The
city is expanding since decades with population and concrete congestion
increasing all the time, but it still goes to sleep early, relatively speaking.
City going to sleep early means you don’t get the facilities at night—like
shops and markets, public buses and more importantly the omnipresent cycle
rickshaws. We did not mean it to be, but we got late that evening at a
relative’s place. To add to our woes, the eldest boy of the house had to go out
on an errand, obviously taking the car with him. Any possibility of getting a
lift was thus ruled out. My tension was genuine because my septuagenarian
mother was with me and to make her walk nearly a mile was never a bright idea.
We
took the small lane leading up to the main road and started walking hoping to
get some transport on the way. Auto-rickshaws, even a rare sight at daytime,
were not passing by at all. A few cycle rickshaws going towards the main road
had passengers and the ones coming in towards us from the main road were empty.
We started hailing them, but to no avail. They were all returning home after a
hard day’s work and a steaming hot dinner was the only thing in their mind. We
could hardly blame them.
The
lane is long and winding, and even after hitting the main road we will have to
walk another half a mile. The weather was also cloudy and a drizzle could start any time. We were getting desperate.
Halfway
up the lane we sighted another empty cycle rickshaw coming towards us. Hoping
against hope we called out to him quite at a distance. He continued to paddle
hardly bothering even to respond. We almost gave up trying to come to terms
with our situation.
And
then providence intervened! A cat suddenly darted out of somewhere and ran
across the lane. The cat crossed the lane—both ours and his! I was very quick
to take advantage.
“Hey
brother!” I called out to the rickshaw puller who suddenly pulled up midstream.
“Now you’ll have to retrace your steps and take us home!”
The
rickshawallah looked around uncertainly. Opposite we waited expectantly.
After a few suspenseful moments he blurted out, “You’ll have to give me double
fare or I take few steps backward and go home.”
“That’s
not fair. The cat crossed your path and you should not continue same way as if
nothing has happened.” I shamefully tried to pump up his superstition.
After
a little more exchange of words we settled for a reasonable fare to both
parties. He turned his rickshaw around towards the main road and we set off
merrily thanking our cat luck.
Now
then, a cat crossing our way in fact benefited all of us. We got a transport
home and the rickshawallah got a
last-minute client and a few extra bucks. The feline entity caused us luck
rather than causing what is superstitiously believed. Cheers!
(First Published on Ezinearticles.)
