Friday, February 5, 2010

Of scooters, lemons, mopeds, violations et al

Friday is always fun b'cos you are all excited 'bout the upcoming weekend and making plans on how to celebrate ur two days away frm the drudgery of work etc etc.. As for me, this weekend, because I was still fighting off a cold, all I was looking forward to was a sleepathon :) But, as usual there are miles to go b4 I sleep.. sleep... zzzz... clearing fogged head by gulping hot water - trying to do a lot of things at once and not succeeding :0

Incident 1:
So on this lazy friday morning, I started from home, at a relaxed 10:45 am and was stuck behind this moped that was carrying three ppl. A moped is a two-wheeler with pedals that makes an awful lot of noise but has absolutely no power especially if three ppl are travelling on it. So, as a result, I was driving at a stately pace - meaning jes barely moving - when I notice that someone from a nearby shop is aiming to throw a small ball like thing at the moped in front of me. The guys in the moped duck, drive in a crazy manner to miss whtever was thrown at them and I realize that they escaped it as I felt rather than heard my two-wheeler crush the lemon.... Grrr! Did the shop-owner really think that the lemon that I crushed today would enable him to do better business? Howww? How dare he hand over the responsibility of his business to me with jes a simple toss of a lemon? Anyway, I resolve never to leave at this time from tomorrow irrespective of the day. Fingers crossed!!

Incident 2:
I am in the middle of attempting to understand a mind-numbing piece of documentation that I am only too glad I did not write - when the phone vibrates. It is my aunt. It is not like her to call during a work day and so I pick up her call. She tells me that I have a traffic violation in my name. I was too zapped to respond. She tells me she recd the letter yesterday and she wanted to know if she can ask her driver to pay it off for me. I was pretty confused that I say No and ask for details. She tells me she is at work too and cannot really remember, right away. She promises to call me after she reaches home.

Incident 3:
I recall that when I joined, we were having this video conference and my manager in the US, wanted to know how I commuted to work. I was all smiles as I said "Two-wheeler". This was followed by a pin-drop silence and I cud see that every1 was confused. In fact, one member actually said "Did she say 2Wheeler?" not realizing that I cud hear and see her :) I was stumped and then said " aaahh.. Bike... Ummm.. two-wheeler". I think my lead feared I wud repeat myself till smne said "Yes - we got it" and pitched in with "Scooter". This was instantly followed by a loud chorus of "aaaahhs..". Meanwhile, my bike shed tears in the parking lot b'cos he was being compared to the Bajaj Chetak.

It had been a blaah day and when I reached home, I was told by my aunt that I was being fined for riding without helmet. I spent the next few minutes figuring out the day and time when I could have commited the offense and I zeroed in on the date and Eureka - I am right! I spent the next few minutes in the "hmmm... yes, you are right.. aaahhh" end of the lecture on the harmful effects of driving helmet-less and blahdeblah.

When the Arien came home, I ranted till I was out of breath & the ever practical guy that he is, he said "Blog 'bout it - I am sure you will feel better". He was right as usual. (Don't tell him - he has a swollen head as is) :D