Save a little for a rainy day...

Oh, how I love the rains! The different smells, the greenery, the cool winds and not to forget the unnamed holidays, the puddles(or ponds??) in the Mumbai roads and the fresh hot pakodas right off the streets. And it was raining alright on that July night as I stepped out of my iContract office at Worli. And as usual, I had lost my umbrella for this year. (Yes sir…it’s a resolution. One year-One umbrella, or else I would end up losing/buying 3-4 of them every year!) After some thought I decided to get soaked and go home rather than wait for the heavens to stop leaking.

Now the Bombay rains have a strange bonding with street food. For some strange reason they make the food smell better. Or then maybe, it’s the fact that you have the entire set of family, friends, colleagues and not to forget, the media shouting out loud not to eat street food in the rains, which makes it even more attractive. Whatever the reason, the Choohas in my tummy were having an F1 race. Time to binge!

As I removed my wallet (yeah..yeah…leather does get damaged in the rains) for some yummy pani-puri, the Choohas suddenly got a yellow flag…I had a measly seven rupees inside(Girls, that’s not always the case) . Hmmm…which means one rupee to spare if I got on to the regular bus. But not even that if I decided to take Bus No.87(Limited). I think the BEST has gotten the meaning of Limited completely wrong. It’s not as if it’s a ‘Limited Edition’ bus, is it??? So why charge more???

I reached the bus-stop cursing my luck. Just then my extremely sensitive(and big) nose caught a familiar whiff. A peanut vendor! Aha…the magic of one rupee!!! As I was about to proudly ask him for a small ‘ek-rupaiye-ki-pudiya’… there she was…in all her glory…Bus No.87…(Limited). So much for the peanuts…it was ten thirty in the night. Might as well rush home and eat ‘safe’ ghar-ka-khaana.

As I sat in the bus, there was a sudden sense of regret for having rejected that pack of peanuts and not waiting for a ‘Un-Limited’ regular bus. As the rains hit the window hard, the McLaren chooha seemed to be in a real hurry. The conductor asked me, “Kuthe Zayche Aahe”, and I responded in a mechanical tone, “Kalanagar”. To which he said, “Saha rupaiye”. Saha rupaiye??? Six rupees??? Huh??? All that dilemma for nothing??? My poor li’l peanuts!!!(pun-unintended) Khair chhodo, (Seng)daane daane par likha hai khaane waale ka naam.

When I got down at the Kalanagar bus stop, it was still raining and heavier than before. After crossing the highway, I suddenly noticed fumes coming from beneath an umbrella on the other side of the road. There were two possibilities. 1) Mallika Sherawat(Yes I like her, no matter what the world has to say) was giving a sizzling dance performance or 2) It was a peanut vendor!

Battling a considerable amount of late night traffic in the harsh rains, I crossed the road. It was almost magical-that moment. I almost felt like SRK running inside the summer camp gate in KKHH to the back ground score of Raghupati-Raghav-Raja-Ram. The smile on my face was as broad as Tabassum's waist. And it was a smile of victory :-)

There he was, looking up at me, his smile a little incomplete because of a broken tooth. “Kya doon saheb”, he asked. I replied with an extremely warm and toothy smile, “Ek rupaiye ka Sengdana” (Daane daane pe likha hai khaane waale ka naam meri jaan!). As the smile turned to a frown, he replied, “Ek rupaiye ka nahi milta hai, do ka chahiye toh batao”. Walking away with a sarcastic smile I thought, “Oh, How I love the rains!!!”