Short Story

Nalini was proud to have the car all to herself; she could listen to music that she liked without her dad yelling at her “focus, FOCUS, Nalini!” She felt independent, strong and confident.

Being an only child, Nalini’s parents were over protective about her. They’d freak out if she didn’t show up home on time, so she had to call them every time there was a plan change or delay at work. Tonight, was different it was all worked out. Her parents won’t be worried about her, as they knew she’ll be coming late and that a friend, Preeti would be accompanying her on her way back from the party. Preeti lived two streets away and that put everyone at ease. Everything was going per plan and for once Nalini was not worried about the time or calling home. Only, Preeti decided to stay back a while longer and have her boyfriend drop her home instead.

It was her very good friend’s wedding party. She had so much fun catching up with some of her old classmates. It was past midnight now and she was driving down East Coast Road (ECR)… she turned up the volume on the radio and hummed along “endrendrum punnagai” She was in half a mind to roll her windows down and let the breeze from the near by sea in, but she decided against it. She was approaching a shady stretch of road ahead. Lorry drivers and roadside shacks and lot of drunkards. She kept her cool, what can happen when she is inside the car. Her palms were getting a little sweaty as she approached the red signal smack beside a “Wine Shop”. There were quite a few drunken men making noise on the road… she was relieved when the lights turned green and soon she was back in civilized neighborhoods.

A few kilometeres ahead, there was an intersection, she was completely confused which way to go... She had taken down directions in haste and Preeti had forgotten to mention this intersection. Luckily there was no one behind her, so she could get her bearings back and think about this. The area looked so deserted an empty, except few men smoking in front of a shop on the side. They stared at her shamelessly and Nalini quickly made up her mind… she couldn’t ask them for direction, they didn’t look trustworthy at all.. So she went with her instinct and turned left… not a good idea, there were potholes all over the place, there were no streetlights and at one point it just became a narrow mud road and then a dead end. Great, now she had to turn around… the road was so narrow that she had to turn and reverse multiple times… and at one point, the car went in to a pothole and she just couldn’t get it to move ahead. Her anxiety was not helping either. She noticed a few men ahead, starting to walk towards her car and she didn’t feel comfortable at all. They were in lungis and smoking beedis and they looked very unkempt. If only she could just get the car to move… she tried again, neutral, start, clutch, first gear, accelerate… and it was not enough, the car would jerk forward and stop. From the corner of her eye she saw that the guys were close by and they were talking and making some sort of signs to her. She closed her eyes took a deep breath… ignored them… until she saw that one guy had bent down and was staring at her through her window. She screamed and burst in to tears…. The guy kept knocking on the glass… she wiped her eyes and looked up… and then realized that they were signaling for her to calm down and roll the windows down. She didn’t know what to do, she went ahead and took the risk, and she rolled down the window... the guy asked her in Tamil… “Madam, where do you want to go? Looks like you are lost..tell me I can help you”. She blurted where she was headed and the guy calmly said that she was supposed to go right at the intersection and then pointing straight ahead he said “Madam, go straight past the signal and then third signal after that you will see Ganapati temple on your left, take a left there and that should put you on Mount Road. You know the way from there to your house?” She nodded and miraculously at that point she was able to get her car out of the big pothole and she drove past the men.

Later, when she was lying down on her bed, she kicked herself for not having thanked them.