"Geeta Saar"

Monday, that dreaded time of the week had arrived again, and here i was, up late because of a headache and heading for office at lunch, cowering from the upcoming review. I ask a cab wala, "worli chaloge", and he says something in the native marathi out of which i can only comprehend his denial citing that there is a lot of traffic on that route today. Aghast. i look up to the auto wala who had just come out of my compound, and i as him a similar question. HE says, " haanji bilkul chalenge", and thus starts an interesting encounter. Melodramatic all of us Indians are, and no less was my friend the autowala, an old chap of something close to 60, started by asking me why did the cab wala refuse to take me on my course, which, in my innocent unawareness, i recited to him.

"Jhooth bolta hai , babuji". lambe raste se leke jaana chahta tha. Meri jagah koi aur hota to abhi pakka aapko lamba rasta chala deta." Followed by an immensely long lecture on why one should only take this route and not the other and how any body else in town would have taken me for a ride and parted me of a lot of extra cash. Here is an extract from the enlightening chat that followed.
" Bhaiya, student ho aapko sachi baat batata hun, GEETA SAAR main likha hai, kisi ka bhala na kar sako to kisi ka bura bhi na karo.
Upar wala chahe to har kisi ke khane ka intezaam kar deta hai, isliye paap ki bhi kabhi nahi khani chahiye........kabhi bhi nahi..., bagwaan ke likhe ke aage kuch nahi hota...aur aakhri main usi ko jawaab dena hai.....bla bla bla..interspersed with a lot of shloks"...... As a kid unaware of the intricacies of the geeta, i thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, contemplating the mundaneness of the daily life.

We reached my destination in some time, and i read the meter, and realized that i need to pay him 35 rs. With a little slight wink on my face, and a little mallice in my m ind, i asked him, " Bhaiya, Kitna Hua". The reply comes, bhaiya bahar se aaye student ho , " Aisa karo 45 Rs. dedo. ". Unseemingly, the smile on my face broadened, with the thought. " 10 rs. for a gyan of the Geeta Saar, and a minor addition to it, Yahan pe kisi pe bharosa mat karna." With that, I hand him a 50 ka note.

Icing on the cake, he replies bhaiya, teen rupye lelo, chutte nahi hain. I reply, Bhaiya, upar wala bhi dekh raha hai meter main 35 hain, apna "saar" use bhi sunana. And walk off. A loss of little cash, but worth the knowledge and the look on his face.