An Appointment

It’s when a dozen voices start answering you for the address enquiry you make to the person sitting next to you, in a densely packed CITY bus, guiding you almost till the destination is reached, that you realize you are in Hyderabad. If you are lucky, there will be cases when you will be escorted to the place you wish to reach. I wasn’t that lucky however at that hour of the day. It was not a busy hour; however the traffic on the way was quite enough to give the bus a halt sometimes as long as 15 minutes at a stretch. Being somewhere on time is a dream that never come true for me. Sometimes I start late, and other times ….. I start late…..

   All in all, I never miss to be there, even if it’s an hour delayed. With a look at the mobile I realized I was running late by 15 minutes. The stop seemed to be nearing and just then I heard

“This is where you have to get down ! “ the conductor shouting from the other end of the bus.

“Yeah !, this is the stop , don’t jump,”, an old man insisted looking at my position on the foot board, “ the bus will stop at the stop !” he concluded.

“ Come on uncle , am a software professional !” , I tried to convey but my voice never reached the poor fellows ears.

“right here , this is it “, the boy who stood by my seat all along conveyed. He looked quite happy to get that seat as I left it. No wonder he was in a good mood to inform.

“ya I was told !” I replied.

 It appeared to me as if I were a thief, being chased and the crowd shouting “Catch him catch him!” on my back as so many of them were eager to get me off the bus. The place was quite familiar to me and as it had been 3 years that I dint move around, that I just wanted to confirm if I was getting down at the right place. But the CROWD.

 I quickly jumped off the bus as it slowed down just near to the stop, ignoring the old man’s instructions. I could still hear him shouting, not to do it. The place changed a lot as 3 years is quite a long time and for a Hitech city as this, things change rapidly and get beyond the point of recognition. The divider that lay in the middle of road appeared more or less like the china wall. Raised 2 feet above the ground, I couldn’t figure out  if it was just a road divider or a country’s border.

“ Bloody contractors , they leave no chance to eat away governments money!”. Said I to the man who was in the venture of crossing the wall, sorry divider, along with me. He ignored my statement and went on his way jumping onto the other side. I wondered if he was a contractor himself as I crossed to the other end of the road. “ Who cares anyway!”.

The last time I moved around the place, it was deserted, almost no shop’s or bakeries. Things changed a lot. I slipped myself into one of those familiar looking streets as I moved ahead to make the appointment happen. It was already 25 minutes past 7, and I desperately looked around to get good picture of the place and to see if I could recognize any of the surroundings. I failed miserably and without wasting much time on pondering the reasons of my failure, I enquired in one of those road side CHAT BHANDAR’s.

“Is this the way to Hyd Eye Clinic!”, I asked. The fellow gave a sarcastic look, as the smile faded which he put up when I was approaching his vehicle, probably because I was interrupting his work or might be that he was expecting a customer out of me and I turned out to be yet another trespasser into his part of the land.

“ Go straight !” he commanded as I was just nearing the 4 wheeler, pointing to the direction he insisted me to move, and I guess wishing that I don’t get much nearer to his kingdom.

“ thanks !” I dint lose my part of decency as I replied with a smile expecting the smile back, which never came my way.

The street narrowed into a lane as I moved ahead hurriedly without paying much attention to the surroundings. The screen shot of my last visit to the place suggested my moving to the next lane and I did exactly as was expected to do. The time running out on the other hand, I never cared to pay attention to the notice boards around. As I entered the lane, i could see no proper light source around but for the headlamps of the vehicles passing by now and then. I moved ahead expecting to find the place. a couple of enquires and I was advised to move ahead. A junction came where I had to make choice between two ways. I took the right and I was right in choosing it, I guessed.

I walked for another 5 minutes and the place started looking familiar to me. I presumed I was finally there. The lane broadened into a street and there I could see the board of the place I wished to give a visit. What I saw next startled me. Looking at left I could see the same Chat Bhandar I enquired in. soon I realized that I missed reading the boards and made a merry go round of the place. since there were no customers at his vehicle , the owner smiled at me, as I looked puzzled. I guess he got that I made a fool out of myself.  

                The appointment went quite well, however the smile dint leave my thought. I dint want to get into a fight so I slowly slipped off to the other road instead of going from the one I came, after the appointment. Soon I caught a City bus back to my abode.

“The way that I came was the way I should be going back!”, thinking thus I seated myself to the nearest empty place I could find .

“ IIIT Stop” , I told the conductor as I got some change off my pocket sufficient enough to get the ticket, as he approached me after quite a lot many stops after I boarded.

“We come that way, we don’t go the same way , you are into the wrong bus !” the fellow exclaimed as he smiled . The bus moved past the nearest stop to my location .

“NOT AGAIN ……….!” I shouted in despair.