Close encounters of the 7th kind!

[12:27 am 14th Aug]

The rains are just bout to pour and the skies are dark... add to it the flickering street lights, well what do i say "couldn't have been better". its almost half past twelve and where am i ? Not sleeping with my eyes shut in a cozy bed but waiting at a bus stop with strangers and looking at the urban horizon waiting for a glimpse of a bus to drop me home. 

my mind says that its no use since the last bus home has already left. But then i have a look at my wallet with all those torn Rs 10 change and i think again, well lets wait a while and see.

[12:34 am 14th Aug]

Too much wait and now i guess its no use.. i may have to shell out that 100 bucks i was trying so hard to save all this while. i look back again to see if i could get a lift or a drop from a private vehicle and then i see this Safari coming my way.

With all those years of experience of hitchhiking it wasn't tough for me to make the vehicle halt. i peep in, to find a grumpy guy staring back at me. i ask "airoli chaloge", and he nods in a manner my teacher used to, when i was in school and asked her for a loo break.

With a smile of satisfaction i hop in only to find that i was the only person in the huge monstrous vehicle, but who cares? lets go!

[12:40 am 14th Aug]

Its 6 mins since I'm sitting besides the weirdo trying to figure out what he is thinking about. my primary concern being the speed of the car which was barely 30kmps. i could frankly run home and reach first he he eh...

i see all these bikes and cars zooming past and i wonder whats wrong with this grumpy old man. i keep mum, not wanting to start a conversation, especially cos the guy didn't seem interested. i wait another minute and almost suspicious of this guy, dare to ask him a question "Dost aap kidhar ja rahe ho". 

[12:45 am 14th Aug]

After a heavy pause, almost like the tension in all those realty shows while announcing the winner, the guy gives me a stern stare and says "Powai". Thats it,  No more questions. i decide not to interfere with the guy and his driving and sit like a dumb. Although it crossed my mind many a times to just get down and walk away. not because i was afraid or something but just cos the car wasn't moving that fast and it would barely have mattered :)

[12:52 am 14th Aug]

The car takes a left from below the Koparkhairne flyover, entering the deserted Ghansoli area. Now this area has its own specialities, like... its almost silent like a graveyard, hardly people come out at night at these places, and with the rains adding to it -  its not less than the next location for a Ramsay Brothers Mega HIT. 

With each passing second and the slowly moving car i get a gut feeling of something going wrong. i try to catch a glimpse of the weirdo from the corner of my eye just to make sure that he was only driving (and not making preparations for welcoming his new prey). i thought 'what if he is some sort of psycho who ventures out at night to find people who ask for a lift, and kills them for some gods-knows-wat satisfaction.'

[12:56 am 14th Aug]

I slide my ring into my pockets, move my mobiles to the left hand-side pockets and unfasten the seat belt, just in case. i try to watch every move he makes, the one that almost gave me a stroke was when he put his hands to the back of his collar to scratch probably. all i was wondering was, whether it would be a revolver or a knife.

To much of my relief it was just scratching, nothing else. still not much pleased with the guys antics i kinda start looking out of the window for options to save my soul. Thats when it striked me.

[1:00 am 14th Aug]

The car was in the center of the road and the lights were lit wrong. i gathered courage and looked back at the grumpy old guy and saw him blinking his eyes as if he had just woken up.

and then the realization dawned upon me.. the guy whom i was afraid of was nothing but drunk.

Hah wat a relief! 

No! Absolutely not... with my close observation i found that this guy had a strange behavior. He was driving slow when the streets were lit and the streetlights flashing light on him. but once he was in the dark he drove as if he was the next Schumacher. Once again i fastened my seatbelts, this time to save myself from his driving. after a few minutes drive we were back on the highway.

[1:15 am 14th Aug]

Once we reached the highway the guy went black and halted for a while. this time around i wasn't thinking of the guy harming me, but what my sis would do when i reached home. my sis has this bad reputation of shouting on me at the top of her voice irrelevant of the time of the day. Well for me, life isn't that weird, with all kinds of weirdo's at the workplace and some at home too... 

Time passed as he drove and i couldn't stop myself from laughing watching this guy go zig-zag on the highway blocking almost all of the traffic. The cars honking from behind could even wake up my Building watchman... (he is a cool character who leaves the gates open for me every day i come late, or is it???)

[1:20 am 14th Aug]

I'm almost there, approaching airoli with some humans in the vicinity. somehow i get this spunk and start guiding the driver who was certainly lost. He too was aware of the fact that i had noticed him being drunk and didn't want to make a fool of himself and drove properly following my instructions. 

[1:25 am 14th Aug]

i reach my destination and ask the driver to halt which he does abruptly almost throwing me out of my seat. i get down at ease and grab my wallet to pay him. He looks at me with his droopy eyes and i look back handing him the 10 bucks that i had. he stares at the note again for a while making me feel rather sheepish. But i turn my back and move on to avoid any more confrontations. 

After walking a considerable distance from the car i looked back only to find the car still standing at its place with the guys shadowy figure gazing at the Rs 10 note, as if i had handed him his wife's Divorce papers.

[1:28 am 14th Aug]

i smile and turn back and start walking towards my home, a 5 mins walk from there, and meanwhile thinking of how stupid the whole journey was. i reach home in no time and see the gates open (for me), and the watchman in his deep slumber. Making sure that i didn't wake him up, i start for my apartment (anyways i couldn't have woken him up, no one can).

I reach home and start calling my sis on her cell to open the door but, with no reply. I try to review the situation. i hear no voice from inside, no tv noise, nothing ! is this the silence before the great storm? 

No it isn't. I hear footsteps and a long yawn. a dark figure opens the door. and before i can say anything, a warning is announced, "Light mat dalna"

i take a sigh of relief as thats the only thing my sis said that night and went back to sleep. i somehow manage to get fresh, grab some food and change to nightwear all in the dark and then get hold of my laptop and jot down the whole incident. 

so here it goes. 3:06 am all done and ready to be published...

as for the people who read this and are completely bored, please spare me as this is just the beginning. "Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost"

And for those who are wondering what does the title has to do with the story...

well thats the name that i took 7 secs to think off and it adds to the overall curiosity and makes you read till the end. didn't it?

anyways hope to be back with more.

signing off 

- AK