Sunday, 9 September 2018

Reddy Auto.


Image result for school auto rickshaw cartoons
Alarm rings at 6 'o' clock at Sashi's place. Mom manages to get up quickly without showing even a trace of slothfulness, to begin her day. She then starts the humongous task of awakening Sashi. Mom doesn't toss and turn much, and makes sure she succeeds in hiding her disinclination to wake up as soon as alarm rings, as Sashi behaves intentionally more lazy in getting up, if she finds that her mom herself is trying hard to wake up for the day.

Though mom tries to wake both the sisters as soon as she gets up, it is Sashi's sister who gets up first to get ready for the school. Similar to an alarm's snooze, mom keeps on calling Sashi to wake up, from her kitchen, while trying to prepare breakfast for the day. Almost after twenty minutes of wheedling, Sashi finally yields to her mom when she comes from kitchen and gives a tight, eye-to-eye stare.

That stare is scary enough to make Sashi dress herself for the school and sit on the dining table for breakfast in just few minutes, before leaving to school in REDDY AUTO. Sashi hates almost all the breakfast recipes made by her mom. She makes sure she takes large bites and quickly swallows the food, as she wants to be done with this breakfast section without any additional fuss. She drinks a glass of milk at the end. By the time she starts taking a sip of that milk, she hears the terrifying horn of her auto-rickshaw. Without looking sides, she quickly finishes drinking, almost in a fraction of seconds and keeps the milk glass on the table with a thud, with an air of achievement. She now starts the process of polishing her black shoes. By the time Sashi places her hand on polish bottle in the shoe rack, Sashi's sister is already in the auto calling out her name, which is not only audible but also visible to Sashi's mom from her balcony in the second floor. Mom keeps on moving from balcony to Sashi, in order to hurry her a bit. Sashi hurries downstairs and stands in front of the auto panting, when the auto-man named Reddy takes her bag and keeps it alongside other bags at the rear rack of the auto, while other automates adjust themselves a bit to provide space for Sashi.

Sashi sits to the corner where there is an iron rod blocking entrance into the auto from that side. After Sashi's pick-up, Reddy goes to an individual house two lanes away, to pick up two Muslim brothers. The younger one's name is Iqbal and he is of Sashi's age. And the elder one's name is Irfan, who is one year older to Sashi. He poses no problem to Sashi as he goes to sit beside auto-man. But on the other hand, Iqbal is a very big source of embarrassment for Sashi. This is why he is so: Iqbal is a very fair, skinny, short boy. Since Sashi is, a bit tall and chubby when compared to him, Iqbal is made to sit on Sashi's lap by Reddy, each and everyday. O...M....G...Sashi cannot take this huge embarrassment. Iqbal happily comes and sits on Sashi's lap without even a trace of discomfort, but for Sashi, it is a nerve-wracking moment. Iqbal weighs very less. So weight is not at all a concern for Sashi's reluctance. But it is the fact, which all others are proving everyday that she weighs a bit more than average to happily carry a boy of her age on her lap, worries her like hell. At first she does not accept to this mistreatment, but later she relents as it is she who joined this auto community recently, while Iqbal and his brother have been using the same auto since their childhood. And also she hears sentences such as, '' Come on Sashi! Don't be so selfish. Poor Iqbal has to stand uncomfortably, if you do not allow him to sit on your lap." , Sashi's sister says, '' Sashi! It is us who joined later. The corner place which you occupy, rightfully belongs to Iqbal. It is so kind of him to let you sit in his place." Sashi finally says," ENOUGHHHHHHH....'' and lets Iqbal to jump onto her lap. Since she loses this battle very often, she quickly comes to terms with the situation and keeps a constant vigil on the road from that moment, to see if any of her classmates find out this crazy thing which happens to her en route to school, and start bullying her in school.

To add to her misery, now enters another girl named Aparna into the auto in their next pick-up. Aparna is a tall, stout girl, who is a senior to Sashi in school. Aparna is so chubby that Sashi comfortably calls herself a tiny,lean girl, when both are compared. Aparna is always late. Her mother always accompanies her with a snack-box and a water bottle, when she comes running with a heavy bag on her back. Everybody except Irfan who sits beside Reddy, has to come out of the auto as Aparna's place is opposite to Sashi and Iqbal duo. Sashi and Iqbal sit on the seat and Aparna is made to sit on the Reddy-made wooden bench opposite to the big seat of the auto. Aparna comes and keeps her large, fluffy legs in between Sashi's. Iqbal nicely keeps both his legs towards a side and sits like a baby on Sashi's lap. Once Aparna comes and keeps her legs in between, Sashi's body becomes perfectly motionless as even a small hand shake or a leg shake seem like a shove to others. Only her head has the freedom to move to any degree, and hence she uses it to the maximum to keep a strong vigil. She even tries to convince Aparna to sit in her place. Aparna bluntly rejects. Later Sashi even offers a compromise that she and her can take turns in babysitting Iqbal. Nah!! Aparna is clever enough to reject. Aparna even pulls her mom into the scene and makes her say to Reddy that Aparna's legs ache very often, so she cannot do that holy help to Iqbal.

Aakansha is the eldest of all in the auto and the one to be mentioned. She is the one who gets into the auto before anybody else. She sits on the corner which has an opening to get into the auto. She has got curls in her hair and curves in her body. She is of medium complexion, but stylish and speaks a rich, English accent. She is the one who tries to speak in English even with Reddy, though she knows the regional language perfectly. Reddy, who hardly knows English, however, manages to reply without any hesitation with the help of Irfan who sits beside him. Whenever Aakansha begins to speak anything with Reddy, everybody else in the auto listens to their conversation with rapt attention as they do not want to miss these hilarious moments. After Reddy gives his reply with the aid of Irfan, everybody else bursts into a fit of giggles.

Then comes the most charming boy of the auto. His name is Varun. He is the one who gets into the auto after Aakansha, before reaching Sashi's house. He is Irfan's classmate. He sits on the bench,  opposite to Sashi's sister, who sits in between Aakansha and Sashi. As Sashi's sister is two years older to her, Varun fortunately becomes a senior to Sashi and junior to her sister. He speaks very less and smiles a lot. And in whatever he speaks, the conversations between him and Sashi's sister get a lion share as it is easy for a shy boy like him to speak with the person who sits in front of him than with the person sitting anywhere else. Unfortunately, most of the times, Sashi's time gets evaporated in looking towards the road to check if any of her friends' autos are beside or behind hers, in asking Aparna to change her leg direction a bit, in asking Iqbal to get up for a second and sit again, in trying to set her hair which gets ruffled by the incoming breeze as she sits towards a corner. When she is fortunate enough, she gets to see the smile on Varun's face and it soothes Sashi at least for the coming few minutes.

And last but not the least, Soumya is the last one who gets in, before they all head to school. Soumya speaks a thick, regional slang. She is also Irfan's classmate. She narrates good amount of stories to everybody in the auto before they step out to the school. Her favorite genre is horror. Her house abuts a slum and she knits some crazy stories in its backdrop that there lives a witch in that slum, she likes children etc. Her house is the last in the lane which is so narrow that an auto cannot turn if it wants to. So Reddy asks her to stand at the entrance of her lane to pick her up. On the days she gets late, it is Reddy who has to walk, right away from the auto to the house at the end, as nobody else dares to do so.

It takes almost 35 minutes to reach their school. Every morning Sashi thinks when she would get back to the auto after school in the afternoon, while getting down from the auto to take her bag and head to school. She has not yet liked this new school as she still faces discomfort in adapting to its posh aura. As soon as the auto enters the lane in which the school is situated,she gets butterflies in her stomach.

But, after the school hours come to an end, one should see the way Sashi wears a beaming smile. It is her time now. One cannot stop her chatter in the auto in the afternoons. Though she hates the fact that Iqbal is made to sit on her lap, she slowly develops a nice bond with him, as he patiently listens to whatever Sashi speaks in the afternoons. They even play small, fun games such as stone-paper-scissor, hand cricket etc. And yes! She doesn't miss out any of Varun's conversations in the afternoons.

Sashi waves bye to all her automates before sprinting upstairs to reach her flat. She presses calling bell with great force, and cannot stand straight with patience till the time her mom comes to open the door. She enters inside, scolding her mom for the delay in opening the door, drops her school bag from her height, towards a corner, and asks mom what she has prepared for lunch. She quickly removes her shoes and before even listening to what her mom says about the dishes, she heads straight to dining table where all the dishes are placed. She takes a deep breath to let in the aroma of the dishes, but before she goes to wash her hands to have food, mom comes and orders her to take a quick shower. Sashi knows how strict her mom is, in terms of health and hygiene, so she without wasting even fraction of seconds for a dialogue, quickly goes to their balcony for getting her towel and goes to have a refreshing shower before sitting beside her sister on the sofa before TV with a plate of rice and curry. They both watch cartoons for almost an hour with hand in the plate and eyes glued to TV, before taking their afternoon nap. The rest of the day she shows the same level of merriment as she goes out to play in the evenings, and not until the time when she hears that deadly alarm tone in the morning at 6 'o' clock the next day, would her smile evade her face.


2 comments: