Don't worry Sahib.

It was ten past eleven when i hastened off towards the taxi. The cars passed by with rolled up windows , the sun glared brightly while Mathur lethargically stood up with his lathi, opened the gate and waved me salam. His oiled haired glossed with sheen, his sanguine lips stained with paan, and pearls of sweat dwelled on his forehead. I returned him a smile which he didn't ever care tonotice as he closed the gate, sat back on his chair and dozed off in his diurnal nap. Browny sluggishly flickered his tail, batted an eyelid, and slumbered with his tongue sticking out. Like an lost wearied traveller, parched like a dried leaf, flies hovered around him, yet he was utterly bothered even to waft them away. The black tarred road scorched like a conflagration and a whirl of wind passed by, raising up a cloud of dust while the birds slothfully sat on the motionless branches, scrutinizing every move i made. Everything seemed dormant and dead for it was a torpid Sunday afternoon on 420 Sevoke road.
With my bag strapped on my back and viewing the world through my fake but ostensible 140 Rs Ray-Ban glasses that i have acquired from my brother, I lowered my head, stepped in taxi and asked the driver to drive towards to Darjeeling taxi stand. "Sahib, you can turn the fan on if you want to" the driver gleamed at me while i lowered the window. He was in his early thirties, atleast he looks so to me. Deep blue eyes, oiled hair, combed has deep pitted voice. As I sat back seat,his tabbiz glittered in the rear mirror and that was rather facile for me to deduced him as muslim. "Sahib, where are from ?" he inquired while backing back from the parking lotे. Turning my face away from the window and I cleared my throat." Darjeeling , but i have been studying away from home."I replied.
" You are lucky sahib, you don;t need to be then bearing siliguri's welcoming moonsoon heatwave" he gleamed at me and i returned him a nod.While we whizzed off towards the city, he entertained himself with humming a begali tune and a mild breeze wafted against my face. Within moments though, my hands clenched with mugginess and my back started sitting in sweat. The city wasn't very far from here for my ears could instinctively grasp the distant vociferous cars blowing their horns and with every minute it grew louder whilst the road starting cramping up with traffic. Then suddenly, the car tires shrieked and the taxi abruptly came to an halt. Shocked and a little intimidated " Oh Babumashai. Even i can see the flickering red lights from a distance. Drive slow for I am in no hurry to reach" I acclaimed. He stopped humming his begali tune,turned back his face, smiled and in heavy bengali accented english "Abdulla, Sahib, my name is Abdulla Raman.I have been driving taxi for the last 4 years. Not a single scratch on my car. Don't worry Sahib, I will you reach safely on time. This happens all the time." he calmly replied. A startled and taken aback, i glanced at him through the rear mirror while he drove on the green light. "Did you go to school" I inquisitively inquired. "Yes sir ji, i am 12th passed with 2nd division.But i didn't go to college after that" "Why didn't you? you should have continued" I replied wiping the sweat on my forehead. He humorously looks back at me, clears his throat and takes a deep sigh." Life is unpredictable sahib.I dwelt dreams too, in suit and boot ,drinking coffee instead of tea in a mud cup, working in an air conditioned office instead of driving a taxi while its so sultry, but sahib, my calls remained unanswered for above"He took his eyes off me and went back humming a bengali tune. A sudden sprang of slight uneasiness brewed up in me. "ya, not everything happens as one wishes for." I nodded towards him and glanced out through the window and I starting pondering about that very scene in Rang De Basanti when Amir goes "बहार दुंनिया में आचे आचे DJ बीस गए , लाखो के बीर में ( In the outside world, there are hundreds like me who got lost off, in crowd of millions")
Cars with stentorian horns passed amidst the sudoriferous rickshaw pullers, women walking around bare foot in mottled soiled sarries with fish baskets aloof their heads, ubiquitous vagrants laying across the sevoke bridge, some half naked, while others who were just wrapped up in tattered translucent dhoti. Every time the red light illuminated, kids covered in dirts , most of them 7 years to early teens would cluster around your vehicles, braying and brandishing their hands towards you, begging to give them any thing from a paisa to a leftover food. Stray dogs gaunt as a skeleton idly followed these kids who were their only playmates, and whose intimacy ranged from sleeping on the same footpath to ravening from the same spot.
The clock hand laid at 12 and i was nearing my destination. High pitted chattering, beeping of cars, sooty smoke and dust are the primary signs of entering the city premises. My back was already soaked in sweat and my shirt clanged to it like a wet piece of cloth. Yet Abdulla still maintained his posture. His hair all combed, his immaculate khaki well ironed and not a single pearl of sweat rounded on him. In a way, I felt blessed going to back in Darjeeling away for the heat, mugginess ,pollution and the cacophonous metro life envisaging how miserable it was to be living here. Darjeeling Taxi Stand read in big bold letters that even a bad myopic person wouldn't have missed. On the meter it read 41.50 Rs as the net charge. "Here sahib, we are right on time for you to hop on" as Abdulla slowed down his car. Abdulla still clunged to his humming while I drew out a 50 Rs note. " thank you and keep the change Abdulla" I said as i set out of the car in the scotching heat. "धोनोबाद (thank you)Sahib and you have a safe journey"Abdulla replied with his palms folded. He gazed and waved his hands bidding farewell. Usually I bargained but today it was something else that had submerged my inner conscience. I smiled at him while his car rumbled for a second time,zoomed back into road, and soon he was gone, lost amidst the thousands that passed by each moment.