Between the Devil and the Dark Night

In the past calamities or oddities that keep happening in Mumbai I have always found myself tucked away in some safe corner not knowing what the hell was going on. But good luck never really runs for long, does it?

Yesterday in the downpour there was in the city I was in college since noon and I thanked my luck yet again, for my college timings and for the fact that I had not bunked and gone out with friends... then we would've been in real trouble what with people literally stranded without any means of transport.

I was in college till 7 in the evening which are the official timings of our college... between which time 'Friendship Day' was celebrated and the celebrations had carried on. Carried on till about 8 and half an hour after that I got into the train, with my white Tee baring odes of friendships and wishes for the future. My face and hands weren't spared, I looked like a walking bulletin board, my right cheek sporting the words... 'Ha Ha Ha Gotcha' in permanent black, but yet I was thankful that the rain had slowed down some. At least the trains were functioning properly at that point. No later than 15 minutes, we were off at our desired station walking amidst the ruins of the completely deserted rickshaw stand, hopelessly flailing our arms at the empty rickshaws speeding by with no avail. We decided to walk a bit and as soon as we passed by a Cafe... my stomach started rumbling. To most eating at this point would seem disturbing... to me it's the most natural thing to do if it involves a cuppa coffee.

Sitting down at the Cafe, we stared out miserably as the rain showed no signs of stopping. My wind-cheater was soaked in water from when I had dropped it and it was of no use whatsoever. Move over rain, I said as we walked out after 'bout 45 minutes and my girl friend, who was the only one accompanying me, said it was the cappucino speaking. I was refreshed alright but the rain had doubled... coming down on us at an almost a bone-crunching velocity and I was soaked top to bottom. We walked on for another 15 minutes.

T'was bout 10 by the time we caught a rick, with a strict warning not to address him as 'bhaiyya' and a prior notice that he would not leave us all the way to our home but drop us at a place which is about half an hours walk from home. We were glad, at least for the five-ten minutes that we were in the rickshaw, to be under some shelter cause I was soaked and it was freakin cold.

So he dropped us at the promised point, from whereon we begun walking not believing our luck to be stuck in this situation. If I were dry I would've enjoyed the weather... but I wasn't. Our mad flailing to stop anything and everything on wheels begun again cause walking the length to our homes seemed impossible in the rising water, we continued trying to stop rickshaws when a car sopped to give us a lift.

The old man asked whether we needed some help... we said we could use a lift. Our houses were a good 25 minutes away and he said he was going that way. We were so eager to get out of the bloody cold that we didn't think twice before getting in.

Immediately after the car started, red flags started going up in my head. I remembered a serial called 'Bhanwar' and all the ugly details of the taking-a-lift-from-strangers eipsode started running through my head. The caustic smell of ciggarette smoke had filled up the inside of the car and the steamed windshield was adding to my apprehension. I looked at my friend and she had the same anxiousness on her face. The man inquired about where we were coming from and told us we shouldn't have been out so late at night. I was in no condition to make small talk so I answered his questions point blank.

At a turn which was still a good 15 minutes away from our homes we convinced the man to let us get off. He was offerring to leave us all the way home from some other route but we kept the fake smiles on our faces and insisted on getting off.

He smiled at me and a virtous gesture immediately seemed like a menacing grin. We got home a li'l later and my friend and I swore to not tell anyone because everybody would've said the same thing 'two girls, getting into an unknown car, close to midnight' weren't really good prospects. I would've yelled at my friends if anyone had done such a thing and yet at that point we were so blinded by our exhaustion we did something stupid.

Whether that man was a good samaritan or a fucking criminal I still can't say but I am a little glad I didn't wait long enough to find out exactly.

I do feel bad for accusing him for anything... if he was just trying to help... but then the thought of some other girl who was stranded alone some night and made the biggest mistake of her life by asking for a lift comes into my mind and I think... maybe I have the liberty to be alert. Maybe I have the liberty of making an assumption.

Cause otherwise I know I wouldn't have wanted to see the expression 'Ha Ha Ha Gotcha' in his eyes.