Date: 4th july. Time: 10.30p.m. I had a train to catch at 11.30 p.m. from New Delhi Railway Station. I have a history of catching trains in Delhi just about in time which means had i came a minute or two later i would have missed these trains. Though this time i was a little less worried because everytime its Manish who drops me to the station. Manish needs a little introduction here. He is casual, fun loving and “For-fun-dude-For-thrill” type of a guy and i guess together our luck gets summed up only to that much which is just enough to not let me miss my train.
This evening it was Anupam, my very much-responsible-caring and blah blah (fill in all good words) jijz (read my sister’s boyfriend since ages) driving a bike in Delhi’s busy roads and seeing me off to lucknow. I like to be the pillion rider when he’s driving. The reason being that i like to pat on his fat belly when hes driving. (I call it playing tabla on his tond like a child.) The other obvious reason is that i like the way he drives. But this time there was a big suitcase in between because of which i had to give the childplay a skip. Though Anupam tried his best to avoid all potholes and drive smoothly still i was a bit uncomfortable as i had to manage my laptop bag also along with the suitcase on the bike.
The bike halted at a red light after a long 30 minute journey. I tried to make myself a bit comfortable and just then I saw my favourite car right beside me – A Shining White Jaguar. My eyes quickly ran into the interiors of the car. I tilted my neck a bit to see the backseat as well. The steering, the seats, the doors, etc and the technicalities installed. I was awestruck and thoughts of owning it one day plagued my mind. How i wished it didn’t have so much cost attached to it! There was still time for the light to go green so i thought of giving my eyes the pleasure of going through the beauty once again.
The chauffeur was an old man of around 65 years. In this old age, he managed to look quite smart! A teenage girl sat beside him. She had an i-phone and was busy using it with a smile on her face. She looked contended.
I tilted my neck a bit once again to have a look at the owner of the vehicle sitting in the backseat. He was a middle-aged man working on his tablet. He looked busy and had a frown on his face. Beside him sat his wife.
She looked simple in a printed chiffon salwar kameez. She wore pearl earings and a necklace which were supposed to glorify her status as a wife of a rich man. I was actually expecting a high class rich aunty of delhi with a lot of gold and diamonds beside the owner but instead was surprised to see the lady adorned in simplicity in the car. She was fidgeting with her mangalsutra and watched her husband work on the tablet and her daughter busy with her phone. She thought of initiating some talk. But then she leaned back on the seat and started looking outside. She looked dull and unhappy. The family was together out for a drive to ... i don’t know where but the lady wanted more than just the physical presence of her family members. She wanted them to chat with her. May be that was one such time when the entire family got the chance to be together. And yet they hardly talked. The dullness in her life pinched me.
While i was wondering all this, the signal went green. Anupam drove past the car and i looked back at the lady who hadn’t changed her posture from then. She kept staring out with her head resting on the backseat. Soon the Jaguar overtook us and i noticed the lady for the last time. Her eyes sunken. She kept thinking something. Dejected, she was.
Suddenly the Jaguar didn’t seem something big. It didn’t find a place in my one-of-those dreams. Strangely, it had lost its significance. All of a sudden, that dullness on her face ripped away all the admiration i had for that car. That tablet, that i-phone, that chauffeur which came along with the Jaguar became a pile-on.
Throughout our lives we keep speculating about what we want to do in life, how do we see ourselves about 25 years from now, our dreams, and we keep wishing that we want to be this and that in life. We all are dreamers in that sense. I don’t know what i’ll be doing in my life ahead but that day i realized what i didn’t want to be if not anything else. Theres a certain twinkle in my eyes which i can’t dare to lose. It keeps me going through thick and thin.
I don’t want that Jaguar anymore. It just costs too much indeed!
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