Day 22 -- and still going strong!

I have been specifically told to stay away from the grapes.

My teenaged sis needs it to make a fruit salad for school tomorrow. Grandma will cut up the fruits, Ma will get the fresh cream ready, and the sister will mix the cut fruits with the cream, write down the recipe and take it to school in the pool car.

Once the fruit salad is ready, I can pounce on as many grapes as I like. But till then, I have to keep safe distance. :(

This morning I went to work in the auto of a very chatty rickshaw-wala. I actually crossed and then re-crossed the road to get into his auto, and I'm glad I did. He kept chatting about road rules even as he itched to run the red signal at Park Circus (which is difficult to do unless you are an auto-wala from the area.)

The guy who got onto the auto before me wanted to get off at Gol-talao. That's fine at most times except that after 8:00 a.m., the road becomes one-way. It was already 7: 59 a.m., but the auto-wala decided to be nice and drop the dude at Gol-talao (circular pond). However, after asking the policeman at the crossing for the time and then telling him that it was still 7:55 (it wasn't; it was 8:05), Mr. Auto-wala followed another auto into the one-way street. Two minutes later, the Circular Pond was reached and the dude got off with a "shukriya".

That was the worst thing he could have said for the driver decided that "shukriya" could also be misheard to sound like "sukar gaya" -- which resulted in no further passengers for the auto. What followed were a million PG-rated curses to the dude: "Why couldn't he say "Thanks" instead of "shukriya"? Then I would've got a few more passengers at least!"

He then went on to tell me about the benefits of either turning around or waiting till someone else drove past when a cat decided to cross the road. "Educated people think this is all rubbish, but I have experienced it first-hand -- thrice! These animals sense these things. They have higher powers than we do. They know!"

By the time I reached my stop, I had developed a new-found respect for all animals who happen to cross roads.

Incidentally, a rooster crossed my road today near the butcher's shop. I think he landed up in somebody's curry.

I worked so hard today that I suddenly found myself staring at the comp and thinking je ami hothath ek din top kore morey jaabo. It's so sad having to go to office sometimes, and today I spent almost 11 hours there! And 1 hour extra coz I thought Shreya dear would leave in ten minutes. She left after an hour. And I hung around for just as long.

I came back late, and now I'd like some grapes. But Ma's put up an invisible "Beware of grapes" sign. Sadly :(