What happened was this. I was a bit groggy and tired after 30 long hours of travel. Flying by air is really very very annoying and uncomfortable. Sure its fast and everything. And you do get lots of food. But still, sitting tied to a really uncomfortable seat with no leg room is painful. Even if you are given dozens of on-demand movies to compensate for the same. There's really a need for the next great innovation in travel. Something like Teleportation. Or even Floo-powder. (No I am not a fan. Its just all around.)
Keeping that apart, we stepped into Mumbai, India, immediately soaked with sweat. Everything was strikingly different and I could'nt help but comment upon everything thats better there and not here. Still coming back was not as bad as I had thought it would be.
So we geared up for the excruciating four hour drive back home to Pune... on the "expressway". We could'nt but help admire the capped driver who was adept at driving in the strikingly difficult, indisciplined traffic conditions in Mumbai, for a minute forgetting that a month back we drove on the same roads. Its really amazing what a great difference a month away from a daily routine can make.
Anyway, as we made our way from the bustling Mumbai to the expressway, the driver suddenly realised that radio was boring, switched the stereo, much to my relief. Coz radio is really boring. You wish you could stick a sock up the jockey's mouth.
But I had not seen it coming. Which is pretty sad, since it was quite obvious from the driver's cap. If you haven't already guessed, the record playing was Himesh's signature collection. I was never a fan, but not a hater as well. I always believed that the guy is talented, and that he should only stop singing and give others a chance. However, all that changed. For good.
The car's windows were open. And maybe the driver was hard of hearing as well, coz he raised the volume upto 21, which is really loud. The first song started with music which was pretty good, before Himesh's nose got into the act. And that was that. What followed was really painful and frustrating. And the driver seemed to enjoy it. How one can do that is hard to understand.
I mean, how can one like someone who sings like THAT. Whatever was playing were hardly songs at all.... and all were similar. All with the repeating words, the ooooooos and the aaaaaaaas. I really wanted to punch the driver in the face and smash the car stereo. Then I thought it would be so much fun to the same to the man himself. :)
I drew parallels with other phenomena like those of Mithun or Rajnikant, more popular with drivers and rickshawallahs. But then again those guys have talent. Gunda was awesomely brilliant... and so are Rajnikant's antics. But Himesh?
My Ipod came to my rescue... however even with the earphones in my ears, it was hard to hear the songs over his pounding voice. Thats when my neck cushion from the air travel helped. Sure, i looked like a fool trying to block my ears with the earphones from the noise outside. But i really did not care. Could I have just told him to reduce the volume? Apparently not.
It was really ironical, with the songs my Ipod played.... it was set to random shuffle mode and the first song it played went like this...
Please could you stop that noise
I'm tryin to get some rest
- Paranoid Android, Radiohead
Couple of songs later it played..
Can anybody stop this thing?
Before my head explodes
Or my head starts to ring
- High Speed, Coldplay.
That was nice. Echo.
And then Fader came to the rescue. Front fader on, switched off the back speakers and I was at peace with my Ipod, although still groggy and sweaty and tired.
Memorable to say the least.
I still want to punch the man in the face. And maybe knock off his cap. That would be fun.
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