Saturday, January 06, 2007

Nithari...

"Nithari se ek aur uth gaya hai, jeep wahi le chalte hain...."
It was a good lovely night on the first floor of ST Microelectronics in Noida. With only me and Baba in the office; the way he worked intently; while I enjoyed good old Hemant Kumar melodies, the thoughts of the remaining whiskey, waiting to be freed from the bottle kept back at my place; it seemed to me that the phone was ringing at a distance.
At around 1.30 in the night. Not unusual for me, and I showed no haste in picking it up. But the voice that followed knew no patience!! "Come up fast yaar.. Me and my sister were returning from the PVR after the late night show, we were stopped near the Noida bridge, and there is this cop who wants my sister to sit in his jeep, and wants me to follow in our auto-richshaw!"
Shit! I knew what it meant to leave a girl alone at these hours of the night. PCR jeep or the van with tinted glasses, sound equal in those hours of the night in Noida. And with few incidences that were happening every now and then, were not supporting the cause of keeping a peaceful mind.
It seems to be Baba's favourite slang, for he uses it for all expressions of joy,anger, frustration, cheer, "Bhosdi-wale...", and we were off towards the bridge to help my friends. The sub-inspector literally perfuming the atmosphere with the fragrance of the local wine, was in no moods of human manners, and definitely was in no moods to let this catch go easily off. It took lots of convincing, mentioning some big names, sometimes even firing back at them, but Baba finally convinced the policemen to let my friend go away with his sister.
And it was when the auto set off, and the policemen done with his duty of law-enforcement, I heard his sub-ordinate speak from inside the jeep ""Nithari se ek aur uth gaya hai, jeep wahi le chalte hain.."