The link to the previous part is available on the below link:
https://krish-thefriendly.blogspot.com/2020/09/chapter-1-happiness-and-beyond-it-part-1.html
Feeling pity about the folks around me, I had to crane my neck to
the maximum to see by any chance if the traffic will clear anytime soon. With
no luck in my favor, I sat down patiently on my bike again and took out my
mobile. To my shock I could
find 20 missed calls from Ankitha, which were already blinking on my mobile. Naturally the blood
started pumping heavily, I started sweating and I was in a dilemma whether to
give her a call back or not. I could easily visualize the scene on what happens
the moment she picks up my call and that gave me cold shiver all through my
spine. However, before I could receive the next call from her, to my relief the
vehicles have started moving and the traffic was easing out slowly.
I hit the throttle to the maximum and the speedometer would have already
crossed the safe threshold of riding, but I was not bothered about anything
around me. Violating couple of signals, giving close cut to few city buses,
there would be many who would have abused me of my driving. Despite multiple
violations my only target on mind was to reach the destination on time. As I
was nearing the target, a shining band new Audi A4 gave an unexpected entry
from the wrong side of the road making me to hit the brakes at the instant.
The Apache responded timely to my sudden command and thereby came
to a halt with a cool skid ensuring that I did not budge off. A quick decision thus saved me and my baby (my
bike) from grave disaster. Coming to a standstill very close to the Audi, I
hardly gave a rough stare and went on abusing who on earth gave him a license
to drive, even though in the past few minutes I myself had broken 100s of
traffic rules.
It was exactly 7.55pm and I was in front of the designer’s store, which
was my destination. Rushing into the store, I handed over the slip to the lead
designer who rather receiving me with his pleasant smile gave a very dirty
look. I could easily read his mind from the reaction that he gave. It was the
closing time and I had come in exactly then. Giving a heavy sigh of frustration, he went in and came back with a
neatly folded dress robe. I collected the package,
placed it with utmost care into my backpack and hit the bike’s engine back to
life, getting ready to face the ultimate challenge.
Though with a small sense of accomplishment and joy I was heading
back to my home. It was a short drive along the main road, but just to enjoy the cool
evening weather, I took the streets and rode gently enjoying the breeze hitting
my face. At a distance I
could sense some people movement, as normally the street wore a deserted look. I
wondered if I had taken the wrong turn and entered the street, but anyways
continued riding through it, as any street within the area ended up near my
home.
As I was approaching a residential zone, an unusual sight welcomed me
there. Of course, being a teenager who had just passed out of college, all my focus
was always directed on to those good-looking hot girls, who flaunt the city
24/7. But what caught me here was a completely different picture. I could see many
tiny faces brightly lit up running, jumping, rolling, shouting and doing all
sort of mischief that they can possibly do. Having a closer look at the area, it was the corporation park
where people usually come out on their evening walk. Since it was Friday,
children had come out to have their gala time and dominate the whole place, as
they had full 2 days to be away from school.
I was smiling looking at those happy faces when my eyes suddenly fell
upon a pair of kids. In the far corner of the park there was a small girl in
her cute baby pink dress, hair neatly combed and with an innocent look held her
brother’s hand, who was just a year or two older to her, trying to make his
sister climb the slide. It was so cute that I instantly stopped my bike and
looked at the innocence in them. The determination to make her climb the slide was seen in the
brother’s face and the confidence that the brother will not let her down was
seen in the tiny girl’s face. It was more of a bonding than just a relationship, which was felt
there and that even the grown up’s hardly show these days. The little boy took
her sister around the park, also help her climb the swing and rocks it off for
her, sit on the other side of see-saw and enjoyed looking how merrily she loved
it. There was not a single moment when the girl refused to take a ride and that
was the amount of faith & confidence that she had on her brother. And that sight
of them, took me down the lane, to a time, that was 18 years back.
(To be continued…)
