The wedding went well. Small, happy event. Natasha was given special mention by both families and gifted generously.
She was embarrassed and happy as she left the reception and waited for her cab.
Tomorrow was a big day. She had a sequence of meetings lined up with prospective funding agencies. The campus entrepreneurship cell had mentored her, a regular engineer, to sound convincingly entrepreneurial. She had painstakingly crashed through a course on small business economics and its myriad terms. And she was feeling confident. Specially after seeing the smiles on Tanvi and Mukesh’s faces tonight. And that emotion in their eyes. She had enabled that.
A glorified “Seema Auntie”, was how her sister teased her. She was anything but. Her app was anything but.
The cab arrived and she got in. Maps showed a heavy red all through. 40 minutes was the destination ETA. She sat back. She hated cabs.
Her mind went back to the pitch. The estimates looked good. Her app was targeting a heavily competitive market but the idea on which it was based was very unique. And even though it was applicable only in the bigger cities, that’s anyways where her target audience would be.
She was jolted out of her hundredth rehearsal inside her head when the cab driver suddenly braked, rolled down the glass and cursed a pedestrian in Kannada. The next moment, everything was back to normal. The pedestrian did not even half turn his head or bother to take offense. These life-threatening occurrences were like breathing on Bangalore roads.
Her mind, like it often did when such things happened, went back to that rainy evening in October last year. Abhishek had come back early for Diwali break to attend a cousin’s wedding. Their relationship of half a decade had survived close to two years of living apart in countries far away in space and time. Every visit of Abhishek became extra special now. Their time together, more valued and cherished. Natasha had hoped, like many times before, that this visit, he would agree to get engaged and take the next step in life she had been ready for, for a while now.
It was Saturday, a special day for the both as they attended a meetup, the only activity they did together for a shared interest. Their shared interest of writing. Being researchers, it had been unusual to find someone with the passion for stories that they shared. It had been one of the first reasons to have brought them together in the first place. For apart from that one similarity, they pretty much belonged to the opposite spectrums of human nature. A classic example of “opposites attract”.
They decided to meet at Starbucks in HSR layout and then use the commute time to the meetup venue as part of their day together. Niharika now owned her own scooter, a red TVS ntorq with quite good specs. In campus times, they used to share rides in autos or busses and cabs. She was excited to take Abhishek pillion today and show-off her brand new possession on the way to the meetup.
After their usual order of coffee and hot-chocolate and catching up on the latest videos and books they were into they got out, a neat 1 hour before the meetup, to accommodate for the infamous Bangalore traffic.
While Natasha was all excited about the prospect of a ride together, Abhishek looked quite skeptical and offered to book a ride. Seeing how the mention of the offer sparked a look of fury in Natasha’s eyes, he put his phone back in his pocket, gingerly asked for his helmet and adjusted behind her as she pressed the starter.
They looked funny. Specially Abhishek who was 6 feet something and crouching on that tiny scooter, adjusting his long feet to not come in the way or get grazed by the tar, donning a cute little blue construction worker helmet. He was desperately trying to figure out the most appropriate location to place his hands when he gripped the ridge of the seat at the back as they hit the first speed breaker within seconds of starting.
Natasha looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Scared Shitty?” She asked. Teasing.
“Not at all”, he replied, smiling while his hands tightened on the seat ridge behind.
Abhishek never understood Natasha’s love for two wheelers. He preferred cars to scooters. Flights to busses and walking to cycling. Safety was his primary criteria during commute. Comfort, time and money followed safety.
While Natasha loved two-wheelers and wouldn’t install a ride app even if her life depended on it. She liked the freedom, the views, the feeling of the wind in her hair and the convenience of squeezing ahead through jams.
“You m******f***** b******” she shrieked out of nowhere as an airport cab cut through her at an abominable speed. The cab driver honked and disappeared ahead.
Now, this was new. Abhishek was anti-cursing. And in his half a decade with her, this was the first time he had heard Natasha use a curse word. And that too, a string of them. The worst they went to in conversations was the S words. So, Abhishek was now jarred on two fronts. His body was still reacting to the sudden left that the scooter plunged to avoid the cab and his mind was lost in translating the curse he just heard into its literal meaning.
Natasha quickly said sorry and continued driving.
“You cursed” Abhishek said after a full 30 seconds. He had to lean in to come close enough to her ear to be able to talk above the wind and honking.
“I did.” Natasha replied. “The asshole deserved it. These airport cab drivers think the road belongs to their fathers.”
Abhishek winced at another bad word.
“I did not know you curse.” He continued politely, softly.
“Well, I did not know it either till I moved to this part of town and started driving to work. You should try it. It is liberating.” She replied. Slowing down as they approached the narrow street leading to Sony World Junction. They could see half a km long line of vehicles, slowly trudging on 20s at a time when the signal let their side thru.
“But we are not cursing people, no?” He continued.
“Well…apparently those of us who remained in this city are.” She replied, a touch of irritation cropping up in her voice.
Looking at the jam ahead and calculating the time it might take before they hit free road again, Abhishek decided to shelf the argument and probe this new affinity for cursing, for later.
Natasha had both feet planted on the street, trying to balance the scooter at a sub 10kmph speed while having a giant riding pillion. Her frown was deep and scary.
And just then she honked.
Boooooooommmmmmmmm!
The horn of her seemingly petite scooter was completely out of character and hit decibel levels, Abhishek was sure were illegal.
Everyone around them turned or paused to glance at Niharika and seeing her frown, decided to keep their own frustrations to themselves.
“Um….who are you honking at?” Abhishek mustered the courage to ask after twice reviewing every possibility and finding none.
“No one in particular. This is how traffic moves. Someone needs to be made the presence felt.” She replied. The frown unfazed.
“Um….the traffic cops are like half a km away and every inch of the road is covered. I’m sure they can’t hear you and those who can, can’t move even if they wanted to.” Abhishek dared to reason. In a very calm and measured voice.
“Well, you can’t apply math and logic to everything now, can you Shitty?” she said, as the signal turned green up ahead and all around them vehicles started gearing up to crawl a little further on.
Abhishek stared at his shoe with all the focus he could muster, as Natasha continued to crawl with the rest of the traffic, pressing the horn button way more than needed. This was getting embarrassing for Abhishek who had migrated to Canada, the land of the ultra-polite.
“Um…Nats… I think you are probably overusing the horn perhaps? People around are getting annoyed. The horn is making no difference to the jam no.” An embarrassed Abhishek was not going to give up.
“People? What people? These random strangers? Why do you care? Do they know you? I don’t know them, they don’t know me and I don’t give a damn what they think. If those cops keep our green light at 30s, we will never reach the meetup in time. And again, why do you care?” She went on. Annoyance clearly visible in the tone.
“Um… no…no they don’t know me. But….isn’t this adding to the noise pollution that you are a warrior against?” he tried again.
That shut her up. She did not honk for the next ten minutes and 200 meters till they crossed the signal and turned right.
“Ouch!” Abhishek exclaimed in pain as the scooter bounced off a speed breaker that sent his crouched back and ass flying a centimeter above the seat in the air. For a moment he thought they would skid, but then Natasha seemed to be an expert at this.
“Did that hurt? Sorry!” She gave a half turn of head without stopping.
“Um…it sure did. Just curious, you did not see the speed-breaker?” He asked incredulously.
“Well, you know me, I don’t slow down at speed breakers that easy. If you do that, you’d never reach from one place to another in this goddamned traffic. So speed up when you can. A little bumping around is ok.” She replied.
That put Abhishek in deep thought. This ride was turning out to be a rediscovery mission.
After about a kilometer of clear roads where Natasha drove at a hair-raising speed, overtaking trucks and city busses and everything that came in between, Abhishek who now had Maps on to see what lay ahead asked her to turn left at a roundabout.
She kept going straight clearly disregarding the “One way” sign board as they entered a narrow street with incoming traffic. She slowed down and carefully navigated through, keeping on the extreme left and smiling stupidly at any honks and angry faces telling her she was on the wrong side.
“Um…Nats…I think we are on the wrong side of a one-way. We were supposed to take a left back up. Let’s turn around maybe?” Abhishek said with a hint of skepticism, pointing his thumb behind.
“Oh…I know this is a one way. But it’s a Saturday afternoon. I’ve never seen traffic police on this patch. This is a short-cut. Saves us a full five mins. Don’t worry.” She replied, expertly handling the oncoming traffic.
This reply stumped Abhishek. He had always taken Natasha to be an ethics champion, a straight shooter and a law-keeper.
“You are breaking the law knowingly just to save five mins?” He asked, the surprise in his voice hard to hide now.
“Um….well…when you put it that way….It does sound juvenile. I’m sorry?” She said sheepishly, taking one hand off the handle to pat Abhishek’s knee. This action ended up freaking him out more than comforting him. He was now counting the minutes and meters to the venue. Scared of what else he would discover about the love of his life.
They thankfully cleared the one way and merged back into the regular stream.
Up ahead Abhishek noticed a couple trying to cross the road at the zebra crossing. None of the vehicles were stopping or slowing down and the couple dodged their way through the crossing just as Natasha passed them.
“Why didn’t you stop?” asked Abhishek
“There was a signal? Where?” Natasha asked, turning her head around to look for one but not slowing down.
“No Nats. But there was a crossing. Didn’t you see that poor couple struggle to cross the road behind?” Abhishek asked.
“Ha ha ha ha….you’re such a first world naivete Shitty. Everyone here is fighting a battle. The pedestrians know what they’re up for when they attempt to cross at such a busy junction. No one stops. Duh!” she replied casually. Smiling.
Abhishek obviously did not find it funny and checked maps to see how longer this disaster was going to last.
Just then it started drizzling. Ugh..timing. Thought everyone on that road.
As pedestrians and two wheelers started clustering beneath jutting out roof tops and underpasses, Natasha continued through the drizzle that was now developing into a torrent.
“Don’t worry Shitty, I’m going to outrun the rain.” She cut him short, as she turned the accelerator and sped up through the halting traffic.
Abhishek clutched the seat ridge behind so tight that his knuckles ached. He closed his eyes and braced for …something…as the pit in his stomach gave way to empty space.
And she actually did it. They were out of the rainy patch within minutes, without having gotten wet.
“You can open your eyes now you little overgrown puppy.” Natasha said with a lot of love, looking at him in the rearview mirror. She was realizing from Abhishek’s frown and fearful eyes that this wasn’t how he had wanted to spend the day. She found his reaction a tad bit over the top, but then he hadn’t been in this part of the city for a while. And traffic and roads had gotten worse.
Abhishek ignored the comment. Ten more minutes and they should be at the venue.
Traffic was slower in this patch and it had already rained, flooding the giant potholes and crevices, making it difficult to navigate without bumping up and down.
In her attempt to avoid splashing a pedestrian on the footpath nearby, Natasha swerved and ended up bumping through a much larger crater, splashing both her and Abhishek instead. She saw the utter disappointment on his face as he reviewed the damage to his trousers and jacket. There were splashes of mud all over.
“We have to spend the rest of the day like this?” he asked after a pause.
“Couldn’t you have stopped instead and thought a little before taking that plunge Nats? When did you become this impatient urban uncivilized Indian?” he continued, his cheeks turning red.
Natasha knew Abhishek hardly ever lost it. But the last 45 mins seemed to have been to him what a roller coaster ride was to her and so she just mimed “Sorry Shitty” making a cute face, looking at him in the mirror. That didn’t seem to solve anything.
They reached the venue without any more incidences, and she parked in the street instead of the designated basement parking, which got her more of a lecture.
They cleaned up as much as they could under the tap outside the building and went into the meetup looking like two world war battlefield returns.
The cab stopped at a traffic light and Natasha’s phone beeped, jolting her back to the reality. Wow, that had been a reflective ride. Later that evening, Abhishek and Natasha had a long serious discussion where they re-visited their ideas of each other. By the end of that week, Abhishek had decided it would be best for them to end things and that five years had changed them into strangers they didn’t really know that well.
A tear rolled down Natasha’s face. It hurt. The thought of the end always hurt. However much time went by.
She had grieved her loss and ruminated about it for a long time. And in that rumination, she realized that the Bangalore traffic, that everyone hated so much, had actually brought out the worst and weirdest in both her and Abhishek. That 45 minute road trip had been the catalyst that brought things to an abrupt and unexpected end. They would have realized those things about each other, discovered those characteristics they did not like very much about each other, but over time and years. That one trip, just acted as the curtain raiser on their boundaries and characters.
And as she grieved and healed, she realized how others might have had similar experiences. She started researching sentiment analysis and stories around Bangalore traffic. The million memes and jokes and tweets. The interviews and newspaper articles. And her personal research as she talked to any and everyone about their traffic stories and impressions.
And she came to the conclusion, that if you put two prospective partners in Bangalore traffic and give them the necessary challenges, they’d end up discovering things about each other that might otherwise take years. She actually had a solid formula to gauge the survival of a marriage through this simple phenomenon. And with this central theme, she started developing the pilot for MatchMadeInTraffic. A dating app that acted as a regular dating app but when things got serious and long term commitment was a prospect, it also gave you a ride in Bangalore traffic, designed specifically to highlight your character flaws and probe your most basic reactions.
Tanvi and Mukesh had, liker her and Abhishek, a long love story. And she designed a route for them and arranged a ride. Part of which Mukesh drove and part Tanvi. And their feedback was exactly what she had thought it would be. The ride was a catalyst. But in their case, it only solidified their affection and admiration for each other.
The cab stopped. Natasha paid the bill, thanked the driver and got out. She stared at the dark window of her studio appartment. A long night of final preparations lay ahead. Tomorrow, her app was going to be presented to the larger world.
She skipped over a pothole while entering the gate of the apartment and quietly said goodbye to Abhishek once again, in her heart and thanked him.
Dreams Unlimited 