The road curved to the left. Much to my surprise, the pavement to my left seemed good enough to walk. I pulled up my pants and climbed the pavement. As I reached the curve, I saw a fat cylinder bodied dog coming towards me. It froze on seeing me. I could see an expression of discomfort on its face. It looked left, right and finally at me. The worry in its eyes had doubled. It turned around and walked away from me. A few metres later, it turned around and was once again disturbed by my presence. It seemed to me that it had hoped that I will turn around and walk away on seeing its discomfort. It did not wish to proceed further in this manner. It ducked into an opening on the side of the pavement and disappeared under the pavement. Soon I realized that it had disappeared into the rain water channel underneath the pavement. I wondered the reason for the dog’s discomfort at my sight. I thought I had imagined it. Many dogs had crossed my path earlier. Almost all of them did not even care to recognize my existence. So I wondered why this dog, as strange as it was, reacted to me thus. I turned around to check if the dog was still hiding under the pavement. I saw that it had emerged from under the pavement and was walking confidently away from me.
The road continued to curve this way and that. At times, it crossed crowded roads filled with impatient people and vehicles. At certain places, houses occupied both sides of the road. At other places, swanky glass walled office buildings lined its sides. At one place, I found a vacant land to the left side of the road. As is usually the case, the land was filled with garbage. Among the garbage was a laptop bag with the picture of a lady printed on it. The lady now lay a few feet under the ground, surrounded by the sound of the sea in a neighbouring state.
I continued to walk and reached a crossing. The signal turned red for the vehicle coming from my right. A scooter with a rider and an elderly lady in the pillion came to a sudden halt with its fore wheel beyond the stop line. Another motorbike with a young lady in the pillion stopped behind the stop line. The lady called out to the person driving the scooter and curtly directed him to move behind the stop line. He clumsily moved the scooter behind stop line. I waited for the signal to turn green for me to cross the road. As I crossed the road I noticed the name of the shop across the road. It read "Cocks, the complete men's shop"
As the cab reached the top of the flyover my eyes were level with the name board of a hotel. Underneath the name, the location of the hotel was written as “Silicon Valley, India”. My attention was disturbed by a Thunderbolt that zipped past us. The rider seemed to be a twenty something. He wore his helmet as a bracelet on his left arm. He guarded his head with a JBL headset. As the flyover turned towards earth, he slowed his bike a bit. He took both his hand off the handle bar, removed the headset off his head and wore it around his neck like a large necklace. He removed his helmet from his arm and placed his precious head into it. The process took around ten seconds and during this time the Thunderbolt took care of its direction on its own. His hands were back on the handle bar by the time the bike stopped at the signal beyond the flyover. In a matter of seconds, the rider’s personality had changed.
I looked at the beginning of the lake through the cab’s open windows. I had seen it a few times earlier but only noticed the half submerged mandapam right at the beginning of the lake now. I don’t think it was an ancient mandapam but in my mind I imagined a young princess splashing the water lightly with her feet as she impatiently waited for lover. The imagination was disturbed by the stink of garbage. A garbage truck stood on the road besides the lake surrounded by a number of garbage push carts. A few uniformed person were sorting through the garbage and segregating them into plastic covers. The stink of the garbage remained strong for a few minutes. The scene turned to worse with open drains and garbage from the drain strewn around. It took two hundred metres for the scene to change and by this time the cab turned away from the lake and I was once again surrounded by concrete.
The road continued to curve this way and that. At times, it crossed crowded roads filled with impatient people and vehicles. At certain places, houses occupied both sides of the road. At other places, swanky glass walled office buildings lined its sides. At one place, I found a vacant land to the left side of the road. As is usually the case, the land was filled with garbage. Among the garbage was a laptop bag with the picture of a lady printed on it. The lady now lay a few feet under the ground, surrounded by the sound of the sea in a neighbouring state.
I continued to walk and reached a crossing. The signal turned red for the vehicle coming from my right. A scooter with a rider and an elderly lady in the pillion came to a sudden halt with its fore wheel beyond the stop line. Another motorbike with a young lady in the pillion stopped behind the stop line. The lady called out to the person driving the scooter and curtly directed him to move behind the stop line. He clumsily moved the scooter behind stop line. I waited for the signal to turn green for me to cross the road. As I crossed the road I noticed the name of the shop across the road. It read "Cocks, the complete men's shop"
As the cab reached the top of the flyover my eyes were level with the name board of a hotel. Underneath the name, the location of the hotel was written as “Silicon Valley, India”. My attention was disturbed by a Thunderbolt that zipped past us. The rider seemed to be a twenty something. He wore his helmet as a bracelet on his left arm. He guarded his head with a JBL headset. As the flyover turned towards earth, he slowed his bike a bit. He took both his hand off the handle bar, removed the headset off his head and wore it around his neck like a large necklace. He removed his helmet from his arm and placed his precious head into it. The process took around ten seconds and during this time the Thunderbolt took care of its direction on its own. His hands were back on the handle bar by the time the bike stopped at the signal beyond the flyover. In a matter of seconds, the rider’s personality had changed.
I looked at the beginning of the lake through the cab’s open windows. I had seen it a few times earlier but only noticed the half submerged mandapam right at the beginning of the lake now. I don’t think it was an ancient mandapam but in my mind I imagined a young princess splashing the water lightly with her feet as she impatiently waited for lover. The imagination was disturbed by the stink of garbage. A garbage truck stood on the road besides the lake surrounded by a number of garbage push carts. A few uniformed person were sorting through the garbage and segregating them into plastic covers. The stink of the garbage remained strong for a few minutes. The scene turned to worse with open drains and garbage from the drain strewn around. It took two hundred metres for the scene to change and by this time the cab turned away from the lake and I was once again surrounded by concrete.
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