This DJ’s music
is not just an idea, it is an experience which frightens the ghosts and awakens
the dead soul – Nucleya.
Adding a
quote at the beginning of any post, gives it a weightage I hear, So I add the
above quote, a sarcastic warning from one of Nucleya’s video “bhayanak atma”.
I am confused;
this post deserves a statutory warning or disclaimer?
I am not
going to add either. Because, “F*ck that shit”
So, it
happened yesterday. I was sitting in a car, OLA share. It was dropping me home
after I respectfully followed company norms and warmed the office chair instead
of working from home.
The cab had
reached Yerawada circle with Koocha monster from Nucleya smiling on OLA play
screen. “Watch out” I heard the panicky scream of the girl who was sitting next
to me. And that’s when the trouble began. A stone came flying at us with a
speed which doesn’t give you time to measure the seconds, a quick reaction. The
stone hit the glass and it shattered in front of me.
The bass of
the song which was playing dropped harder than my college grades.
Papon and
nucleya both danced to the tune of memories amidst the ruins of Hampi with
stones flying at them, a CGI effect. While, the flurry of stones came from the
front at us and too bad we are not the characters from matrix to move slowly. The
cab driver though was a sentinel being. He suddenly shifted gear and pedaled on
the accelerator, with full throttle the car came behind, in reverse and somehow
the stones seemed far away.
“Don’t worry, I got this” He assured us. And
this time there were no stones but a sunglass, a gold chain and rolled joint
flying from the side window; dropping onto his eyes, engulfing his neck and
slipping into the tiny opening between his lips respectively.
We watched
with big eyes as he blew a smoke ring in the air. Thug Life.
Taking a U –turn,
he sent the car in full throttle, bursting the silencer and competing with a
dropped beat of nucleya’s next song which was playing - “heer”
He raced on
the tune of remixed “sa re ga ma pa dha ni sa” through the streets of yerawada
and onto vishrantwadi.
Turning
right on the Bombay sapphire road he lowered his glares “You see, military
area, we will be safe”. The assumption however was wrong as we were soon
driving into a territory of blue flags.
“It’s like a
scene from the GTA game which I used to play” I whispered to the chic next to
me.
“There were gangs of different colors” her eyes lit up. “it is like the
game I used to play too, Ingress, an augmented reality game before Pokemon Go
came out”. I laughed, before we saw a car light up right in front of us. Blue
flames.
Our car had
a tiny saffron flag stuck and raised at its dashboard and a saffron cloth
around the mirror.
“We need
Orange support” Whispered the driver, not being panicky and continuing to drive
until we were stopped at the Toll fee gate.
“I will pay”
I said removing my wallet. “We will split” the girl replied back.
When I checked my wallet, I realized I didn’t have
any change and I had to look back at her with an embarrassing expression, she
chuckled and gave a 20 rupee note to the toll guy and we were on the street
again.
“Your eyes
look red” She looked at me curiously, “Oh, I am so stoned right now, I have
been since 23rd December”
“Oye, chak
de phatte, party sharty” She had a Punjabi accent which was complementing
Nucleya’s next song from the playlist “jind mahi”
“We are
screwed, this road is blocked ahead, see this video” She suddenly flashed her
mobile at me and then at the driver, he quickly took car off the road and
through the grass onto the railway track from which we exited sangamwadi side. “This
is our only way out”.
We were
confronted by blue flags again, with driver getting down and asking “scene kya
hain?”, their dialogues in tune with Nucleya’s scene kya hain beat dropping and
Orange flags coming from behind us.
The front windshield
was broken with a huge stone by a teenager who climbed on the car, our driver
zoomed in full speed and we didn’t look back but could only hear someone
tumbling down, a clever use of Mario dying in the song “street boy” made a
perfect background drop for the situation. The four bullets were fired at us,
we both bowed down and driver missed them somehow.
“It’s very bad” whispered the girl showing me
a video of kid roaming around with stones “ I am here to kill them” the kid
whispered, and suddenly my stoned brain, came back to senses, what the hell is
wrong with society, brain washing kids to this level.
“Indeed it
is” I showed her pictures of Pizza huts and McDonalds engulfed in fire just at
the exact moment our car came to a sudden halt on the shivajinagar flyover “Barricades
ahead”
“Only one
way out” The driver blew a thick cloud of smoke with the last remaining bit
of his joint.
All 3 of us
found our hearts beating suddenly in sync. He pedaled the accelerator once,
twice and third time he let go off the brakes and clutch. “Gheun taaak” shouted
Nucleya from his song Mumbai dance and this time along with the beats , the car
dropped onto the pashan road from where, it took us no time reaching my
destination in Baner.
The
situation was under control and the sweet song “dhoop nikli” started playing in
the background, we breathed the air of sigh all around.
“Listen, I
do not like taking any favors, you were right, we will split the toll money, I do
not have cash, but I can paytm you…”
“So….ummmm… can you give me your paytm number” I asked politely.
For a moment
she looked dazzled at the sudden change in atmosphere and the sudden
development in me after the adrenaline rush we went through.
A smart
girl, it didn’t take her long to realize Paytm has become a number one excuse
for guys to ask a girls number. “Sure” she laughed. “it’s 9xxxxxxxx”
“Go safe” She smiled pertinently.
“Situation
under control” spoke the driver and I am sure, he gave me a “Yo!! Homie” high
five.
The gold chain
around his neck still shining,
The same
song by papon and nucleya started playing again, kicking the acid in me once
more.
“You too” I
whispered back to the lady. “I am sorry I
didn’t get your name” she shouted from the window as the driver shifted the
gear and started moving the car ahead, albeit a bit slowly this time.
“Raja baja”
I replied, referring to one of the album names of Nucleya. “Bass Rani” she winked leaving me stranded
amidst the noise of supporters shouting, cars exploding and beats dropping, all
this was starting to come back again and I had to run.
It was my
first day back to office in Pune after 10 days of partying in Goa and Facebook
did not provide me any “I am safe” option. It did provide one for my friend in
Mumbai when the rain god struck the city. Should I be worried? Why are they
treating me like this? Should I protest? Ask for reservation? Or should I burn
some vehicles to get my “rights” and my “equality”.
