Evening falls...

Dropped me mum to the hanuman temple in CP (have to see the crowd to believe it on Tuesdays!) and dashed off to pick up S to go for a walk at the Lodhi Garden. Two of her friends/colleagues came along. A beautiful evening, lovely flowers and an itch to break into a jog (S wearing jeans so had to stick to a walk!). Then another dash was made to the library at FIRC (French Info Research Centre) to return their movies. Reached just in time and luckily managed to pick up two more: ‘The Keys to the House’ (an Italian film) and ‘Mais Ou Et Donc Ornicar’ (Evidently French! It’s actually a mnemonic used by school children in France to remember coordinating conjunctions). Both sound promising but let’s see. Drove around some more to pick up mum. All along was thinking how lovely it is to drive in some parts of Delhi. It was one of those days when I could drive on and on. Not much traffic. No particular hurry. A great time to reflect. Waited for some twenty minutes before deciding to grab a coffee and just when it was bought- mum appeared. A voice in head suggests giving up coffee for a while. And then on the way back the romance with the Delhi roads died. A terrible jam. 15 mins stretched to 45. Cars everywhere. We chatted of everything and nothing. No mood to reflect now but random thoughts of how I learnt to drive filtered in. I may have been about 9 or 10 at the time, spending my vacations in the company of my dad's drivers mostly. Ergo, I was driving their cars and driving them mad! One of them, I remember, talked of interesting things (seemed interesting at the time at least). He said GOD was called so because he was the Generator Operator and Destroyer! Hmmm. Then another time when in all earnestness I said drinking is bad he explained the meaning of rum- it was ‘Regular Use Medicine’! For those who have seen the Old Monk XXX bottle, his take was that the ‘xxx’ meant you should have it once in thirty days. He seemed to have found some favour with the doctor and perhaps had it once every 30 mins! The jam also reminded of how a city is so much like a person. It has some qualities and some failings. Thought why I was in Delhi and where I’d like to be. Some small village in the mountains perhaps. Or in the middle of nowhere in my desert land. All perhaps when I’m older. For now I need the city. But I still detest the traffic jams! Then home and dinner and now to some reading before I finally call it a night. Sophie’s Word beckons. Had made a half-baked promise to sleep soon and wake up early. But look at the time. God help me!