Friday, March 28, 2008

My self appointed guardians

Kolkata has no dearth of self appointed guardians, especially if the guardianship is that of a girl (I'm purposely not using the word lady coz I can't figure out why people still think me to be a kid and give me all sorts of lectures).

A few weeks earlier, while returning home, I was seated on the front seat of an auto. As the driver was trying desperately to position his auto in a small gap between a taxi at the front and a mini-bus at its heel, I stretched out my hand to signal the bus behind not to proceed and let the auto slide into the gap. The driver seeing my enthusiastic gesture promptly scolded me (it took a few seconds to sink down what wrong I had done to deserve such a scolding). After finally placing his auto comfortably, he went on to explain lovingly, like an elder brother, why it was risky to put out the hand suddenly and what could be some dire consequences, wrapping the brief lecture with words of confidence that he would have managed it anyhow without my signal to that mini-bus.

This small incident made me realize once again how I have my guardians even outside my home, amongst complete strangers. Keu ki boltey pare, ami kobey boro hobo (at least lokjon er chokhe)???

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tor satyi-i bhagyo bhaalo je Kolkatay aachhis. guardian er komti nei thik-i, maajhe maajhe byapaarta satyi-i irratating o hoy bote. kintu bhab to Dilli'r moton jayga, guardian biheen, jekhaane meyraa sab samay bhoye bhoye thake, ei bujhi molested hote holo. Ekhaane at least se bhoy ta anek kom. nei bolbo naa... tobe anek kom.

dhiman said...

especially applicable to kolkattai auto-drivers...aar sudhu lady der khetre ki eta hoy? ami to onek chele keo dekhechi auto driver der kach theke gyan arohan korte :)