Travalogue - I - Journey to Office

I have thought of  writing travelogue series based on the experiences I get during my travel to any place. Starting here are the couple of posts. Welcome your inputs! Happy reading...:) 

“Does this stop at Sholinganallur signal?”

A total of 10 pair of ears, including the driver’s was hit by the question that came from a Malayalee who managed to stop our already overloaded auto.

We all grew restless and I my first day of travel via share auto, to my office in the outskirts of the city, reminded me the slogan ‘Incredible India’.

The driver managed to accommodate the new entrant, by making him seat next to him, on his left. In the process, he not only squeezed the little fat one on his right,but also moved to the tip of the seat, as if the next move would only make him fall down,leaving us to drive the auto. Irritated, the fat boy was about to get off the auto when the driver’s words “Anna, innum oru stop dan anna… ivanga erangiduvanga…” could not be understood by him and he asked “Kya?”. So I took up the responsibility of the translator with my weak Hindi knowledge.

The auto continued its journey, by turning a deaf ear to others in the subsequent stops. Various types of deos and dust queued up at my nostrils. I started sneezing  heavily and continuously. It resulted in various murmurs and expression on the co-passengers’ faces. They started looking at me like a “species”.

After 15 numbers,I could open my mouth to say them all Sorry. My apology was not heard in the speeding auto. In the meantime, the auto driver started playing a song from old tamil movie that came in the 60’s. So jarring it was that one could hardly hear the mobiles ringing.

Before the next stop came, the little boy seated next to me jumped across my head. The auto driver almost tilted the auto to 45 degrees, making it run on single wheel. For many reasons my mind picked up the rhymes, “Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall” from memory. With a slight hit on my forehead the auto was put back on track.

Oh God! I wanted to get down from the auto for sure. But I was already running late and as a new joiner I cannot afford to lose more time. I still had 5 more stops to go as I got to know from others.

The auto this time was stopped by a lady with a big bamboo basket. The basket was empty but very stinky. I was afraid if she would sit in the empty seat next to me. Luckily, the auto driver asked her to occupy the far end of the auto at the back. We all closed our noses and one girl even took her perfume out and sprayed again on her.

But I didn’t fail to notice the auto driver. With every stop, tirelessly, he was requesting the passengers to re-arrange themselves comfortably. His quick calculations for rendering change,his spirit while greeting the other auto drivers on the way were amazing. There were couple of parcels handed over to him in the next stop by one of his relatives as he called the one standing on the road as “Anna”. By the time the lady with the stinking basket(later I understood it’s a emptied fish basket) got down and we all sighed a relief. I asked the auto driver what time we would reach the stop I meant to. He said exactly 7 minutes.

Unfortunately, when the auto started moving there was a small accident before our auto. The girl who fell from her two wheeler was bleeding. I could hear so many voices pitying her. Our auto driver suddenly turned into a hero. Swiftly he pulled an box like arrangement from the roof of the auto and handed over the first aid box to the girl. He accepted her thanks gracefully and exactly on the 7^th minute I was in my stop. I gave a smile to the auto driver and handed over him the change.

Though I rushed, I was 15 minutes late to the office. My freshers training session had started with other colleagues giving a triumphant look for their early arrival.I had to be seated in the first row as every other was occupied. It was a day long session with the HR briefing and trainees were encouraged to share their opinions and feedback at the end.

The psychology to call people seated in the front got applied to me as well. I was called to speak on a topic of management, as I’m a B School student. Now it’s my turn to look triumphant. I spoke on “Management on wheels”. All that you all read till now became the subject of sharing. I felt at peace with the loud applaud of audience as I co-related all the incidents with Relationship management, Time management, Perseverance, Pro-active approach, tolerance etc etc. Thanks to the auto driver and my first real time management Guru.

Smile.