Sunday, July 27, 2008

Life after the 26/7/08 blasts in Ahmedabad

For those who care if I'm alive or dead, I'm alive, but not quite kicking. It's so depressing. Not only for Ahmedabad but the Bangalore blasts too. And now India's on high alert. Damn!!
This post is about my life after the blasts. Has it changed or not? They say Mumbai is the only place where life gets back to normal after an earthquake, floods anything. But it's humanly not possible after blasts, specially, be it Ahmedabad or Mumbai. Here's why.

I finally rushed from my hostel to go home (Purpose: My sis is leaving for NY on Tuesday. And the blasts occurred on Saturday. Sunday was declared a holiday --my college works on Sundays and we get Wednesdays off--but since 3 live bombs were defused in the morning, my college authorities and basically everyone, wasn't cool with anyone going to A'bad, which is so understandable. But in the noon, I couldn't bear it, and I rushed, after taking permission from my warden) So cool, I walked to the rickshaw stand to catch a rickshaw to the jeep stand. I usually recognized all the rickshaw guys but the one who motioned me to sit in his rick was unfamiliar (which I realized, after I sat in and was already half way through) Was he a terrorist in disguise? Was he kidnapping me? Would he use me as a suicide bomber then? Suddenly the rick guy drove fast. Ok, the road was clear, so he was driving fast. But the fast grew to faster. He was speeding now, like it was a Ferrari. Great, he was gonna kill me and not use me as a suicide bomber. He slowed then and turned back and told me something. We were near the jeep stand, so I wondered what it was. I looked on scaredly and muttered "Jeep stand" thinking he asked me where I wanted to go. He shook his head furiously. That's it, the terrorist is pissed, he was gonna throw me out of the rickshaw. He turned back and asked me whether we had a holiday in college today or not.
Ok, that was close, as I left the rickshaw and walked to the jeep stand. I walked straight and saw a cycle parked on the side of the road. It had a polythene bag hung on it.
That's it. I could have won any marathon, as I furiously crossed the road, walked quickly, and crossed again back to the side where the cycle was parked, after I overtook the cycle.
Cool. No bombs in there too.
I climbed into the jeep. A lady greeted me with a huge, sincere smile. She had 2 bags in her hands. Were there female terrorists in this world? I thought hard. One bag contained bananas, apples and some weird small stuff. I bored my eyes into it, but could make out something dark only. She was busy gabbing to me about the blasts. Did she want my opinion on it? Was she a terrorist in disguise who would kill me if I said it was a terrible thing? Or was she a terrorist who would include me in their clan if I said it rocked? I said, "Hmmmm" diplomatically and asked if there were more blasts today or not. She said no with a worried look. Soon, other people (terrorists?) joined us in the jeep.
The ride was rocking as usual as I rocked against the two ladies next to me on either sides. An old man got in when the lady with the fruits left near Sarkhej (one of the blast sites!!!!!) The old man had a bag with him which he clutched steadily. Were old men terrorists? He asked me how much to pay to Iskon, and I told me the amount. Even if he was a terrorist, I can outrun him. But could I outrun the bullets or bombs?
I got down at Iskon and got inside a rickshaw to come home (Yes, it's a long damned process to come home....) The rickshaw guy smirked at me. I was too tired to think if he was a terrorist or not, since I was half dead.
I reached home and realized I was short of cash. I marched up to the second floor of my home (in lift, of course), got the money, came down, threw the money on the guy's face. He smirked back. I didn't get the joke, and I didn't bother thinking about it. I climbed up and fell into my sister's waiting arms.

p.s- No intention to defame the common men (and women). I have Freedom to Think, ok?

4 comments:

alx said...

lol...hilarious description
sad that India is in such a state

critically commenting i guess ur title ws a bit out f place

btw i believe terrorists love me bcoz
1.hours after i left Jaipur on my way back 2 Kochi blasts tuk place here
2.when i am back at Jaipur there r rumours dat sum bombs r gonna blast at kochi

Am i a terrorist?

Mads said...

haha.coincidence or what...oh God i got a terrorist commenting on my blog :D
what was wrong wid my title ?? :| what should i put ? :|

alx said...

when i read the title i thought u r gonna describe about how the ahmedabad juntha dealt with it.later u wrote its abt yo lyf aftr d blast
but basically u wer describin ur jrny bak home aftr d blasts

if my thought process ws wrong jz damn it
also it ws jz my opinion which really doesn't count
u dun neccessarily hav 2 change it

Mads said...

i guess u hv a point..no lol i wont change and duh, dont be dumb, ur opinion obviously matters....i'll also criticize watever i feel is wrong on ur posts...so ur welcome to speak ur mind :-)