Whoever reaches last is an A*** Hole

"Hey, listen"  Nanu Said

"Let's race to the other end, whoever reaches last is an A hole"

 

We stood somewhere on the Sion Matunga 6 lane road, looked to each other, Sree shrugged, I said"Okay", & Nanu gave his typical evil grin, Race ON!
 

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.

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 am suddenly deaf to all the sounds around me.

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

 

As we walk through the pavement, we can sense the attention we are getting from the public,

“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.

 Phew, close one. I think. Nanu flashes a thumbs up sign, All is Okay. 

“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!