The beginning of the ride

A Chapter by pranita

“Madam the ride has cost you 95rs”, Vallabh kaka softly explains the passenger sitting in his cab.

Women have a very natural tendency to bargain no matter where they are, Mrs. Kakkar was well versed with such skills, she didn’t mind arguing with the old man even when she was late for her favorite actor’s movie.

After a long talk, Vallabh kaka wiped his sweaty forehead and took whatever she offered. He quietly put the money into his ragged pocket and head back home to have his lunch with his family.

The 55yr old man lived in a slum located in central Pune, India. He had three kids who lost their mother when they were babies. Dengue can be very deadly, even so, when it hits a poor illiterate family who cannot afford basic healthcare facilities.

Vallabh kaka tried his best to educate his kids but none of them very interested to do nothing else other than passing time drinking, gambling and sleeping. Kaka was the only earning hand in the house which was very frustrating, not for him but his kids as they found the money he got insufficient to fulfill their needs.

Durgesh(26years) was the eldest of them who was the master of gambling , he spent every last penny he got his eyes on to gamble. Balaji (22years)was the middle child who thought himself as a ladies man, Vallabh kaka would get cursed a lot for his son’s cheap behavior with the young girls around, lastly, Shridhar(20years) was still struggling to get through his 12^th standard, because he wanted a job at a local bar so that he could enjoy his life drinking.

On a regular day, kaka returns home for lunch and finds all the three kids lying on the floor unconscious. He gets startled and starts running towards them to check their breath, as soon as he gets to them, the stench of hard liquor hits him, he yet patiently checks their breathing and realizes they have passed out . He cries a little inside and then proceeds inside to the kitchen.

This is what a normal day of Vallabh kaka’s life looks like. A slow life where in he is treated like a slave.

Every night before he went to sleep, he would take out an old torn photo of this dead wife and cry out loud, wishing she had taken him along with her. He might have been a very strong man but his patience was hitting an expiry date.

One morning, kaka gets up for his early morning passenger rides to find all his three sons missing. At first, he got a little worried but then he comforted himself, He wondered “how much more bad could things get.”

He drew a hot water bath for himself, wore his old ragged khaki clothes and left home in his cab. His cab was like his second home, something that meant a lot to him, he owned it for almost all his life.

It made him feel like he has something in his life that he could count on.

Who knew that he would be losing a lot more than his precious cab that sunny morning.

He went on his regular rounds, picking up and dropping people. He would often give free rides to school children who were rushing to get to school. He loved his early morning pick-ups and drops, it cleared his cluttered mind.

Bhaiya “will you drop me to rastapeth?”, asked an old woman . Kaka hesitantly agreed as it was nearing lunch time and he had to go and wake up the idiots at his home, but he felt bad for the passenger and headed to her desired destination.

Rastapeth is an area amidst the city of Pune which is usually is very crowded and is filled with vendors selling all different kinds of things.

She seemed like a very nice lady, she was going there to visit her grandchild who owned a grocery shop. She was going to meet him after 5 years and was very excited to give him the sweets that she made for him.

Kaka and the old lady chatted all the way through the grandchild’s home. By the end of their short trip, the lady courteously handed him the money with some extra change.

Kaka thanked her and left from there. He was famished and couldn’t wait to go home and enjoy his mid-day meal. “I need to wake up those fools and push them to get cleaned up for lunch, I hope they don’t create a nuisance today,” thought worried kaka , “if Malati would have been here I think things would have been different”, kaka sobbed quietly.

After 15-20mins of getting lost in his own thoughts, he realized he had lost his way and was in an unknown stranded lane. He stopped his cab, got down and looked to his left and right trying to figure out where he was,

The confused man slowly started walking towards his cab, to find a man with a helmet on and a woman with a black scarf tied tightly to her face, in his back seat, he almost had a mini heart attack,

“Who are you?” yelled kaka with a rattled tone.

“Bhaiya, will you drop us to bhopodi??” questioned the lady.

Kakka calmed down and nodded silently.

He asked the lady if she knew how to get out of that area so she agreed on navigating him.

The couple seemed too strange to kaka. He was very suspicious of them but kaka never disagreed to a fare so he let them in.

The cab started moving slowly in the stranded lanes of pune for about 10 mins. As soon as the cab enters the main road, there is a screeching sound that can be heard,

The vehicle stops with a sudden break, there is a mob gathered around the rickshaw to see what happened, someone in the crowd alerts the police. Two policemen are seen running towards the scene 1o minutes post the incident to find two people lying on the road unconscious, a man dressed in khaki clothes and a woman wearing a helmet, both seemed unconscious and were bleeding profusely.