World in rage

Never expected to return to blogging at this note and to share this weird experience. Well, it was not a usual day as it is not every day that I face my super boss (who is settled in Mumbai for all official purposes) and accompany him for meetings which are completely governed by him (to the extent that the other party hardly gets a chance to defend his position). Though I was happy to take off from office a bit early as I was saved from the usual operational hassles which keep me in office. I was all enthusiastic to go home early and attend (the newly joined) gym after a gap of 2 days (Before u go all oooohh, let me tell you I end up marking my presence in the gym only 3-4 times a week.)

So, I was out of my office building, crossing the busy Cubbon Park junction onto the Lavelle Road, trying to catch hold of an auto (which is one of the toughest tasks of the day for me) to go to Old Airport Road. After a waiting time of 5 mins or so got into an auto, the driver of which insisted on going to Gas station first, to which I readily agreed. As I was thanking my stars for not having to wait in a long queue for getting our turn, the auto driver asked me for 100 bucks. As he was fluently conversing in Kannada, I didn't understand the reason for the same. I enquired the reason in Hindi. Guaging my suspicion, he answered back rudely that he was not going to run away with the money and was asking me to get some change from the bunk so that I don't extend a 100 rupee note to him at the end of the journey and ask for change.

Frankly speaking, what simply turned me off was the tone and the manner in which that impolite brute spoke. I couldn't stay calm at that moment and retorted why did he expect the passenger to carry change and what was the reason that he could not do the same. By that time I had got to know that the guy knows Tamil and continued the conversation in Tamil. Suddenly this guy got all upset, his eyes burning in rage and his mouth filled with abusive words. In a threatening manner he asked me to shut up and asked me to get off. I simply stared at him for a few seconds as I was completely flabbergasted. I wanted to abuse him back, hit him (or spit) on his face but all I could do was ask him furiously was how dare he talk to me like this. Realizing this is not going anywhere, I quickly got off asking him to get lost. And as I was walking away from the scene, I could hear him shout back "arruthuduven!" (meaning I'll slit you in Tamil)

Neither did I look back nor did I go back to check that arrogant fool as I didn't want to waste my time there. Also, deep within me it occurred what if he attacks me. You can't even expect any help from anyone in today's scenario. I got another auto in a short while but this incident kept disturbing me. I wanted to know what exactly made him so angry. Was it his male ego that he couldn't bear a woman questioning him or was it that his honesty and pride got tarnished when I suspected him. Even after reasoning out for quite some time, I could not justify his harsh behaviour.

I told V about the incident and all he said was he is just an auto driver, what else do you expect. And my mind snapped back that a human being is not defined by social or economic class but his character and demeanour. I can't imagine someone living with hatred and ill intentions and getting a good night's sleep. By end of the day, my angst against the auto driver may not have drastically come down (as the incident is getting replayed every now and then in my head), but I would never wish him to die.