I Walk Alone And How

I found my ‘me’ time and it’s just so beautiful.

So I walk a good 2 to 2.5 kilometres every day (no not every day, but most of the days) to office with a million good thoughts. As the cold morning breeze touches my face, I realize how beautiful the world is. The birds, the tress and the vegetable vendors. How nice everything is!

The walk is pretty much delightful. I smile. I often spot known faces on the way, sharing a smile. It feels good to know people. It feels good to smile at them. Butterflies fluttering by. The sun shining at me. Cows chewing on grass. Cute little dogs running here and there. Aww, everything is just so adorable.

OKAY NO WAIT!

The walk is not as rosy as it seems.

At times I feel like a warrior from those Hollywood Sci-Fi movies. I encounter cows. Huge big black cows. They stare at me. They stare at my lunch bag. They advance towards me with their horns facing right at my eyes. I duck and jump and do all the Kung Fu I have seen in the movie Karate Kid. If the cow will eat my lunch, what will I eat?

The dogs look at me and I can see a speaking bubble over their head saying, ‘I am gonna bite you. If not today, someday. BEWARE!’ They run towards me and then I run to escape and then they go somewhere else, leaving me behind, embarrassed. ‘Why was I running? Hope no one saw me,’ I tell myself.

To my horror, I spotted a HUGE number of monkeys on my way. They were swinging on the trees, breaking flower pots, picking on each other’s hair and what not! I told myself, “You are strong. You are a woman and you can do everything you wish to. You can come out of a difficult situation very easily. No one can ever bring you down. Nothing in the world can stop you. These monkeys can never harm you.” After talking to myself, I took a U-turn and took the long root to office. Okay I am a woman, but the monkey might not know how serious woman empowerment is these days. So couldn't risk it.

Spare me the horror when it comes to rickshawalas. They hover on my head. No matter how much I ignore them, they will still look at me, honk at me, slow down near me and ask if I need a lift. The other day I thought I’ll tell a rickshawala before he follows me that I don’t need an auto. STILL. He had to come follow me. Once, I was too tired to walk and decided to take an auto mid-way. Surprise! Couldn’t spot a single auto. When needed, they are nowhere to be found.

Last but not the least, traffic! Ahmedabad is a slow city, said someone. Really? Not with traffic. Everyone is in a hurry. Everyone wants to go first. And yes, nobody wants to follow rules. Wrong side se jane ka mazza he kuch aur hai. Poor pedestrians. I fear Salman Khan would appear from nowhere and ride his car over me someday. I sometimes feel like I am dancing in the middle of the streets. Go forward, step back, put one leg on the left and stop. Stop for the biker to pass and repeat. We were taught to look right, left and right before crossing roads. Now we have to look right, left, right, forward, behind, right, forward, left, behind and then cross. If you cross safely, you have achieved something big today. I sometimes look up too. Who knows if a drone is passing by or something!

My daily life with a twist (shrugging shoulder).