February 11, 2010

THE DAY I GOT SCARED!!

Have you seen people getting scared? Have you seen a man running on road ahead of a group of wild dogs? Have you seen people getting scared before an interview? Have you seen a thief running for his life? Now there can be many such instances where people are terrified and their tension can be easily felt. Just look into their eyes and you will realize how much pressure they are in. In all these situations, the person who is afraid can do himself a favor and can get out of it.

Now imagine a situation in which you can’t do anything but pray to God that everything goes out well. I tell you what happened last week. I had an exam and by coincidence my neighbor also filled that exam and got the same centre. We agreed to go together. For me it was a welcome change from my usual companion “Bajaj Chetak”.

Exam timing was 2-4 p.m. Reporting time was 1:30.We had to take along a photograph with us. I reached his home at 11:00 and found him in his underpants searching his drawer to get photograph. At 11:10 he gave up and decided to go without it. He had 2 cars. One Maruti 800- 1992 Model and another Santro-2006 model. He sat in Maruti, disappointing me for the second time. He tried to start 6-8 times but couldn’t do it. I hoped he didn’t tell me to push a little. My inner voice told me that all is not well. I asked him to go on santro. I tried to be as generous as I could but it was 11:20 by my watch.

Finally we left at 11:25. He told me that this car doesn’t have petrol. We went to the nearest petrol pump and he wanted to make payment by credit card but their machine was not working. I gave 100 bucks and left. My watch showed 11:40.

He was continuously talking on phone, fixing the place and time to meet up his friends in evening to go on some party. He didn’t mind breaking signals. He didn’t fasten his seat belt. He didn’t mind touching 100Km/hr every now and then. He didn’t mind abusing rickshaw pullers for not giving him side. All this was making me crazy. As I was hoping that cops don’t stop us, he abruptly stopped the car near a small shop on the roadside and brought 2 cigararettes. And between all this, he was as calm as a cucumber. Whenever he found space he did’t mind converting his 1100cc car to an aircraft.

I sneaked 2min from his continuous phone calls and asked “don’t you get afraid”. He laughed at me and said “don’t you worry my friend, you will reach on time”. His sweet words could hardly embrace me. Suddenly he stopped the car again and told that it seems the tyre has got punctured. I was chocked for a min. He opened the door and took a 360 degree round checking all 4 tyres. He came back and said everything is fine. “Don’t you worry my friend, you will reach on time”.

Finally after all those hiccups we reached 10 min before time. Credit goes to his avg speed 80km/hr and breaking signals. Reaching on time was like going in the mouth of lion and coming back safely.

That day I realized how difficult it is when your life’s steering is in other’s hand. Don’t let anyone drive your life like this.