He slipped into the auto-rickshaw and sat in the middle, occupying the whole seat. As he turned his back, he noticed a poster of Salman Khan on the auto,smiling at him and showing off his huge biceps. He looked at his scrawny arms; compared to Salman, he looked convincingly anorexic. He took away his gaze from the poster and noticed the autowallah, who was grinning stupidly and was humming along with a B-grade bhojpuri song. He felt disgusted, how could the guy be so happy when he drives a shitty auto? He then looked at his mark sheet, which he was holding in his hand. Going by his extremely low marks, he wondered if he would become an autowallah too.
He had just collected his mark sheet had barely managed to pass. His future was officially and effectively ruined now. All his hopes of having a high salaried job, a pretty wife, a nice house, a big car were crushed . Now, he would just be a regular middle class guy with a mediocre salary, an irritating boss and a demanding wife. He would probably also have a second hand scooter, which would require half an hour of furious kicking to get started. He figured that he would spend the rest of his life cribbing about the prices of rice, wheat, sugar and petrol; while wearing the tag of the 'helpless common man'. Yup, his life was pretty much screwed.
While he was lost in his thoughts of convincing himself of his despicability, his phone rang. He picked up; it was his friend asking him to come at his place to celebrate. A strong feeling of rage took over him and he shouted ‘Why do you want me to celebrate with you! I have other important things to do than sharing a lousy meal with you! Dubara call mat kar diyo!” He hung up and shouted on the autowallah to drive faster and lose the grin.
He reached his home in five minutes.
"How much?" he asked while fetching the 100 only rupee note he had in his pocket.
"No Sir, Its Ok, I am not charging anything" Autowallah said, showing his paan- stained teeth.
"What? Are you happy for Salman’s latest hit or what?" The carefree amusement on the autowallah’s face got on his nerves. Had he been a little stronger, he would have probably slapped him.
"I have just got a good news Sir, and right now I feel like celebrating, so I will not charge anything, I would think I had spent these 100 bucks on a party." Autowallah elaborated his wild party idea.
"I passed my 12th board exam today sahab" Auto wala said proudly, showing even bigger teeth.
"Aren't you a little too old for that?" He said with a mean look on his face.
"Yes I am, but this was the only way for me. I had financial problems when I was a child, but I wanted to learn. So, I took evening classes and after failing for three consecutive years , I finally passed today. ." Autowallah looked like a guy straight from fairytales, it all seemed so surreal.
He stared into the autowallah's eyes, taking in what he just heard. His lips automatically curved into a smile. He took out his phone, dialed a number and said-
‘’Hey, I am sorry for shouting at you earlier. Do you mind if I come over?”
He had just collected his mark sheet had barely managed to pass. His future was officially and effectively ruined now. All his hopes of having a high salaried job, a pretty wife, a nice house, a big car were crushed . Now, he would just be a regular middle class guy with a mediocre salary, an irritating boss and a demanding wife. He would probably also have a second hand scooter, which would require half an hour of furious kicking to get started. He figured that he would spend the rest of his life cribbing about the prices of rice, wheat, sugar and petrol; while wearing the tag of the 'helpless common man'. Yup, his life was pretty much screwed.
While he was lost in his thoughts of convincing himself of his despicability, his phone rang. He picked up; it was his friend asking him to come at his place to celebrate. A strong feeling of rage took over him and he shouted ‘Why do you want me to celebrate with you! I have other important things to do than sharing a lousy meal with you! Dubara call mat kar diyo!” He hung up and shouted on the autowallah to drive faster and lose the grin.
He reached his home in five minutes.
"How much?" he asked while fetching the 100 only rupee note he had in his pocket.
"No Sir, Its Ok, I am not charging anything" Autowallah said, showing his paan- stained teeth.
"What? Are you happy for Salman’s latest hit or what?" The carefree amusement on the autowallah’s face got on his nerves. Had he been a little stronger, he would have probably slapped him.
"I have just got a good news Sir, and right now I feel like celebrating, so I will not charge anything, I would think I had spent these 100 bucks on a party." Autowallah elaborated his wild party idea.
"I passed my 12th board exam today sahab" Auto wala said proudly, showing even bigger teeth.
"Aren't you a little too old for that?" He said with a mean look on his face.
"Yes I am, but this was the only way for me. I had financial problems when I was a child, but I wanted to learn. So, I took evening classes and after failing for three consecutive years , I finally passed today. ." Autowallah looked like a guy straight from fairytales, it all seemed so surreal.
He stared into the autowallah's eyes, taking in what he just heard. His lips automatically curved into a smile. He took out his phone, dialed a number and said-
‘’Hey, I am sorry for shouting at you earlier. Do you mind if I come over?”
