11:30pm an auto driver in mumbai

These frequent alone visits to mumbai has let the city put its guards down and let me into its secrets little by little.
I often take the auto now.

Well, in the last two months, I have sat in an auto rickshaw over four times entertaining stories of bag snatchers (while I imagined how I would plead them to take all the money and give me my prada clutch back!)

Today, I finished late at work and took the girls out for dinner and while we all dispersed, it was just appropriate for me also to hop into an auto with my mini-bag straight from the airport this afternoon. So I get in and he turns around and asks Versova? I say Yes.
He looks ahead and after 10 minutes asks me 'what do you think of the ships landing on our shores in versova, do you think someone is trying to break our sea link?
'Not at all!' I smile, I havent followed the news for a while resting my throat and voice in goa while I nursed an awful cough. 'The guys in the ship can't handle the waters coz of rain so they just steer it here to the closest shore'.
he turns back, looks and me and grins ' you are wrong, if you right, where are the guys who steered it?'
'hmmmm true..er, I am not sure, I haven't been here for a while so I dont know, but you have a point'
He continues to look in front and talk with such clarity ' So, who lives in versova?'
I get careful, and say ' My family, everyone'
He replies ' alright, so your family lives in bandra and you have gotten married in versova'
'No, my office is in bandra, and yes I am married to a family in versova'
'But you just arrived this afternoon with your bag...so where do you live?' he asks.
'Goa'.
My answer was short and quick. There was nothing uncomfortable about his questions but to be careful I added ' I am very old, I have a son too, and I am 3 years short of 40' (not sure how to say 37 in hindi).
He smiles ' really? one could never tell. look at me, I am 29 but I look much older, my cousins who are younger than me look much younger..'
I looked at him carefully, tall slender fit body, thick mop of dark hair and mustache, clean uniform. 'hmm no you dont' I said, ' you look 29' he turned back for a confirmation which I most generously gave by repeating myself.

Then he said something.

'You know things that ripen too early don't last long, they fall first'

Something in my heart tightened; I wanted to assure him that is not true and ask him why he said so, and what is he implying for himself. 'That is not really true, you look older becasue you are taller and your bones are wider and stronger than my frail structure' I quickly justified.

He continued effortlessly, ' well you know when you cut open a wider tree you get more ply like wood and with a smaller sturdier tree you get all good wood.' Something in me wanted to say a lot of things, to say why are you talking like this, you are strong, you will live long and you are fine and there has to be a better reason I can come up with...
'people just follow their parents, mine are small made so I am like this and yours must be tall so you are such' ....and then we talked about genetics, dna, traits skipping a generation, his first baby he lost as a new born while his wide climbed a tall stair and by accident pressed the baby, the three he has after that, his brother, his bhabhi, how much he loves the...we reached home...and he absent mindedly pulled out my change while saying..'right?'
I was too busy taking out money, wondering if I should ask him his name, will i meet him again, he is such a gentleman, how come he talked to me so much...'huh, sorry what?'

I saw is face in the light as i stepped out of the auto. He was saying 'if one scream the other needs to tolerate and vice versa, if both scream there can be no life, no peace, right bhabhiji?'

'Right'.

Right. I was his bhabhiji and that makes him my brother. This is good for me. Such a delightful brother. Such love. Such joy. Sometimes this is all we need.

'Absolutely right' I said and wheeled my mini bag as I walked away to the elevator.