24 Jan 2009 - Republic Day weekend. While most of the people were using the long weekend for a vacation or a trip, I was making a trial plan to be executed over the entire weekend. :( It wasn’t easy to turn down invitations for a trip without feeling jealous. Well… You gotta do what you gotta do. C’est la vie.

I set out early in the morning in the Sparky, picked up another guy (Ab) and headed towards Chennai. Ab who is from another city was not too happy being dragged out of bed early on a Saturday. But I was helping him out. So if anyone had a right to complain it was me! Around Hosur we started rigging up the car and started the test. A little later I started wondering what my friends would be upto in Coorg. Splashing water at the Hebbe Falls or wandering around the Elephant camp or.... My imagination was on overdrive……….zooooooooooooom. A black Cedia overtook us at an outrageous speed (The test required me to drive really slow. Cycles were overtaking me! Any slower and tortoises could have overtaken me) It had a KA-51 number plate…obviously headed towards Chennai for the weekend.

Back to day dreaming… I remembered the fun we had during a visit to Chennai a couple of months ago. I was talking to Ab about it when I saw the Cedia going slower than I was. There were two girls in the car and as I overtook them I noticed that both were very cute. Beach glasses, funky hairdo, a nose ring, designer watch, a couple of accessories that looked weird…basically ‘hip’ by today’s teenage stds. They were giggling away to glory as we passed them. Didn’t give it much thought and went on our way. A min later….zooooom. They overtake us again and a km later slow down as if waiting for us. I overtake them again and get to the left lane, they are on my tail for a little while, overtake me and wait for us a little ahead. This happened for quite some distance. One thing I loved about them is their driving. Although they were acting childish, all the traffic rules were being followed, indicators flashed while changing lanes, right overtaking…everything. For some reason I fancy a girl who drives well. I guess they were trying to allure us to race with them. Normally I might have increased my speed or atleast played along, but I was on a constant low speed trial and there was no way I would budge. After about 15-20 mins I guess they got bored. They overtook me one last time not before giving me
the bird!! I have been given the finger many times but never by a girl! Anyway…I didn’t really find it offensive but Ab did. How could a girl do that?!?

Somewhere near Krishnagiri we pulled into a gas station for LPG. We were almost done when the Cedia pulled up in the next aisle! I guess they had stopped for breakfast somewhere and we got ahead of them. The door opened, out came a fancy pair of shoes, designer jeans, a t-shirt which read “Other body parts are equally sexy!” and of course a girl in it. Ssspunky!!! I was wrong earlier about her being cuter. She was not only cute but also what her T-shirt said…sexy. I could not help staring at her. Pedicure, manicure and all other types of cures that exists were done on her. She was undoubtedly from a very well off family and around 22 I guess. She did not notice us for some time and when she did she froze in her tracks. I returned her nervous smile and after she realized that I had totally ignored the incident earlier, she got a little comfortable. She said they were getting bored and tried to add a little spice to their drive to Chennai.

I complimented her driving and she was visibly flattered. She said ‘I’ve done Bangalore - Chennai –Bangalore over weekends twice! I looove driving. You were driving very slowly. Looks like you are just learning to drive. You should build up your confidence! It takes some time but you’ll get there. Look at me. I started driving when I was 20. Today I can even drive at 100 Kmph. I know your spark will not go above 80 -90 Kmph. You can try driving at 60 atleast” I was making appropriate sounds, careful not to burst her balloon. It was very amusing. This innocent young thing is lecturing me on driving, quoting examples of having driven to Chennai twice in her life whereas I had driven to Chennai and back....on the same day......thrice...... last week alone. Ab was looking at me flabbergasted with my silence. Glad that he did not open his mouth, I thanked her for the advice and we parted ways.

Back in our car Ab accused me of being a softie towards girls. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. But in this case proving how my experience was better than that of hers would hardly matter. Instead I was better off letting her go thinking she helped boost an amateur’s confidence.

We started out measurements again and finished the low speed part and switched to the high speed part which meant driving at a constant speed of 140 kmph. About 15 mins of driving I spotted the Cedia overtook it and vanished from their view within minutes. I was not sure whether they had seen us or not. We talked about what their reaction would have been like when we overtook them so fast and on and on… Finally, we had an interesting topic to talk about for time pass. Time just flew away. The test finished an hour later; we stopped for a quick lunch and started on our way back to Bangalore. While I was waiting for a break in the opposite lane traffic for a U turn, the Cedia came to our left, stopped, the girl gave me a mock salute and went on her way to Chennai and we came back home. It had taken her almost 45 mins to catch up with us! A depressing day turned out to be quite interesting… Thanks to the girls in the Cedia. I guess this is what is called "(k)aam ka (k)aam, guthliyon ke daam"

But the most unfortunate thing is that at the gas station since I was trying to be coy and all neither did I introduce myself nor did I get an intro. What a shame!


Cheers!


I should really learn to blog under 500 words....what say?

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