"Let's race to the other end, whoever reaches last is
an A hole"
It was the final day of the prelims. It was geometry & i had screwed
it royally. Whoever made geometry, whoever bought this shit into the curriculum?
Right angle, that angle, circles, tangents, hexagons, pentagons, squares,
rectangles, theorems & axioms to prove each other and what not!.
Sree too had a bad day, he did not care one bit nor did I. Nanu, the wannabe
‘Scholar’ seemed to have had a better outing, and his face said so. He (Nanu)
somehow missed the ‘scholar company’ to walk back home and so, tagged along
with us, the ‘Averagers’. On the way we talked on everything, but the exam and
a few minutes from School, we reach the Sion Matunga 6 lane road, when Nanu
gets the idea of asserting his superiority and makes the wager.
The Sion Matunga 6 lane road is a fast highway, with 3 lanes carrying
traffic one way and 3 lanes the other way.
3...2...1 Start
We look to the right, no vehicles, i speed away.
3...2...1 Start
We look to the right, no vehicles, i speed away.
I can see Nanu on my right and Sree
to my left, closely behind me. Nanu moves further right and i lose sight of him,
Sree jumps right behind me towards left as we cross lanes 1 and 2. I can see a
taxi speeding on lane 4 and i jump through lane 3 and stop by the pavement for
the taxi to pass. Sree whose just behind, jumps on to lane 4
“beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep”.....“Screeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.hhhhh”
.....DHSSSSSSH...
I can see Sree rolling forward like a drum on the lane 4, he had missed
the speeding taxi,and had taken the hit. I run behind the drum like Sree. I can
sense someone behind me, i don’t care who it is.
Sree is lying face down on the road. I can sense vehicles stop on the
nearby lanes. I can feel my heartbeat, but i am still deaf. No signs of Nanu
though. I touch his shoulders, not knowing what to expect. The guy behind me, the
taxi driver -shocked and bewildered, turns Sree around.
“Where am I?” Sree says. The driver checks all through Sree. By this
time, we have a small crowd around us. The Driver announces “He looks Okay”. I
hear that. Sree is made to stand up by one or two in the crowd, the driver
rebukes him, the crowd supports the Driver.
I hear the crowd chatter
“What the fuck are they doing”
“Children, these days..so stupid”
“He could have easily died”
“Seems like he was running along with the fat guy” blah blah blah.
I walk along with Sree, to the other side of the road, Nanu tags along.
He has seen the accident, and like us, is shell shocked.
“Only a few bruises” Nanu Says.
“Thank God” I add
“Oh SHIT!!!!” exclaims Nanu, and he turns away. I don’t understand,
why?. Sree freezes in his steps, i look ahead,
It’s Nanu’s father, the senior Nanu.
Oh Shitttt.. Did he see the accident?? He will tell it to our parents,
especially Sree’s. It will be a disaster. I think. Similar thoughts should have
been on Sree’s mind. We look at each other.
“Sree, what happened” senior Nanu asks enquiringly
Sree looks at me, I look at senior Nanu, confused what to say
Senior Nanu continues “ Looks like some accident has happened, did u
guys see it”
Suddenly Nanu Jumps in “ No, we were discussing Geometry”
“Okay, go home and Study. No TV, okay” he snares at Nanu
“Okay” utters Nanu and we walk away from Nanu’s dad.
“Did u see the accident” I turn back, it’s Senior Nanu enquiring with
the roadside underwear salesman.
“No, some Arse hole, mother f****** kids apparently were running on the road
and one of them got hit by the Taxi” shouts the underwear Sales Man
We scramble away and thank our lucky stars.
Chao!
