Mumbai Chronicles-2

“Mumbaikars” are loving people, I mean literally. No matter where you go on road, on platform, any public place you will see people giving flying kisses (minus the hand waving). For a moment you will wonder that these modest looking people are quite progressive when it comes to public display of affection. Only to figure out later, that this is nothing more than their way of calling somebody.So you had decided to take the auto as you were not ninja enough to get on the train. The good thing is your office is at an "incentivising" distance for the auto driver or else you would have to take a leave from office that day unless you were some marathon runner.You get in the auto and the auto driver starts the meter. The auto drivers in India are no less than a F1 driver or even better , the security instructions given in airplane are all so apt on an auto ride, I wish they incorporate that even here “kripya kursi ki peti baandh len ab aapka auto udaan ke liye tayyar hai”, “emergency mein 2 dwar aage aur 2 dwar aapke daayen aur baayen mein hain par apne auto driver pe vishwaas rakhen ye auto ko kahin se bhi nikaalne mein saksham hain” .  To your relief you still have an hour to reach your office, good for you that you left quite early to give a good impression on your first day. But since when reaching office an hour early gives good impression and also you do not have the time for it, so you throw that thought out. Another thought replaces the it; you can still prove your sincerity by reaching on time. You are busy in these thoughts; a sudden jerk breaks your sequence of thoughts. You realize that the auto is on the Western express highway but there is an unending queue of cars in front of you. You start cursing the system, the country, the people, the traffic and even the unrelated issues like how dirty the city is, how the cases are piling up in the court, how difficult it is to get a house, for that is the Indian way of releasing the stress in a situation- you take the bottom up approach of cursing, it can go upto Gandhiji(Father of the Nation) for not favoring the partition.By the speed at which the traffic is moving you seriously wished you were a marathon runner or had some superpowers, you need them now more than ever. You are wondering if the meter is running faster than the traffic and even your watch is running faster than the traffic. You just have 20 min and you have not even covered half the distance, so now sincerity is also out of the question. Who wants sincere people! You want to be cool by your “don’t care” attitude for office timings; also you have no other option.So after spending some quality time getting familiar with the traffic and pollution on the road, you manage to reach office 30 min late and no, it did not look cool as you ended up getting some words of advice in return of your multiple apologies.