Turn Man

All characters and incidents are real.

Finally the shit piece of code ran. Aah what a relief. All of us were so happy that we had not crossed our deadlines and now all we wanted is some relief. And no, we did not want to eat that pathetic food provided in the name of dinner in office. So pop came the idea from Yogesh, “Let’s go somewhere for dinner”. But every one of them had left, so I and Yogesh were left alone.
Me: “But there is one more problem, I don’t feel like driving my beast in this chilly Chandigarh Winter.”
Yogesh: “No problem buddy, we will go in my car, will drop you home and pick you up tomorrow morning as well. You know it is on my way.”
Me: “Hmmm, sounds a nice idea. OK come on lets go.”
Transformed into an Eskimo in the non-Arctic region stuffing myself under a pullover, a jacket on top of it, a muffler, hand gloves and went towards the parking area accompanied by Yogesh. Settled down in the car and we roared off and just then Yogesh told me something, hearing which I went numb to my nerves. He had a night vision problem and finds it difficult to maneuver turns at night. My jaws dropped wide open, eyes burst out in bewilderment.
Me: “It’s a good joke, man.” It was just to relax the situation (actually myself) with this light statement and somber reaction.
Yogesh: “Had it been a joke.:)”
Me: “What!!! you can’t be serious with this dude.”
Yogesh: “Come on Dude its very simple. I can drive straight with absolutely no problem but I find it difficult to locate the turns from a distance and hence can’t maneuver them. You can help me. You be alert, and tell me about the turns before hand. Tell me ‘TURN’ and I will turn. Direction is not a problem as I am well acquainted with the route.”
Me: “That is fine, but how the heck you manage to drive on other days. I am not there with you and you supposedly go alone.”
Yogesh: “I follow some car and manage it somehow. But today you can help me. Don’t worry buddy, it’s been over 6 months I have been managing.”
Me: “As if you will get an SMS Alert, Chances are high on your accident, be alert.”
Yogesh giggles, I manage to somehow gather myself and then start concentrating on the road. A turn was about to come. I had to alert him. ‘TURN’ I yelled.
Yogesh: “Take it easy dude; I am not sitting a mile away.”
Now how do I tell him how I was feeling? Anyways somehow he managed to take that turn. Then again the next turn was due. This time I was subtle and was surprised at my own normalcy. I have been accustomed to it. The driver is facing night vision problems, I am not confident on driving, he cannot easily spot turns and needs my help to maneuver them and I am accustomed to this!!!

But destiny rules otherwise and our team (I and Yogesh) managed to take three other turns to rove into the Chinese restaurant in the 3B-2 market of Mohali. We parked the car and had dinner, trying to drift myself out of the bizarre experience I just had, and then a thought stuck, I went dumb again. He’s going to drop me back home. More turns!!!, I thought. Just tried to brush off the thought and concentrated on the dinner.

Some Weeks later.

Aparna: “Virag, Yogi do you guys mind going on a dinner tonight. We can go in Yogesh’s car, all three of us.”
I and Yogesh stared at each other in bewilderment. Whether to tell her or not was the million dollar question. Yogesh looked at me as if telling me, What to do?
Aparna: “What happened guys, are we going or not.”
The idea was very fascinating, another chance to get relief from the bore food, and a chance to have some hot soup in this winter.
Me: “Let’s go, since we have Yogesh’s car, we can go.”
Yogesh nodded winking at me, I reciprocated the gesture.
And so the terrific trio froze inside the four wheeler and zoomed off into the heavy fog. When we had last ventured out, winter had just started to set in, hence there was little or no fog, but almost 3 weeks had passed since that last drive and this time the fog was heavy and visibility was low. Aparna was elated as Yogesh finally gave her a ride in the car, she had desired for so long. But this time the challenge was threefold. Firstly the night vision problem of Yogesh was there and its gravity had been magnified with the presence of the fog, but these were manageable issues. A serious contender to the above two problems was the menace of tackling the female traveling with us, when the bitter fact is going to unfold itself inside the car. I could very well recall how badly she had reacted when she had accompanied me on my beast, some months back. I had newly learnt bike-driving and just started to try myself in the mediocre traffic of Mohali-Chandigarh, but the situation being unavoidable, had to take her. And after the ride I had vowed I am never going to take her with me, come what may. The same thoughts were pestering both of us. For now we had just set off on the straight road outside office, where a turn was about to materialize in about 600-700 meters.
Yogesh: “Yaar viru, tell me when to take the turn, you can see the low level of visibility as well.”
Aparna was sitting in the rear seat of the Maruti 800 vehicle. She could not believe her ears, and lest she was aware of the stark realities that are going to stoop down upon her in the next couple of minutes. Somehow she spoke.
Aparna: “What did you just say Yogi, Virag is going to tell you when to take a turn!!!”
Me: “It is simple Aparna, I will tell him when the turn nears up and then he will just turn the wheel”
Trying to ease if of as much as possible with a stupid explanation.
Aparna: “I understand Virag, the visibility is below normal levels due to the fog, but still I do not see any reason of not being able to spot a turn”
Me: “Only if you do not have any night vision problems.”
Me: “’TURN’”
My tone was near loud, but Yogesh could understand that I was in conversation with Aparna and appreciated the tepidity with which I had reacted having spotted the turn, by his silent grin. Yogesh maneuvered the turn but the car went a little off the track. I warned.
Me: “Buddy we are going to bang in the footpath, stop now.”
Yogesh was quick, he slammed the brakes, pressed the clutch down deep into the car chamber, brought the gear to REAR position and slowly released the clutch, and the vehicle started moving back, when I yelled, “STOP, SOUND HORN, THERE’S A CAR.” Yogesh obliged with the perfectly timed reaction and we stepped out to see what had happened. Luckily we were still a good 6-7 inches away from the other car. The other driver started cursing us. We realized, it was our mistake and immediately apologized, pacified him and he went away. Back in the vehicle, Yogesh brought the car on track and we started again. Aparna had lost all her cool by now. She had somehow managed to be quiet all this while, although it had just been 5 minutes for everything to happen. Looked like an age had descended upon us. Now it was her turn to speak.
Aparna: “STOP THE CAR. What the hell is this going on? Do you guys realize a little mistake might have cost us our lives and limbs? You take everything so lightly, if any casualty happens, who do you expect to turn up for our help, at this hour in this deserted street and that too in such a cold and foggy weather. You two were well aware of the problems and yet you chose not to tell me, and what did you expect, I am going to pat your shoulders saying WELL DONE BOYS!!!”
By the time, the showdown reached its climax the next turn was on its way. I and Yogesh had been staring at each other, when I suddenly yelled, harder this time, than the first time I had done so traveling alone with Yogesh, TURNNNNNNNNNNNN.

He turned the vehicle and stopped it by the side. Despite near zero mercury levels outside, the temperature of the ambience inside the car was no less than that of the SAHARA in the month of May. Aparna was in a state of shock. Poor thing, she knew she had no choice other than praying and sit inside despite her unwillingness. We tried to pacify her.
Me: “Aparna I know I should have told this to you earlier, but I was just in no mood to distort the celebration mood you had injected in us suggesting the dinner. And I had been with Yogesh before as well and our chemistry was just perfect. I used to tell him about the turn and he would successfully manage it.”
Yogesh: “And you know this fog is more today, we were not aware of it inside the office and once we had started I was in no mood to retort and I also thought we will manage. But anyway see we all are safe now. Please do not spoil your mood. Cheer up, I promise I will drive safely and we can have a memorable dinner together.”
Me: “Hey we can go to her place and pick up her camera to make this evening more memorable. Anyways her place is on the way.”
Aparna: “That means more turns and more synchronization required. No please, I will try not to spoil my mood, we will go for the dinner, but this is the last time I am going with you guys on a dinner.”
Yogesh winked at me. The trick of suggesting the camera had worked. When you want someone to be with you despite willingness, the best way is to suggest the person two alternatives, the one with lesser stake will be the chosen one. Who said, psychology was an undefined science. So finally we all were sitting on the table, pondering over the menu. Yogesh had managed all the turns henceforth beautifully; of course, I also had to take the credit of warning him at the right time for the upcoming turn. And by the time the dinner ended, Aparna was back in her cheery element, thanks to the wonderful stupid jokes, I and Yogesh cracked throughout the dinner.