Riding on phantom ;-)

There were a few things which you need to get right to be on the A-list of your college.I am taking you more than half a decade back when the gadgets collection wasn't that big a consideration.

I was doing my engineering then and it was still fine for me to be commuting to my college which was 7kms away, by bicycle since half the journey was done on bicycle and other half in a 13-seater vehicle which was called 'tempo' in local language.

                   So when i got admitted to second year and was strutting around cos i was senior and there were students around who looked scared, uncomfortable and submissive, my old bicycle started appearing a little too out of class.But i definitely was not in a position to buy a new bike.Then came the angel investor, my cousin.He lent me his scooter, which was a classic by all standards !
                                                                                                                 It didn't have its breaks working, horn was out of order and the headlight was broken.Not to forget it was always biased, i mean bent towards left :-P.Well, as they say beggars and borrowers have no choice i took it with ecstasy, looked at it and said to myself - That's my ride !!
                                      Well, there was one thing which i could not notice about it then. It had astonishing appetite for petrol!!! One ride to college and back uses to cost me 20 bucks. I must mention, 20 bucks a day was quite an amount for me to to spend then. I found a way out - Going college only 3 out of 6 days :-P

It went quite well between me and my 'ride' for some time time till an eventful night. The start of the day was not any good, i must admit. I didn't go to college and a lecture which was supposed to be free was taken by our principal. Quite finicky about the attendance, he took names of all absentees and matched them with overall attendance register. No wonder i was in defaulters, chronic defaulters rather ;-)
So my name honoring the warning list for suspension in afternoon, was a bad news. I thought of visiting my friends in the evening.
One of them didn't know how to ride. Three of us went to a local market and while my scooter was parked outside, this guy chose to satisfy his curiosity on that very day.
The nest thing i hear was a loud noise of somone bumping into a small shop. I came out of the shop and saw a massacre, well almost. He 'managed' to target 4 people in one go!! Thankfully , they let him go with just a little 'treatment'.
We were upset over the issue and decided to watch a movie in night show. Another bad decision!
The only movie playing was "Jani Dushman".
I really don't want to go into whose decision it was, but we went to the movie. Well, if remember correctly, this was the first time when i actually wanted to leave the movie in middle without caring of the expensive ticket we bought for the movie.

My ride had already cost me dear to have come so far to the hall, so adding that to the net outflow, the agony of watching the complete movie won and we watched the whole movie.

Three of us came out, nobody spoke.  Then at one moment we looked at each other and just laughed. We decided to ending this bad day as quickly as possible and set off for the ride back home.

It was just a few hundred meters from our destination that there was a bridge with a gutter. In complete carefree attitude to find another vehicle anywhere on road , it being past midnight, th e "phantom" was on full throttle.

Right at few meteres before the bridge i saw a trucke coming at me. Wrong side. I realized, i can take it from wrong side as well which i assumed would be clear, it was not. The first truck was actually overtaking the second one and there was no place for a third vehicle to pass through. It realized that i cannot apply breaks as there are no breaks.
And then few things in life which u can never forget coz its difficult to explain them.

Just before reaching to bridge, after which any trick would have been life threatening. I saw a ray of hope. Just before the bridge there was tin structure that someone might have come up with the same day coz it was never there before.

Something clicked. I adruptly changed the gear to bring the ride to lowest gear. It was quick but i was very fast with vehicle. Idea was to bump on a small 1 feet soft bump just before the tin structure to reduce speed and then collide with the structure. May sound stupid now, but was the best choice among the three options, other two being going down the gutter which we didnt know was how deep and getting crushed by one or both of the trucks.

Balance lost, bumping into the hump and then just falling a couple of feets before tin structure.
Minimum casualty, but for one of my friend, long lasting one.

He lost his tooth in the accident.

Next day i got the phantom repaired and returned it to my cousin.
I take a ride on it every time i visit my cousin's place and this incident comes alive in front of my eyes :-)

First day at Kathmandu…

And I was at office. Yes, “office” again. It was 18 months back when I made a decision and left my corporate halfway through to be at business school.

This was different though. I didn’t have to sit in a room with staring eyes at me and my laptop and thoughts running in people’s mind –“ Why are these IT guys paid up so much, they don’t do anything”.

Tables were turned this time. I was representing the business and the IT guys were to be on their toes. Well, this is what I thought initially atleast.

After a long wait at my Mumbai office, I finally got to go to the market country I was given project for, Nepal.

My first day at Kathmandu was a rushed one. To my surprise, a rather unpleasant one, It was not a holiday on Sunday. All my hopes of seeing around in the evening dashed as I landed on Sunday afternoon. I was to report at office post-lunch. Agony just grew when the 5-day a week hangover from IT industry got a rude shock only to be debriefed about 6-days a week Saturday off schedule.

Anyways, I was excited enough about my new role that I kept the spirits up and hopes high when starting this new assignment.

Life never ceases to surprise you.

My project scope changed again. It was not more which it was last week or 2 weeks back or when I was first briefed about my project. Yes, I had a different project expectation addressed to me 4 times!!

However, the first pleasant surprise that came to me when I landed in Nepal was the language. Hindi was poster-ed all around the walls, with some blend of local dialects but it still was encouraging.

Like a researcher on work I started seeing the vehicles plying on road, or atleast tried fooling myself by doing that. I know I have no inherent interest in automobiles industry or even cars, to say the least.

Bad roads had normalized my expectations about the hotel, but it was a pleasant surprise. After unpacking and freshing up I left for office in a taxi.

Reached office by 1:30 in noon and met my project guide. Had some discussion and he introduced me to a couple of guys at office. Was nostalgic. How we use to meet team-mates at every new project.

Well, the days passed with a couple of more meetings and it was time I head for home. I had already caught throat infection and cold. On my way bought some medicines and reached hotel at around 8. I thought I would stroll around the market for some time before going to sleep. But surprises never cease to surprise you either.

The Market at Kathmandu closes by 8 pm. This is one thing which was really disappointing to me. This meant that the only time you see the cheerfulness around the market place, aesthetically made showrooms and options to eat and buy, was on a holiday.

 It was just a Sunday and I still had 6 more days before a Saturday. Things kept on piling. I was not happy . I was not happy being here. But it was very difficult for me to find out the reason for this sadness. Was it my return to corporate life? Or it had to do with the place ? Or just my illness is spoiling the game? I will have to wait to have answers to these questions.