he looked rather scary- like one of the goons usually in Tinkle comics, big mustache and dark..huge, and what route is he taking..?? I had no idea where I was going. There were nobody on the roads, my phone would die any moment and there is nobody who is looking for me in this city. Nobody would even realise dat something had happened to me if this rick guy turned out to be a crook. Sri Anjeneyam... Prasanna Anjeeneyam.. everybody from my mom and everyone whom I ever know were against me going. Everything flooded back to me. Sri Anjeneyam... Prasanna Anjeeneyam.. They would KILL me if I get into trouble here! prabhadivya kayam.. Serves me right to not to listen to my parents... Prakeerthi pradayam... What do I even think of myself when I do stupid things like these..? Bhaje vayu puthram.. Bhajeham pavithram... I dont even know Hanuman Chalisa beyond that! HUH! Panic-Panic-Panic!!! If an ambulance siren was on me it would have been on full blare, with the red light turning very very fast!

I looked at the back of the Auto guy, mustered some courage and said...

cheta, Poojapura evada dooram..? (mix my Telugu..bits of Tamil and try their accent) I meant how far is Poojapura..?

Something..something.. something.. I dint understand any bit of it. Totally frustrated I said it out in Telugu. Emantunnav ra baabu... wat the hell are you saying..?

He laughed and asked me if I knew Tamil.. the laugh.. THAT laugh was like the pressure cooker whistle in me.. it just got thrown open! And he was deifinitely not drunk.

I told him I was from Andhra and I only know Telugu.. or rather Telun'-gu.. like they say it.

He: How long in Trivandrum..?

Me: .. huh... 6 days.. 1 week Cheta.. cheta means brother in Malyalam.. first word I learnt here

He: Oh...good.. good... Good Malyalam!

He: U working in Techno park? .. thats what all the out-staters do here.. work in Techno park..Hmm perhaps these IT crowd are alone responsible for making towns around India so metropolitan!

Me: ledu cheta.. Working in Nalanchira.. Baker architecture

He: Oh.. oo.. Good!

He: U home in poojapura..?

Me: Na.. cheta.. guest house. Looking for house..single-girl..very difficult!

He: ha.. ha... yeah yeah. My home 5 Kms from here. very late today.

I continued the conversation like that. I now dont remember what else I spoke to him that night but I dint realise when I had reached my destination. Safely and even smiling. The simplest of ways of saying I see you as just another me, you can converse!- Kinda solves situations for me. I always spoke to the Auto Uncles in Hyderabad, they made the best of conversations.

"Man...spread around so much of his dirty tactics for his greed for money, even when he knows he cant take them along with him after he dies.. I want to know how it would have been if that was possible" This is from an Auto uncle in Hyderabad long time back.

Much later saw that.. everybody in Trivanrum are dark and have huge round faces. All the guys are mustached, really huge ones that too-How do they make out with their wives is beyond my imagination! The roads are all like that very very small and winding. Even the busiest of roads by day look deserted by night as they dont have street lights and there are a number short cuts that the locals use. He was a very nice person actually who stopped to give me a ride while he was going home.

All said and done... lesson for me was... when panicking about safety and uneasy about it, just talk to the driver- It helps! Greatly! :) Language doesn't matter... like AB says..Bolne keliye baasha ki zaroorat nahin hai!