Encounters of a different kind :)

Ah a little more about the fateful Ooty trip
We had gotten to Mysore when we kinda lost our way .. We had to get to Nanjangud and somehow every road from there seemed to head towards Bangalore.
We looked around for people to help us out but we could not find any… we decided to toss a coin and decide one direction and drive along that direction until we found someone or something that would direct us to Nanjangud… We did not have to drive too far actually… a little ahead we saw a middle aged man ambling along…
Elated at having found signs of life … we drove towards him and stopped the car beside him… He was a big man .
“ Sir, how do we get to Nanjangud”
There was a brief silence and then without a warning he opens the back door and gets into the car. We were visibly psyched.
“Oye, WTF??? What are you doing?”
No reply.. The man was making himself comfortable in the back seat. DJ and I jumped out of the car and tried to get the big man out of the car… There were no passers by and there was no way we could drag the mighty mass out of the car..
“DJ what if that fuck face has a knife or something?”
“Dude.. what should we do.. Shall we drive straight to a police station?”
“No man.. if we get to some place where we see enough people ..we will make some noise”
“But what if the bastard has a knife or something…”
We Peeped into the car and we realised that the man was druk.. he was enjoying his isesta in our car…
“Dj we will drive on… It’s the only thing we can do now.”
We got back into the car… I carefully pulled our bags from the rear area while DJ just drove on…
After two minutes of driving, the big man broke the deafening silence..
“Take a right here..”
I was carefully surveying the man for any signs of a knife or gun…
He said, “ I want to go to Nanjangud myself. I know the way. Theres no bus..I have to get there urgently”
We stayed silent but decided to take the right turn.
We kept driving and up ahead we saw a board “ NANJANGUD –22KM”
We looked around to find some people … only a few scattered shepherds and their goats…
The man tried to make conversation with us but we just stayed silent …
I decided to stay alert and sit ready to pounce in case I wiuld have to.
DJ was petrified now.He is never silent.. and to see his mouth closed for such a long time was really rare and it made me feel uncomfortable.
“Sir, I amd unemploeyd. Are you working?”
we stayed silent.
“I am married and I do not have money .Can you help me please.”
I was getting a little scared now. He was eginning to talk about money. Several thoughts raced across my mind. Is he harmles… Does he have more people waiting for us… Are we screwed???
The man was talking non stop now describing his sorry tales and trying to elicit some sympathy . We on the other had were trying our best to not freak out.
After driving for almost twenty minutes we reached a place where there seemed to be more people.
DJ atopped the car.
“Get out of the car”
“Sir please give me some money”
“Look we will just scream now . You better get out of the car now”
“Give me some money… You will be helping….”
“Dude get the fuck out of here before I scream my lungs out”
DJ was beginning to take a deep breath and was getting ready to give a shrill cry for help…
The mans lowly got out of the car. We were as alert as we could be.
Then he comes slowly towards my window and thrusts his hand into the car.
“Thanks for dropping me here”
I was freaked out… DJ started screaming.
The man looked cofused and he went away.
We drove really fast from there and after we had covered about forty kilometres we stopped the car . We spoke for the first time since we had dropped the man off near Nanjangud.
“Do u think the man was really harmless”
“I don’t know . Maybe he got scared of the people…”
“Maybe he was just plain drunk”
“You mean he dosent know he might be 22 kilometres from Mysore”
We laughed out aloud at the thought of having been fooled by a drunken moron .We laughed louder at the thought of leaving a drunken man twenty odd kilometres from his home… Man!!! But I still wonder … Why me?????



On a glorious trail :)


THE MAN and THE CAR... on the way to OOTY... :)

Duped by damn strawberr-man.

It was our first day in Ooty……
We were two guys in a car trying to make the most of a long weekend… The drive was tiring but worth it . The scenes that met our eyes were mind boggling to say the least. The weather was absolutely brilliant. We could sip hot chai in the open at 2pm on a summer afternoon….
We had all the time in the world and nothing else to do than to roam the rugged streets and ogle at the few pretty dames… Dhananjay suggested that we drive up a certain hill which was overlooking the greater part of Ooty…. I initially disregarded the idea as impractical but within an hours time… sheer joblessness drove us to the point of impracticality!!! Yeah baby!!! we did drive up afterall….
The drive up was along an extremely narrow stretch . The road was just about broad enough to permit one car .. One wrong move at the curves and we could well be history… We managed the drive pretty comfortably until we reached the point where the roads got much steeper . One man jumps right into our way.We brake hard to avoid the man. I even jumped out of the car and uttered choicest kannada abuses at him . He seemed rather bewildered at my expressiveness…. He made the most of the opportunity though and thrust a box of strawberries into my face …
“Organic strawberries sir….”
“Nahin chahiye yaar….”
“ No saar… good strawberry… made in India… very sweet… no fertilizer… no chemical… only natural”
“Nahin chahiya yaar…..”
“No sir … u no understnding… red strawberry… red inside also… see….”
And he bites into one amd proudly displays the insides….
“ see I told you sir… its red”
By now… DJ got out of the car , amused by the bald mans antics…
“Ok boss… how much is it???”
“Only 100 Rupess sir…”
“What the f***!!!! ”
“Organic sir… 20 strawberry sir…. Cheap…”
“ CHEAP MY FOOT!!!!! Five bucks an organifc strawberry???”
“no sir 20 strawberries only 100 rupees”
We were considering our options.. we could go on and on … the man would also go on n on.. we would never get anywhere.He was blocking the road.We couldn’t possibly drive any further without buying his strawberris.We couldn’t reverse either because the road was not wide enough to allow us to reverse .So in a way he strategically forced us into buying the strawberries…
We just about kept the strawberries in the car when our man reappears … this time with organic strawberry jam….
Man … another fifteen minutes of haggling and we were sitting in the car eating strawberries with strawberry jam…. All for rupess one hundred and fifty vonley!!!!! The drive to the top from there on was smoth… the scene from up there was absolutely amazing. We sat there for a long time feasting on chips and biscuits and the organic strawberries…
The drive downhill was less eventful.We reached the foothills in about half an hour.Of course this time we were careful enough to speed past the place before Mr. Organic Strawberry caught us again….
Conning is an art. Some people do it with flair while some just force the victim into submission… Getting conned just happens… only that with me it happens all the time… damn!!!!