It’s just another evening for me. I and Anna were going to the institute as usual. To our bad luck, it’s a traffic day!
No… no there is no special day for traffic. Traffic day for me meant that the roads were filled with traffic. Those three lights that signal the start, stop, and wait will keep buffering between the red, green, and orange colors accordingly.
The worst part is that the AI for those traffic signals was arranged in such a way that the green light gets turned on only for one minute on each side. As it’s an ex-road, if one-minute passes, the other bikers or drivers have to wait for another three to four minutes before they escape this traffic.
I hate these traffic-filled roads. The constant blaring of the horns blasts my ears. I and Anna were reaching the ex-road when I suddenly heard the loud, painful scream of a woman.
God! Who was that? Where was that woman?
Who dares to do this to a woman in broad daylight?
I turned back and looked around, but I found no woman who was crying or seeking help. But I saw a triple-riding scooty following closely behind us. Suddenly, the signal turned green, and we continued our journey to the institute.
We reached another signal area. I heard the same scream but it felt like the scream was near my ear.
“Did you hear that?” I tried to ask my brother. He said I didn’t. Am I possessed? God! I am scared of ghosts and these things! I wanted to cry but I am strong, right?
Again, I saw three boys on the same scooter who were behind us at the previous stop. When the signal turned green, we started again. This time, I heard the same scream. It turned out that the scream was not a scream, but the horn sound of that triple-riding scooty. I cursed them in my heart.
‘Phew,’ I wasn’t possessed.
As my brother and I crossed the signals, I saw the busy roads filled with vehicles and college students waiting for the buses. The auto drivers took the chance and asked whether they wanted to take an auto to their homes. At least one hundred to two hundred students of different backgrounds. Few who seemed to be the student’s MBA wore uniforms, while those who weren’t MBA were in their usual dresses.
Dear goddess, I miss being a student again. This coronavirus ruined my chance of being a full-fledged student and the joy of being a student.
Just then a school bus passed by us, and the students seemed to be singing in groups like Anthakshari. That reminded me of my school days when I went on school trips with my classmates. We used to sing like that on our school bus. That was a different kind of joy. What a beautiful feeling.
As we continued our journey, we crossed the busy market streets, where vendors sold fruits, flowers, and everything else on the carts. Well, every journey has an end. Every nostalgic feeling doesn’t last long. They come to a halt too. Anna and I halted in front of the institute with our bags in hand.
These busy roads make us hate them yet they also remind us of many things. I have this love-and-hate relationship with these busy roads. I get to see the stories of many innocent people and other people.