The Blue Maruti - III

Please read Part-I, Part-II for a recap...

The cell phone rang again. With one hand on the steering, Kawal removed the vibrating grey device from his pocket. Suddenly, the engine coughed, spluttered and died. His car slowly rolled to a stop just 10 mts ahead of the blue Maruti. The tune of ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ continued ….

The man who sat in the blue Maruti was motionless. His hands were on the steering. His head bent forward a little, eyes staring blankly at the car which had rolled to a stop in front. The color of his skin was white. He looked like a ghost … really.

Two minutes passed. If silence were a goddess she would have chosen this moment to be born on earth.

The man in the blue Maruti had now started the engine. The first gear smoothly synchromeshed into the teeth and the car started moving. The man drove effortlessly with the same deadpan expression. First gear then second then third then fourth the blue Maruti sped away. It was almost two hours later that the brakes burnt the rubber. The checkpost of Mandrail.

He got out and ran to the pot-bellied hawaldar sitting inside a very small room. He spoke with fear, his face still white . “Saheb .. just two hrs ago my car broke down near the Niphaad turn. I was about to get out when a car turned around the corner from the opposite side and stopped some metres ahead. There …there … was no one in the car”

The hawaldar spoke, a little shaken “But no car has passed towards Hindon since morning and there is no way any car could have entered the highway without going through this checkpost”

The man was now shaking and the hawaldar offered him a chair and a glass of water from his earthen pitcher. Putting a reassuring hand on the terrified man’s shoulder, the hawaldar spoke slowly

“The car which you saw, which stopped in front of you, which no one was driving …” there was a pause “that car .. was it a blue colored Maruti ?”

The man replied, “Yes”.

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Bibliography & Acknowledgements:

Most of the characters and places mentioned in this story are real, however the events are entirely fictional. I wrote this story about a year back.

Hindon-Mandrail road: There actually exists a very very weird road between these two towns. I have done my best to describe it. This is till date the most scarry road I have ever travelled on. As I stood on the back of the Tata pick up, the wind blowing in my face, I felt like I was on Mars. While returning it was late night, and my! we saw foxes crossing looking at us. We had decided mutually we will not stop till we reach Hindon, come what may.

Kawaljit Ahuja: Ha ha.. an absolute character from my college.. In my stories, I always immortalize people whose company I have enjoyed, people who I may never meet again in this life. This is my small way of 'giving back'

Nokia cell - 'Kal Ho Naa Ho tune': During my three months in North Rajasthan (circa 2004), I had a Nokia phone with that ringtone :-)

Tata 207 DI: My first girlfriend! :-) I was selling this vehicle back in those days and used to take sooo much pain for its 'well being' that my sales executives used to call it my wife. Miss you dahling!

The Blue Maruti: Bang on Moi! I needed a color which went with the quaint feel of the story. Incidentally when I was writing this I had joined a driving class. I used to drive this primitive Maruti 800 model which was blue colored. So that was the inspiration.

The Blue Maruti - II

Please read Part I to recap..

Kawal was having a good time by the stream. He emptied the contents of the Mirinda bottle, washed it many times smelling it each time. Satisfied, he finally held the narrow head of the plastic bottle upstream and the clear water smoothly flowed in the bottle. He drank it slowly, his legs moving slowly in the water. The lingering taste of the orange carbonated beverage only made the water sweeter. He gulped full 500 ml. Then he got up and filled his bottle one last time. He didn’t care to straighten his sleeves or jeans, as he made his way back to his wrongly parked vehicle. It was a hot afternoon. He turned the key and the engine spluttered to life. In neutral he revved up the engine. With the engine running, he got out, walked up to the hood and raised it. The radiator cap was hot but he managed to unscrew it. Carefully he poured the water. The viscosity of the green coolant had increased due to loss of water and vapours came out hissing as the water mixed with the coolant. He waited for a few minutes. Now man and radiator, both had quenched their thirst. It was time to move on. It was time for the breakdown.

Kawal coasted along swerving left, right to avoid the broken road. Second gear then third. He was almost there, midway between Hindon and Mandrail. The wind had picked up slightly. He swerved right to avoid a dead cat which was mincemeat, but he managed to hit a crow which tried to unsuccessfully evade the oncoming vehicle. It broke its wing and fell down screaming with agony. The other black avians jumped in the air and croaked with fervor at their maimed brethren’s assaulter diminishing in size down the road. The road had a bend ahead, a rather sharp and steep one. Kawal slowed down, blew the horn and neatly negotiated the turn. As he looked at the straight stretch of freshly laid tar he spotted a car standing some 50 mts ahead.

It was a blue Maruti.

to be continued...

The Blue Maruti - I

It was a very odd road which linked Hindon with Mandrail. The road ran through nothing. This road was built only a few years ago and certainly made driving avoidable; it snaked, it shrunk, it expanded, it ascended and it was strewn with holes. Certainly, the 80 km drive from Hindon to Mandrail was odd. There were no villages on the way, no trees or mounds or remnants to human life to look at. But the strangest were the breakdowns which had only just begun. Jeeps, tractors, trucks, cars, motorcycles all broke down at a particular point on the road. After a few minutes they would be on their way again.

It was a Wednesday and Amaavas: no-moon night in the Hindu calendar. Travel on Amaavas was usually avoided in these parts of the country. Only 15 kms on the drive Kawaljit Ahuja felt thirsty. The thirst would have to wait. The sun was scorching in the May sky and there was no wind. Today there was hardly any traffic which was again odd as Mandrail, being close to Bhopal, was an important linking village between the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Kawal was an inexperienced driver and the engine coughed everytime the gear box engaged with its shaft. The lack of traffic was no respite to Kawal’s inexperience as the road wasn’t particularly pleasant. The radiator was thirsty too, but the thirst would have to wait. The AC was not working and the open windows weren’t any help either as there was no wind.

Half an hour passed. The Nokia cell started ringing. The ringtone was the latest Bollywood hit number ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. The cell rang again but no one picked it up. Kawal had spotted a stream and his parched throat could bear it no longer. He had rolled to an imperfect stop, again botching up with the gears. He was walking down to the stream just when his cell phone had rung. He rolled up his sleeves and his blue jeans. The water looked clean. The 500 ml Mirinda bottle never found a better use than before. He took off his shoes and socks and gingerly entered the water. The water wasn’t still but the flow was steady. The feel of cool water on his hot fingers and soles was pleasant. He waded up to a rock and sat down.

A Tata 207 DI crossed, the driver cursing “Baap ki sadak hai kya kutte, ***** raasta chhod ke gaddi khadi kar ”. Kawal had left the radio on and the keys too. A young woman’s voice was now echoing in the car, but there was no one in it. ‘And now… something spooooky haha .. whose’s afraid of ghosts. Since the past few days village folk from a border village called Mandrail are talking of a haunted blue colored Maruti. Many drivers have reported their vehicles breaking down at almost midway on the Hindon-Mandrail road. And then is sighted this blue Maruti which stops a few metres ahead. Nothing happens and suddenly their vehicles respond!! .. Wow that’s cool aint it?… Wish I could see this blue Maruti myself ’

to be continued...