Interesting title eh? :)
This winters I travelled home to Kanpur (oh she is from Kanpur???...well no...its a nomadic stop for my parents making it my hometown for the time being!...huh!...There go your intelligent conclusions about why I am the way I am (cuz I am from Kanpur!!) )...
Oh well, I am a tad bit regionalist...no hard feelings for my friends from Kanpur!
Anyways, how the trip at Kanpur went, is immaterial to our story here, except for the fact that I decided to get a drastic change in my hairstyle...cropped my hair short (not bob cut but short enough). How it plays a role in what happened, needs to be unfolded.
(Sometimes, don't I write as if I am some professional writer and that the reader would be caught on to every line that I am writing? doesn't hurt does it? :) )
So I took the early morning train which would get me to Delhi while it was still morning (11:56 AM to be precise!). But the fog had other plans, and I ended up reaching New Delhi station by 1:30 PM...(oh the specifics!). Well at 11:56, I would still have had some motivation to go to office, but at 1:30, by Darwin's theory of natural selection, work from home option won! So I thought, why not enjoy the winters, by taking an auto rickshaw from the station to home rather than a sheltered cab (ya I know the bus would have been better, but I was feeling just auto kind adventurous!)
At this time it is important that I mention that I was clad in a woolen salwar suit, with a shawl cozily covering me, even though there was enough sun to bring out the shades. Why is it important? Read on...
An auto waalah walked upto me and asked me where I wanted to go, I said Dwarka...he said "chalo...Rs 350"(Will go for Rs 350) ...I said that's too much...he said "pre paid bhi itna hi leta hai"(the Pre paid will also take that much)...I said I will check...he said "kar lo"(go ahead!)...I walked upto the serpentine pre paid line and decided I am okay to pay a little extra than stand in that line for half an hour (so I am lazy!...what r u gonna do??)
(by the way did you notice, how I nicely translated the Hindi dialogue? Who knows I might have international readership sometime!!)
So with wind on my face and in my ears, we started the auto journey to Dwarka. Wind in my ears, did I say? Lemme correct it to, wind in my extra sensitive ears. So the shawl went on my head over my ears, like a mask.
It's a long distance, so I just got busy on the phone checking how much extra am I paying the auto guy. turn out the distance to my home should ideally cost Rs 250 (100 extra...remember that!)
Delhi traffic does not stop in the winters, so as expected, after a while we were stalled in a traffic jam. That is when the auto guy started making small talk. The conversation is best described in Hindi (read the title...must be having some significance, right?)
Auto Wallah (AW)- Kahan se aa rahe ho aap? (where are you coming from?)
Me- Kanpur se
AW- Kanpur main rehte ho?
Me- Ji nahi...mera maayka(parent's house) hai
(don't ask me where the heavy hindi words came from, I never use such language in common practice!.. just got into some role I think)
AW- achha shaadi ho gayi hai tumhari?
("So you are married?" ...tumhari...cuz he was an oldie!...and probably from that region...so I automatically become his daughter)
Me- Ji (note the tone of respect)
AW- Pati kahan kaam karte hain tumhare? (where does your hubby work?)
Me- Gurgaon (Mind you... I said Gurgaon...loud and clear)
AW- Gaon main??? (In the village??...Wonder how he heard that!)
Me- Ji haan (go with the flow you gaaon ki gori!... village damsel!...the short hair were covered under the shawl as it is :) )
AW- to akele train se aaye ho (did you travel alone??)
Me- Ji...kya kare...Pati to kaam par gaye hain na (What to do...hubby is off to work in the "Village")
Me- Ab ghar main saas ko bataana padega ki kitna kharcha hua ghar jaane main...paise paise ka hisaab leti hain! (Now I will have to reach home and tell my mother in law where all I spent the money while visiting my parents...she takes stock of every penny I spend! :( )
(Disclaimer- the description of my MIL here is purely fictitious...as is the village damsel pseudo image of mine!)
AW- Oh achha..paise pati dete honge na? (Your hubby must be giving the money right?)
Me- Ji haan.
After a long silence, we reached my destination and started taking out Rs 350 to settle the fare. The guy hands me back a Rs 100 note, saying, "apni saas se keh dena ki auto ke paise bachaa liye 100 rupees!" (tell your mother in law, that you saved Rs 100 on the auto fare!)
Did I con him? Or did I just get back what was mine as it is? :)
But humanity is not dead yet (yes yes....I am talking about the auto wallah...not myself!!)
This winters I travelled home to Kanpur (oh she is from Kanpur???...well no...its a nomadic stop for my parents making it my hometown for the time being!...huh!...There go your intelligent conclusions about why I am the way I am (cuz I am from Kanpur!!) )...
Oh well, I am a tad bit regionalist...no hard feelings for my friends from Kanpur!
Anyways, how the trip at Kanpur went, is immaterial to our story here, except for the fact that I decided to get a drastic change in my hairstyle...cropped my hair short (not bob cut but short enough). How it plays a role in what happened, needs to be unfolded.
(Sometimes, don't I write as if I am some professional writer and that the reader would be caught on to every line that I am writing? doesn't hurt does it? :) )
So I took the early morning train which would get me to Delhi while it was still morning (11:56 AM to be precise!). But the fog had other plans, and I ended up reaching New Delhi station by 1:30 PM...(oh the specifics!). Well at 11:56, I would still have had some motivation to go to office, but at 1:30, by Darwin's theory of natural selection, work from home option won! So I thought, why not enjoy the winters, by taking an auto rickshaw from the station to home rather than a sheltered cab (ya I know the bus would have been better, but I was feeling just auto kind adventurous!)
At this time it is important that I mention that I was clad in a woolen salwar suit, with a shawl cozily covering me, even though there was enough sun to bring out the shades. Why is it important? Read on...
An auto waalah walked upto me and asked me where I wanted to go, I said Dwarka...he said "chalo...Rs 350"(Will go for Rs 350) ...I said that's too much...he said "pre paid bhi itna hi leta hai"(the Pre paid will also take that much)...I said I will check...he said "kar lo"(go ahead!)...I walked upto the serpentine pre paid line and decided I am okay to pay a little extra than stand in that line for half an hour (so I am lazy!...what r u gonna do??)
(by the way did you notice, how I nicely translated the Hindi dialogue? Who knows I might have international readership sometime!!)
So with wind on my face and in my ears, we started the auto journey to Dwarka. Wind in my ears, did I say? Lemme correct it to, wind in my extra sensitive ears. So the shawl went on my head over my ears, like a mask. It's a long distance, so I just got busy on the phone checking how much extra am I paying the auto guy. turn out the distance to my home should ideally cost Rs 250 (100 extra...remember that!)
Delhi traffic does not stop in the winters, so as expected, after a while we were stalled in a traffic jam. That is when the auto guy started making small talk. The conversation is best described in Hindi (read the title...must be having some significance, right?)
Auto Wallah (AW)- Kahan se aa rahe ho aap? (where are you coming from?)
Me- Kanpur se
AW- Kanpur main rehte ho?
Me- Ji nahi...mera maayka(parent's house) hai
(don't ask me where the heavy hindi words came from, I never use such language in common practice!.. just got into some role I think)
AW- achha shaadi ho gayi hai tumhari?
("So you are married?" ...tumhari...cuz he was an oldie!...and probably from that region...so I automatically become his daughter)
Me- Ji (note the tone of respect)
AW- Pati kahan kaam karte hain tumhare? (where does your hubby work?)
Me- Gurgaon (Mind you... I said Gurgaon...loud and clear)
AW- Gaon main??? (In the village??...Wonder how he heard that!)
Me- Ji haan (go with the flow you gaaon ki gori!... village damsel!...the short hair were covered under the shawl as it is :) )
AW- to akele train se aaye ho (did you travel alone??)
Me- Ji...kya kare...Pati to kaam par gaye hain na (What to do...hubby is off to work in the "Village")
Me- Ab ghar main saas ko bataana padega ki kitna kharcha hua ghar jaane main...paise paise ka hisaab leti hain! (Now I will have to reach home and tell my mother in law where all I spent the money while visiting my parents...she takes stock of every penny I spend! :( )
(Disclaimer- the description of my MIL here is purely fictitious...as is the village damsel pseudo image of mine!)
AW- Oh achha..paise pati dete honge na? (Your hubby must be giving the money right?)
Me- Ji haan.
After a long silence, we reached my destination and started taking out Rs 350 to settle the fare. The guy hands me back a Rs 100 note, saying, "apni saas se keh dena ki auto ke paise bachaa liye 100 rupees!" (tell your mother in law, that you saved Rs 100 on the auto fare!)
Did I con him? Or did I just get back what was mine as it is? :)
But humanity is not dead yet (yes yes....I am talking about the auto wallah...not myself!!)
2 comments:
Whoosh it was you who you conned the poor rickshaw wallah...😊..jokes apart extremely interesting narrative..loved it
Is it true or fiction.
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