Somewhere in central India, a lazy afternoon in the last week of Dec was leaning towards the evening. Few students in their early college days, on the way to home decide to take a quick chit-chat break right in front of our home. Due to the onset of winter the post noon bright sun was very desirable for the city occupants. They rode their gear less scooters and halted on what is generally called a “T point’ (T intersection). Cracking jokes on each other and some of their professors formed the central part of their conversation. There was some public display of affection - pulling each other’s cheeks. (I suppose is now considered acceptable among friends these days). They made enough noise and made sure the sleepy afternoon in this quiet society got some flavor of a typical college canteen. After about 15-20 mins of ruckus they finally decided to leave. I observed some interesting choices of pillion riders.. Coming in they all came in a boy and a girl pair and were about to part in a combination of same sex riders. All girls wore a full face covering scarf that would even make it impossible for their own parents to recognize them. I think they were recognizing each other by their voice. That must be the reason why all girls were constantly vocal. After all who wants to lose their identity.
All scooters clicked to start and the clan was about to depart.. except for one rider. Girls tried to kick it in motion but no go.. then few boys too gave it a try. Still no cigar. I was wondering if they are going to get a truck to tow it away.. The Girl decided to call her home and seemed to have got hold of her brother. While all they waited patiently, inquisitive minds asked “how old is your brother” and she said - 2 yrs. All again went back to their joking around and making more noise. After a few mins they fell very silent.. I looked up from my book to find a new fellow had emerged on his own Scooter. So out of “respect” to the older brother all had decided to rain in their chatting.
Bro’ too Kicked the stranded vehicle a few times and decided it was beyond recovery. I was by now wondering what is going to be the next step. My two-wheeler riding days are long gone.. So I did not think of this contingency plan. Bro’ had one of the boys to “push” his vehicle by one leg and himself rode the dead bike. His sister rode off on the scooter that he came in on. I am sure this push pull mechanism was enough to get him to the mechanic help.
After the the clan members marched their own way the T point again fell quiet waiting for some new excitement to surface my own state of mind was not very different