Thursday 28 February 2008

A Bollywood Musical And Bad Auto Rickshaw Karma

Well today morning I sat like a princess, surrounded by two tigers on my either sides and Shahrukh Khan staring at me and smiling away. I looked around and found Sania Mirza, Vidya Balan and Rani Mukherjee too. Two photos of Godess Durga flapped around as the wind caught them. And in a gold framed mirror, I saw my reflection. The side windows, framed with painted yellow and red flowers, the black vinyl upholstering with gold speckles completed the look. After a few minutes a Bollywood song started to play. And I felt like I was starring in my very own Bollywood musical. The only element missing were my latkas and jhatkas - the dance moves :)

This brings me to a conclusion that travelling in the kitschy-est ever auto rickshaw will let your fertile imagination go wild and it will all seem so surreal, even for a veteran auto rickshaw commuter like me that a grin would be plastered on my face through out the ride!


Hopefully this would also be a sign for uplifting of my bad-auto-rickshaw-karma (BARK) which has been following me continuously.

A few days ago an auto (auto rickshaw is too long to type and henceforth will be called auto) decided to strand me at the Safdarjung Flyover, the driver saying he had run out of gas. As soon as I got down and paid the fare, he *&%$#@#* sped away. Just because he wanted to avoid the traffic jam ahead! About fifteen autos I flagged down after that refused to go that way. And since
that incident, travelling in buses is the last option.

Yesterday morning Mr. Murphy decided to pay me a visit as I was sitting in an auto, getting late to work. Then suddenly, auto’s second gear broke and since I had already reached Lutyens’ Delhi (where chances of finding an empty auto are very slim), I had no option but to get to office in that auto while the driver drove in the first gear, testing both my patience and safety standards .

The story does not end here. While coming back in the evening, I had to first haggle with the auto wallah for the fare and half way through, his auto sputtered and died. I had to walk almost a kilometer to find another one.


This morning, it looks like my bollywood auto broke the jinx. Here’s optimistically wondering this is the end of BARK.

More auto tales here.

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Meanwhile, do check out a social movement called Anti-Tags and leave your feedback there.


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Update (Feb 28): This racism incident in South Africa is my WTF moment of the day. Check out the video here.


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Update 2 (Mar 1): Blank Noise has a meeting today in New Delhi. Check out the details here. Be there!

8 comments:

Pramod said...

Arey u miseed the Thumkas with the latkas and jhatkas :D:D:D:D:D

Some Autos are filled with posters of their heroes. Makes for a good conversation sometimes!!!:P:P

And yes Thankfully BARKing dogs have not bit you yet. be careful :)

n.aka.zephyr said...

Hey RP,
Its my secret desire to do a dance sequence in an auto.... seriously!! I am imagine myself breaking into a jig as soon as some nice danc-y numbers comes on the radio :D :D

Posters of heros= Good time drooling till you reach the destination ;)

I am always careful of BARKing... touch wood!

Infact today I got a free ride to work coz one of my regular auto wallahs was dropping off someone else nearby and he didnt charge me a single penny :)

Prasad said...

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha @ the want to do the jhatkas in an auto!!! he mite even bcome ur regular automan after tht! ;)))

ooo down south in the autos itz always freekin irritatin to o the bargaining on the fare!!! baaaaa they tell u almost twice the price at first!!!!

nd i always hav a gud convo wit the autowalla b it cinema,cricket nd lately TN politics!!!

n.aka.zephyr said...

pras,
you bet!!! :D :D :D

even here we have to bargain so much.... at east my negotitation skills r improving :)

sometimes the auto wahhlas r friendly and talkative... some r okay...

but mostly i don't talk much coz i plug into my headphones, listen to music and beat the stress when everyone's honking and crazily cutting lanes...

Pramod said...

no longer a secret eh!!! ur desire..... :D:D Will look out for u in eth Delhi autos:P:P

n.aka.zephyr said...

Rp,

If you find a girl with headphones plugged in her ears and she is dancing in an auto - you would know its me :D :D

Prasad said...

hahahahahhahaha! not tht'll b some sight! the girl who does the bollywood dance in an auto! :P

n.aka.zephyr said...

Pras
:D :D
I think it would be fun!!!