Anecdote #41

Travelling by autos has become a part and parcel of my college life. Both my parents take both the drivers with them to their respective workplaces leaving me on my own to fend for myself. As a school student I was not allowed to take the auto due to my over protective family but they realised that it was practically impossible to arrange the car for me everyday. Thus it began.
Initially I was thrilled because it gave me a sense of freedom but gradually as the seasons changed, going for 8:45 lectures in the morning became harder. The cold breeze and unexpected showers worsened the conditions. 

A plausible solution to this was taking an uber but spending 300 rupees everyday on transport alone was not appeasing to my student budget especially when the quality of the cabs are questionable. Some cabs have their interiors modelling on a temple other times the drivers like playing blaring punjabi music and many refuse to switch on the air conditioner/heaters.

Keeping all this in mind autos seem like the best alternative but here's the catch, the auto as a vehicle is not the problem but the guy whose driving it is.
I have encountered many auto drivers, some are genuinely decent but these rare gems are far and few.
The others, well I have no words for them.
Firstly thanks to Jaitley ji the two thousand rupee has caused a lot of commotion in my life. Each month when I receive my allowance I sincerely pray to God that it doesn't consist of 2000 rupee notes at any cost.
During one auto ride I informed the precariously driver that I had a 500 hundred note beforehand because they tend be very short tempered with respect to this issue. He did not refuse to take me but decided to take a detour and took me to a petrol station to get change . As you may have guessed I was late to class that day. 

Honestly, the worst part is the fear of pick pockets. Every time I spot a man on a motorcycle I clutch my bag close to my heart and experience a mild version of a panic attack. An experience which taught me to be extremely cautious was when I was travelling with my friends and a snatcher came out of nowhere and tried to steal my friend's phone but thankfully the attempt failed. Needless to say he and his friends greeted us with whistles. They were not discrete to say the least.

My coping mechanism is that I am hoping that all these experiences  are a means for my karmic redemption. They sure have taught me to do unto others what you wish others do unto you.

I do realise that  autos can be a pain but cars and drivers are a luxury, despite this you will get sick of the bargaining because let's face it the auto wale bhaiya will never learn. 

At the same time don't worry there will come a time in your life when you will encounter a bhaiya who goes by the meter and you will pay the right price. And I promise you in that moment you will experience sheer, unadulterated joy!

Anecdote #40

Last year a new person entered my life. Let me rephrase that, this person entered my daily life, is responsible for making my life easier and is someone who I literally cannot live without. She is my help at home, Lily Didi.
During most times she lives in her own world or in the world of her mobile phone. She has given my entire family many laughable moments and has become irreplaceable.
She is not very sharp, extremely forgetful and hard of hearing. Honestly speaking she is not an efficient worker but she is a pure soul.
I have lost count of her goof ups but at the same time I have learnt a lot from her. Her husband is extremely suspicious and calls at least 5 times a day to check up on her. When a stalker was troubling her over the phone she asked her husband to intervene but instead of solving the problem he began speculating that she was having an affair. As much as I tried to keep away from her personal life my punjabi nature forced me to get involved. I told her to reprimand him, shout at him and leave him.
She still patiently keeps trying and refuses to hold any grudges. That is the special thing about her, she doesn't hold any grudges against anybody.
She said that marriage was not about giving up and one had to learn to manage and handle different situations. At the same time she told me that if he didn't mend his ways she would take action.  A few days later she confessed that if her marriage doesn't work out and if things ended she would never marry again.
This struck me because it is very seldom that you get hear that.
More than my parents I spend the most at home so we tend to interact a lot. We have formed a friendship of sorts. She has to go back to meet the dreaded husband so I decided to ask her in front of my mom what she liked most about our house. I expected it to be me but her response was that the food's good and my parents travel a lot. So basically she indirectly told my mom that she's happy when they're not home. Her innocence is what makes her humorous.
I will never be able to forget the times when my father would call her on the landline and ask her how I was doing and she would reply by saying “main theek hoon bhaiya.” Her way of answering calls is also peculiar with her hello lasting a good ten seconds. All these things are what makes her Lily Didi. The person who lights up the empty house and helps it become a home. A home she has now become a part of.