The Climb

The mountains in front had started asking questions, the three peaks seemed impossible at first and stood there as if they knew they controlled my destiny. As my hands struck the first of the rocks and my feet dug into the smallest of crevices, I began my ascent to what seemed the first of my fears to be conquered. After the first few hard breaths, I found my voice, a smile was forcing its way to my lips, i was starting to enjoy it, I could hear myself answering the questions these rocks posed to me. Minutes away from the summit I could feel the peaks smiling back at me, telling me that you are earning it, you are earning it one step at a time. On reaching the summit I was greeted by the prettiest of smiles, there she stood the pretty village girl, pointing to the final climb to the highest peak she uttered in the sweetest tone, "There's more to do, only when the time right, for now you can rest...".

Quantum of Shoelace - III

"License,Permit, Stamp"

Dusty's grin says it all, Mammoth is headed towards his car knowing only pink laces and an old ravaged piece of paper lying somewhere in the car can save him now. "Do you hold a drivers license ?", Mammoth's tone is random as the question itself, the look on her face is random.
"Yes I do, but what's the matter ?"
"There's a piece of paper in this car somewhere and it needs to be found right now! Else you can kiss your college function good bye !!". Mammoth obviously is inspired by Gene Hackman's character from "Crimson Tide" and believes creating more chaos during existing chaos results in the best output. Damn! Pink laces is shedding tears like a man peeing on the road side, damn ! there is a man peeing on the road side as well.

"Stop crying !", genius boy and cry girl are now rummaging through his car, it seems like a real collection of memories, he really means it when he says that the car is like a second home, rather I think its more like his closet of skeletons. Oh there's a bag full of used clothes, new unused tennis racket, car insurance, spare tyre, the bunny he gifted, the glass showpiece he gifted, the muffler he gifted, cards from birthdays, stale bouquet from valentines day, bag of liquefied chocolates, office documents used for origami, bihari style shades, american style shades, terrible shades, broken head lights from his first accident, front guard from his second accident, insurance claim receipt from his third one, cancellation letter from the insurance company, credit card bill, broadband bill, phone bill, handwritten letters to girlfriend, tissue paper with funny initials, dried up box of wet wipes, empty car perfume bottle,empty room freshner can, incense sticks and oh crumpled paper could be the thing he's looking for, his smile surely says so !

"God what junk!", Pink laces obviously is aghast at such cleanliness, pity she doesn't value the rawness of neanderthal mans free style of living. "Ok now i'll tell chalaan master over there that i'm a learner and you are the licensed driver who's supposed to accompany me, now walk with me", genius boy has really dusted his brain to come up with this, hasn't he ! Looks like pink laces is going to play along, both standing next to Dusty Shoes now.

"Sir actually I've a learners permit", here goes mammoth's grand gamble.
"A licensewala driver is supposed to sit on side with you", dusty is using the best of his worst english or the worst of his best english.
"Yes sir, I have a driving license", Pink laces is right on cue as she hands over her license.
Dusty looks a bit disgusted at the slowly vanishing bottle of Royal Challenge, in frustation he comes down to haryanvi hindi,"Can't see a thing on your learners permit, looks a like blank ballot paper to me". "No sir, there you can see the stamp on it and there is my name", some deft handling from genius boy.
"What!? the girl is only 20, she has got a license and you... you look like you have a kid but you are roaming around with a learner permit, bloody you think i'm a fool ?" Dusty shoe and Genius boy are now head to head in manipulating the situation to win. The challan will only be a 100 bucks if Mammoth wins but if Dusty wins mammoth will be fined a bottle of whisky.
"No sir it's all valid, stamped permit, stamped license, do you mean to say that stamps papers don't hold for anything". Dusty is up against it, the Indian DNA of believeing anything stamped is "Sarkari" now over-riding all logic. "Ok,Ok, hundred rupees challan for jumping light", Dusty has given in as he writes down the challan in hebrew and latin symbols he describes as english.

Mammoth borrows a 100 rupee not from pinky, it all happens in one swift motionb, A kid watching from the sides darts between Dusty and Mammoth, snatching the 100 rupee note.
The scene is straight out of a recent movie about how dogs become millionaires in slums. Mammoth has the challan, license and permit in his hand, Dusty only has blue ink from the abused ball pen and runs after the young income tax officer cum vijay dina naath chauhan in the making.

Pinky & Mammoth dart back to the car, keys in the ignition, pinky flashes an asha parekh like smile, mammoth brinks the dead engine back to life, next stop MAMC. "So what are all the bunnies, mufflers, showpieces and molten chocolate about ?", Pinky questions and mammoth switches to forth gear, time for a trip down memory lane!