Thursday, July 7, 2011

Emergency



It's the office rush hour. Sun is slowly but surely disappearing making way for darkness to swallow the city. The roads are jam packed with vehicles of various models, sizes and colors all trying to get ahead of the rest. Drivers seem to have lost their senses, blowing their horns, turning the vehicle this way and then the other way only managing to move ahead by a foot or two. The entire vehicle fleet has come to a stand still. Then movement is detected far ahead and everybody waits impatiently until it reaches their vehicle. Engines roar and the slightest delay to join the movement is treated by a deafening horn by the driver behind. Just as speed begins to spread it wings, a bus slams down on it's breaks with a thundering sound and stops blocking half the road. The car behind it narrowly avoids collision and the prolonged blowing of the horn indicates it's distress. A man appears in front of the bus. His right hand firmly holding on to his shirt pocket. His left hand pointed towards the incoming vehicles begging them to stop and let him cross the road. He waves his left hand in agony but none of the vehicles speeding past the unblocked part of the road seem to mind. With his right hand still holding on to his shirt pocket the man takes advantage of the slightest delay of a car and makes a step forward. The car is forced to stop and he quickly makes his way to the island between the two way road. The man again starts waving his left hand to the vehicles approaching from the other side and this time almost threatens to cross the road by placing his foot on the road. His frantic efforts get more exaggerated by each passing second and his agony seems to aggravate further. Finally he manages to stop an approaching vehicle and steps to the middle of the road. His right hand is still placed tightly on top of the shirt pocket and his left hand busily trying to patrol traffic to no avail. Is he suffering from a heart attack ? Why is he trying to cross the road like a mad man ? Is he trying to commit suicide ? Finally the speeding vehicles oblige and he crosses the road and runs in to a near by shop. The shop seems to be a bit different from the rest. It has steel bars all over. Must be a pawning shop. May be he is desperately in need of money and is trying to pawn jewelery. Alas the large sign board above the shop reads 'Arrack'.