A Manush (a great one at that)

It was pouring. I braved the rain and walked from the newly opened 'Joharfa' cafe all the way to the bus stop outside the Muffakamjah college. All the while waving at passing autos or repeatedly trying rapido without success. I had to be somewhere by 4 PM and it was already 320. I was going to be late but first things first, how was I even going to find a ride home? 

The continuous auto hailing helped eventually. One nice looking chap stopped.

With my head inside the auto (essentially 50% of the body and 100% of the mind was committed to the ride irrespective of the fare), I told him whereto. "He will ask for 500 at least, given the circumstances," I thought 

"Baarish bahut ho rahi hai sir. Traffic mein phasenge. Chalo do sau (200) dedo" 

I must have gotten lucky, I told myself while dragging the rest of the body into the auto in a flash. 

We started and immediately entered into a traffic jam. I looked at my mobile and was shocked to see battery at 9%. The device was going to be my saviour in getting through this long, jam ridden ride. 

"Bhai charger hai phone ka? C type waali?" 

"Charger nahin hai sir. Lekin agar aap ko apne timepass ke liye mobile chahiye tho fikar mat karo. Mai acchha gaaleta hoon"

And without even waiting for my response, he started singing a Kishore Kumar classic, " Dil aisa kisine mera toda"

Now, it was raining cats, dogs and baby elephants. The traffic, as you might expect, was made of baboons on all kinds of Automotives. And my auto waala was singing, quite beautifully, one of my favourite songs (well all Kishore Kumar songs are favorites anyway). The latent singer in me just couldn't hold back. 

I joined a kindred soul in singing a beautiful song in heavy rain. Kindred because he knew the full lyrics of the song - something I normally do not find with many music lovers. 

So, we sang heartily as the traffic progressed at a pace that would put a snail to shame. And honestly I don't even remember when I forgot about the traffic because from that point on it was a journey full of bliss. 

"Chalo ek aur gaana gaate hain," I said. 

"Arrey diwaano, mujhe pehchaano," the rickshaw wala was just a bundle of brilliance. He knew the previous song was full of pathos so picked up another that was super peppy. I joined in again. 

So the ride continued with Amit Kumar, Bhupinder Singh, Suresh Wadkar, Jagjith Singh and Kumar Sanu joining the melee of melody. We didn't bother the curious looks from people on other vehicles. People on two wheelers, braving the rain, were probably the most amused as they could hear the noise from the auto the loudest. 

My new friend was multi talented and super matured. He mimicked Narendra Modi, Amitabh Bachchan and even Sunny Deol as the staccato ride continued. He didn't know much about the lives of singers. He was shocked when I told him that Kishore Kumar passed away in 1987. And from then on for every singer, once we finished the song, he would ask, "yeh abhi hai?" 

The icing on the cake was the guys imitation of Asha Bhosle. He sang in female voice so effortlessly that I just had to give up singing along and stare in disbelief and appreciation. 

We introduced ourselves and shook hands when the ride finally ended. The bundle of brilliance was from Jharkhand but an absolute embodiment of the India we all know and love. I checked the time to realize that it was one of the longest auto rides that I ever took for such a short distance. The beauty was that I did not even feel a quarter of that time. Pure bliss in what could have been a nightmare of a ride. 

Small mercies in testing times 🙏

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vTnH6CcpP6RmxrGs6