Bad moods are unwanted visitors and for people whose actions are determined by their mood(read ME) they mean a disastrous day.
Anyways a cool Sunday afternoon on a rickety bike(read one year with me) on pune roads has just one thing good about it, that its cool. It happened so that me and my roommate decided to watch a movie. Went to the nearby multiplex and found that there was only one ticket available.
“Chal Kothrud chalte hain” I told him,”City Pride me try karenge”

“Beech me Mangala aur Alka bhi to aata hai” Said my roomie.

So out we went to Mangala. There were just two movies on show. One of them we had watched and other was BIG BROTHER. So me and my roomie decided upon BIG BROTHER(you should be deliberately stupid sometimes, Anyways there was always a Priyanka Chopra to watch for)

The movie was all crap with ten minutes of Priyanka Chopra(half of the time mute).

I have a habit of getting all quiet in bad moods.
“Chal yaar Durga me coffee to bhi pe lete hain”.

After a good cup of coffee in Durga we decided to go back home via Chandni Chowk. The joyride at its best(read Pune Roads) we reached near a police Chowki. There was a Lady policeman(should it be policeman or policewoman??) stopping us.

Roomie asks me in a hushed voice “License hai?”
“Nahi”
“To bhaga de rok mat”

There are pangs of righteousness which arise in you on wrong occasions. Conscience is a good thing but only at right time. I stopped.

“License dikhao”

I preach a lot about equality among humans and about not fearing anybody. But as other humans I don’t follow 50% of what I say. I feel policeman are more equal than others and should be treated with respect and fear.

“Dekhta hoon”

I pretended to be struggling with the seat of my bike to get the license so that the lady may feel some pity and let me go. But the lady was persistent. Then I saw why.
I saw the lady trying to stop two more bikes which ran away without stopping. I was a prize catch.

“license nahi hai”
“Chalo andar”
“Kitna lagega”
“Teen sau”
“Sau hi lagta hai” -My roomie.
“Sau hi lagta hai” -ME
“Chalo andar tumko list dikhati hoon”
I went inside. My roomie waited outside.
“Dekho”
There was something written in Marathi which I could not understand. Anyways the amount was 300 against it.
There were two more people sitting there. One a fat policeman with a smile. He had a smile for every question. And other an old man who seemed to have a lot of complaints with life.
Anyways seeing the company he had in office I decided to appreciate the beauty of my colleagues in office.

“Kay Zhala” he man with the smile asked the lady

“Sahen license sathi teen she nahi aahe manta hote”

“Kya naam hai tumhara” Asked the inspector
I answered.

“Kidhar se ho tum?”

“Nagpur”

“Tumko marathi aati hai na”

“Haan sir, thodi thodi”

“Nahi yaar, tunko acche se marathi aati hai”

“Saab kitna jurmana hai”

“Teen sau. Aaj de do kal pahuti le jaana”.

“Saab aaj pahuti kyun nahi milegi”

“aaj paise doge to who RTO jaaega, kal pahuti aayegi. Yeh dekho kitni pahuti hai idhar.
Chinta mat karo”

“Kahan kaam karte ho” Asked the other policeman with a look to kill.

“Saab yahin aas paas me”

“IT company me ho?”
“ha.. haan saab”

“50-60 hazaar kamate hoge aaram se???”

I am usually a calm guy with no issues in life. I come to office at nine. Do everything with a bored look and leave at eight or ten. Don’t debate, don’t fight and get around quietly. Everybody else is right according to me. But some things hit you. The question about my salary felt like a soundless but painful punch in the solar plexus.

“ Sir aapka naam kya hai” I asked him with a trembling voice.

“Kyun” asked the guy

“ Sir mere pitaji Defence minister ke PA hain, who aapko bataenge ki meri salary kitni hai”
I was sitting on my bed relaxed and happy.

How brave it would have been to do that, having to pay nothing and snubbing an insolent policeman who dared to ask me my salary.

Alas! There was a receipt fluttering of 300 rupees on thee top of my TV and a policeman now knowing how much an IT engineer of my age earns.