I was at the breakfast table whiling away my time with the bread and cheese. The tea had grown cold owing to my lack of attention and I wasn’t in a mood to rectify that flaw. Actually, I was in two minds: I was wondering whether I should – you know – gulp the tea down and get rid of the cold gaze that came my way as I looked down into the bowl. I was also wondering whether doing so will wittle down my time at the table.
It was – as you may have concluded – quite a tough train of thought to manoeuvre. And I had not the courage to drum up another. It takes effort and these days, I try to not let effort involve itself with me. So, I did what came naturally to me: I stared out of the window. A full minute after I had begun to enjoy this rather placid staid and useless chore, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Oh hi! You’re at home today?"
Well, if I wasn’t at home, not even my ghost will have had answered a call placed to my landline number. But I refrained from snapping back. That too takes effort.
Instead, I smilled and said, "Oh yes I am – finally!"
"So how fare your walks in Andheri?"
"Well, the less said the better."
"I know! That place has become such a headache."
"I know. With all those things being constructed there, it’s a real headache."
"And there doesn’t seem to be a respite."
"I doubt there ever will be. Going by the way things are, I doubt that."
"Andheri is no longer a place to work."
"Oh it was never a place to work. First, it was the roads. Then came the flyovers-"
"-and now it’s the Metro."
"Oh yes indeed, the Metro. That’s another element in the recipe for disaster."
"Haha."
"Well, seriously, first when there wasn’t the space to walk and drive, they decided to widen the roads. That they said will solve the problem. Two years later, as traffic exploded and people tripled in number, they jerked their knees and out came plans for the flyovers. Well, nothing changed as you know. Andheri East still suffers from traffic jams and now those jams are on the flyovers as well. And now they think of building the Metro over those flyovers."
"Haha!"
"Well, God alone knows what they are upto. I for one think the Metro is a colossal waste of everything. And it will only add to the traffic jams. Take Chakala junction for example. The trains are to run at an interval of three to four minutes? So, during peak hours, you can expect a flood of human beings descending down Chakala station and onto Chakala junction every five minutes. The result is something I don’t want to imagine!"
"Well, in the West, they did realize the stupidity of such knee-jerk reaction to problems and now don’t simply build. On the contrary, they encourage people to use alternative modes of transport such as the bicycle."
"Oh yes, I know there are cycling lanes there. Here, well, the less said the better."
"Haha. They made a mess of the CWG too."
"Oh that! That was so embarrassing. You see India mustn’t think of hosting such events. They do have the capability but don’t have any idea how to make use of it. It was such a spectacular waste of time. I just refused to follow those games."
"And now they want to host the Olympics!"
"Well, if they do that, I will personally attend to arrangements for a signature campaign against it!"
"Haha! Oh shoot I have to run. I have piano class now; Bach this time."
"Well, don’t forget the air on the strings!"
"No no, ha ha! Bye bye!"
And I went back to staring out of the window.
It was – as you may have concluded – quite a tough train of thought to manoeuvre. And I had not the courage to drum up another. It takes effort and these days, I try to not let effort involve itself with me. So, I did what came naturally to me: I stared out of the window. A full minute after I had begun to enjoy this rather placid staid and useless chore, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Oh hi! You’re at home today?"
Well, if I wasn’t at home, not even my ghost will have had answered a call placed to my landline number. But I refrained from snapping back. That too takes effort.
Instead, I smilled and said, "Oh yes I am – finally!"
"So how fare your walks in Andheri?"
"Well, the less said the better."
"I know! That place has become such a headache."
"I know. With all those things being constructed there, it’s a real headache."
"And there doesn’t seem to be a respite."
"I doubt there ever will be. Going by the way things are, I doubt that."
"Andheri is no longer a place to work."
"Oh it was never a place to work. First, it was the roads. Then came the flyovers-"
"-and now it’s the Metro."
"Oh yes indeed, the Metro. That’s another element in the recipe for disaster."
"Haha."
"Well, seriously, first when there wasn’t the space to walk and drive, they decided to widen the roads. That they said will solve the problem. Two years later, as traffic exploded and people tripled in number, they jerked their knees and out came plans for the flyovers. Well, nothing changed as you know. Andheri East still suffers from traffic jams and now those jams are on the flyovers as well. And now they think of building the Metro over those flyovers."
"Haha!"
"Well, God alone knows what they are upto. I for one think the Metro is a colossal waste of everything. And it will only add to the traffic jams. Take Chakala junction for example. The trains are to run at an interval of three to four minutes? So, during peak hours, you can expect a flood of human beings descending down Chakala station and onto Chakala junction every five minutes. The result is something I don’t want to imagine!"
"Well, in the West, they did realize the stupidity of such knee-jerk reaction to problems and now don’t simply build. On the contrary, they encourage people to use alternative modes of transport such as the bicycle."
"Oh yes, I know there are cycling lanes there. Here, well, the less said the better."
"Haha. They made a mess of the CWG too."
"Oh that! That was so embarrassing. You see India mustn’t think of hosting such events. They do have the capability but don’t have any idea how to make use of it. It was such a spectacular waste of time. I just refused to follow those games."
"And now they want to host the Olympics!"
"Well, if they do that, I will personally attend to arrangements for a signature campaign against it!"
"Haha! Oh shoot I have to run. I have piano class now; Bach this time."
"Well, don’t forget the air on the strings!"
"No no, ha ha! Bye bye!"
And I went back to staring out of the window.
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