Page 175 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

“Yes, la,” she replied.
“Fine. So, are you going with us to Vellore?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“We will meet near Biney Travel Agent at 7:00 am. Don’t be late.”
“Okay,” she said.
The next morning, we arrived ten minutes early. It was a metallic minivan. Dendup was conversing with
a young driver.
“Where is Aney?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” said Dendup. “We would get late.”
I dialed her number, but Aney didn’t pick up the phone. After several desperate attempts, she answered
the phone.
“Please hurry,” I said. “We’re late.”
“Almost there,” she said.
After fifteen minutes, Dendup said, “We are running out of time. We better move.”
“Not without Chojay,” I said. “They are on their way.”
Dendup paced around the car.
I too paced, glancing over the gate. Chojay and a scrawny little girl arrived. They were both young. The
little girl had her right jaw lopsided. She turned away her face from me.
“Chojey?” I said.
“Yes, Ata,” she said. “She is my sister, Pema Zangmo.”
“Hurry, get in.”
“Hum lok late hoga ya,” said the cabbie.
“Jaldi chalo na,” I said.
The cabbie drove towards the Bhutan gate.
“Kaha jara hai?” asked Dendup.
“Petrol dralna pari ga na,” he replied.
I slapped my forehead. “Abhi? Ap to bohut late hoga yaar.”
“Yaar, petrol to dralna pari gana,” said the cabbie again.
“Kaal kyu nai drala?” asked Dendup.
“Arey, Chinta mat karo,” replied the cabbie.
“Kya chinta mat karo?” I blurted. “You’re a donkey.”
Cars were already in a long queue right from the border gate. In exasperation, Dendup peeped through
the windshield. “Hell, no!” He turned back to me. “Now what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Chinta mat karo, main hoo na,” said the cabbie.
Dendup frowned at him. “Ap Shahrukh khan to nahi hai na.”
I chuckled as the driver grinned at him. The gas-filling delayed us by half an hour. The cabbie drove at
his top speed, but we were stuck in a traffic jam.
“What the hell is going on?” blurted Dendup. “Kya hai yae, driverji?”
“Hum ko kya pata,” He turned back and said, “Ek short-cut hai.”
He reversed and drove along the narrow-graveled road for about a mile. Dead end. “Aray, raasta to
khatam hoga ya,” said the cabbie.
Dendup scowled at him.
He made a U-turn and maneuvered through the traffic jam.
My jaw hit the floor. I grinned at him. “No way! How’d you do that?”
“Arey, hum to driver hai na.”
Dendup glanced at his watch and said, “I think we’re late. The train would leave us.”
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