An Angry Young Man on a Vespa
Usham A S. *
Vespa Rally 200 :: Pix - Khaosaming / Wikipedia
Sometimes back, when I was taking a stroll in the serenity of a beautiful dusk our place Imphal is well known for, I had a rather bizzare experience. Let me take the liberty to share that with you.
I was with my young brother kid taking a stroll with a pocketful of peanuts to keep our muscles of mastication busy. The reddish hue of dusk had painted everything that evening beautifully.
The old and weak of vision were hurrying home with obvious difficulty, some mothers were homebound with bundles of gastronemiac essentials and young enthusiasts were returning from tuition classes and crickets were making their monotonous songs and mosquitoes were making their maiden flights for some bloody meals.
This beauty could have never been more appreciated had there been electricity to light up our land that evening and disturb everything. You see, that is one reason how we are lucky to be deficient in electricity.
I was well deep in my meditative stroll with a light talk with my brother when a youth on a Vespa made his royal appearance at the far end of the dark road. Somebody must really have to find out how that Vespa could be doing at around 80 kms per hour in the dusky dark potholes of the road. The engine was literally crying out of the insult.
Quite boggled at what could be the driving force behind his bravery, I just could not look at anything else. What could be the reason of its speed other than it being a stolen vehicle? There definitely was also a 'haokhul' nearby to consider though.
I stood there looking at the scene unfolding. Anyways, if I were lucky/unlucky enough, I could just end up seeing a good live motor action sequence. I was watching his stunt on that Vespa all the way through.
Suddenly, he swerved his Vespa towards me, stopped just in front of me and asked with a tone of sarcasm that could send any Hindi-movie villain a run for his money, "Kanadano yenglido?"
I was spellbound at that unexpected turn of events. But I coolly replied, "Etao, nangse eigi yam nungsikhraba emanaba ama mallure". Probably finding no possible reason to quarrel, he turned his Vespa around like a superhero in anger and sped away.
He was no friend of mine. Neither do I have any friend that looked like him. But, that answer saved me/him the trouble of an ugly scene.
Yes, road rage, if you would call that, is an issue and I am sure that if people keep a check on their emotions and angers on the road and elsewhere, the social issues we are facing at present will come down a bit at least. Please keep your anger in check dude, because next time you flaunt your attitude around it may not be me handling you.
* Usham A S. wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at ushamas(at)rediffmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on January 13 2013.
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