Who controls the camouflaged tigress?
The road was bumpier than expected after the rains. The low floored chariot glided for a while and intermittently fell into the hell holes making the engine burn out all its calories to pull it out to glide again. This bumpy drive instantly reminded Rudhi of a few images- her salary slip with all the tax deductions and men in white with folded hands holding pamphlets wearing a sly smile- this is something that most of us remember each time we get tossed up in a moving vehicle.
Rudhi was immersed in cursing the situation and its various causes while Suraj adjusted his power glasses and kept brushing her off as being kiddish and silly. Unexpectedly a green painted auto heroically raced and abruptly stopped right in front of them- all this happened in a fraction of second and they felt like watching one of those B-grade action movies.
Fortunately, it was easy to apply the brakes as the car was moving slowly. Suraj stared at her in horror and surprise when she quickly recoiled and looked attentively towards the old autorickshaw. The streetlight was dim and flickering and the road was quite deserted with the heavy trailers just missing all the action that just happened. The silence broke when a hefty man stepped out of the autorickshaw and walked authoritatively towards their car- his gestures looked very evident that he was yelling. Being newly married, Rudhi expected her husband to jump into action and check what was happening when he had proven records of always been her super savior with all bills getting paid on time, getting her to reach places with his undisputed driving skills, doing all the boring online works by being a perfect computer champ and to top it all giving her a good dose of honest appreciations. On the contrary; this time she was baffled to find him sweating and looking pale with fear. To add on to the agony the language barrier for a newcomer to Bangalore struck him hard.
Rudhi took a deep breath and slid the glass downwards to be greeted with unpleasant local cuss words that she understood very well. The man’s atrocity and the helpless situation gave her a false burst of energy that made her jump out of the car to realize that the man was thrice her size and he looked like one of those bad-mouthed thug-like auto drivers. Suraj too stepped out of the car to give her moral support while Rudhi’s investigation turned out into a heated argument. The driver was threatening for money stating that they had hit and scraped his auto- which was completely fabricated! The hideous man had cleverly victimized them calculating low risk!
Realizing he was heavily drunk and was not ready to leave them- she had to think fast. In the meantime, the auto driver picked up a big boulder from the road and threatened to break the car’s windscreen. Luckily with her peripheral vision, she noticed a slow-moving auto approaching them, and out of the blue, she raised her voice to the maximum against the rogue intimidating him further- and indirectly alerting the other auto driver passing by. She tried her luck and hoped that the other auto driver never belonged to the thug’s friend-circle. To be double sure she also used her lady charm and wit to get the newcomer to her side and it did work wonders. Suraj started honking loudly to add on to the melee.
The savior auto driver quickly gestured her to go away clasping the rouge tightly. In no time they sped from that place when she could still hear -”I’ll find and kill them both” echoing behind them in the air. There was absolute silence for a couple of minutes with just the wind gushing in through the window untying her messy hair bun. All of a sudden Rudhi gasped out a loud cry letting a wild tigress into the blowing wind. Tears rolling down her cheeks incessantly — she clasped her shaky legs and plunged into her own lap. Suraj was spellbound witnessing her untamed side … each time she prayed not to see it again!
Women surely know that — ‘’The camouflaged fierce tigress is solely controlled by her and no one else!’’
