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A Drop of Adventure

I dare to say that city of Dhera is a world afar from the world that we know. It is a destination that you will always keep in your mind to visit again once you have traversed this city of marvels.
So is the case of me, I need not necessarily take a rest and have a little hang around when my ultimate destination is at most a two hour journey from Dhera. But I get out of my control in this wonderland and treat my self a final recreation. Thus I spend an adventurous night in one of our well known decent hotels. The day goes on with a tiring exploration of this dirty, old fashioned, old structured yet astonishing city. And one of the adventures goes as follows.
It was one of the finest days that I have ever known in my life. The clouds were frail, but the sun was also pitiful with a pale blue sky retaining a nice and cool day. But the busy city was totally indifferent and there weren't any point that the people would have a wonderful picnic. I wasn't to care about the world but enjoy my day because of the thought of being back to the boarding school the next day. So I set of from the hotel to explore the most famous market of us students; the Indira Market, which is a world of cheap Chinese products. It is also a chief market where we squander all our pocket money. And I can also bet that this is a place where you can haggle to the last.
It took about an hour long to get to the end of this street market. But it was a meet of my luck with time to find my friends who had also taken a sojourn there. I got delighted as it lacked some part of enjoyment to roam alone. Further more; they were of about six membered party and just heading on to visit the Dear Park. It is a small sort of zoo which is located in the Rajpur road and it is about fifteen to twenty kilometers from there.
I was excited when they invited me to join their party and spontaneously accepted it. I added my two hundred rupees which all of them had already collected and thus I became a part of this story. Being a group of seven individuals, it was very easy to travel in Dhera. We get a Vikram (a rickshaw) with our domination and it gives some sort of privacy. To our knowledge, we won't be able to return back in the evening. So, we thought it best to book a Vikram for that day.
But it is always a big trouble for me to settle the rent of Vikrams and auto rickshaws there. Because there is no any law or table governing it. We have to just approach them and settle out.
"So, will you go to the Deer Park? We are of seven members." We approached a lean and dark skinned Vikram driver.
"Oh yes, of course, come on, get in. you mean the one in the Rajpur road?" he wasn't in keeping with the character we expected from him. He was an unexpectedly a good speaker.
"But how much do we need to pay you? We also want to come back in the same medium." It became a very innocent inquiry because no driver declares the rent unless asked. If we go without asking or making clear, we are sure in problem.
"Okay, doesn't matter. How long are you going to stay here?" he was trying to act generous.
"We are going to return at about five in the evening."
"It will take a lot of time. So, I have to wait whole day there. But you can just pay me nine hundred rupees because you all are students. Otherwise it will take at least twelve hundred." And that is the most common dialogue of them. But it was not suitable for our budget. So we spoke on;
"It is too much. You don't need to wait there for us. It's just wastage of time. You can drive on your way and just come to pick us up at about five." It is very difficult to lower the prices in such situations and we have to be very fluent with them.
"We will give you five hundred. It is our budget." We tried to gain some sympathy by acting poor and innocent. We even added some pleading phrases.
But he pretended to get surprise in his own view. He reacted as if it was impossible and wailed, "the fuel prices have hit adversely and it is of no gain. For me, with that amount I will have to life without lunch for some days. I will accept for the rate of eight hundred."
He disliked our consistency and determined to break that hope within us against him. His impression altered and his hope grew a little low when we asked at such rate.
We settled it out with him and at the final state; we fell on the decision to pay six fifty for the dropping and receiving. Hence we set out for our destination.
The vehicle was rickety and it rattled from every moving part. We constantly suffered bruises on our bodies due to the extreme road condition that shook us rudely. But those were all just fun and we arrived there blissfully.
"Ok. You can just pay me the whole sum now. It's the same case I will come here before five in the evening," the driver accosted without any hesitation.
But how could we trust him? We even don't know his home or any of his identity. It was a foolish thing to act upon. So,
"No. we will pay you half now and the rest in the evening. It is the same case as well?" we retorted him unwillingly.
"Yes, it is but need to pay for the petrol now or it will be worse for me to fill my vehicles two times. There will be a long queue and it will take so long." He spelled out his heeds and again continued, "You can note my name, the vehicle number and my mobile number. I hope then you'll trust me?"
Thus we were propelled to oblige his wishes and risk that amount in the name of human feeling.
The park was a little less than the expectation I had kept but it wasn't so weak and poor to be unable to keep us busy till that evening. We made rounds and rounds across various cages of varying birds and animals. The most spectacular part was the time with a peacock. It was such a marvelous creature that left us spellbound. Whenever crowds rush across its cage, it created varying shrieks and opened its tail that was so beautiful. The bright colours and the splendid round shape amused us in its admiration.
The day passed just in a blink of eye. We had come to the time to leave for Dhera and spend that very night at our room. So, before leaving the park, we made a call to ask for the Vikram to come. We couldn't bestow a full trust upon that man but hoped and prayed for the best.
"Ring, ring...." We called him. There was no response. But we rang the second time, a man like his voice received while at the same time we spotted a Vikram at the gate of the park but that was without any doubt, not the previous one.
"Hello?" the man answered in a composed tone.
"Is that you Mr. Amir? We are the Deer park customer of you." I spoke respectfully because we had a little confidence of his conscience.
"No!" came the immediate response. This sowed various senses of mischief and uncontrollable detest towards human relation. But then the man spoke again:
"Mr. Amir had suffered a sever accident with his Vikram and he had been taken to the hospital." The man trembled with his words. But these words seemed an approval against our will and felt as if he has played a trick.
Then the man at the outer end continued his words. "But when he was taken to the hospital, he requested me to be able to receive you people at any cost. So, I am at the gate of the park if you are there." Tears drenched my cheeks and they all were bemused of course. The words I formed upon Amir recollected in me and I couldn't be relaxed. I shivered with pain and regret. When I told the story, they all clicked their tongues with me.




Short story by Yeshi Paljor
Read 801 times
Written on 2011-04-14 at 15:34

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