Its been quite sometime, eh? Well, post-exams was in a holidaying mood. I had been home gorging on tasty bengali paayesh, finger-licking fish, delectable raajma and fried rice. Two days of some wonderful time and returned back to Ahmedabad today.

Anyway, today is the second day of Holi – a huge festival of Hindus worldwide which is celebrated to commemorate the victory of good over evil. So, when I set forth to return back here, I couldn’t find any means of transportation. The University buses had suspended work till the evening and the nearest city was at least 30 kms from where I could get state transport buses to Ahmedabad. So, Baba (my father – that is what is called in ‘Bengali’) decided he’d drop us to the city by car and from there we’d catch the bus.

The highways/freeways were empty and we rarely saw a vehicle or two.En route, we were stopped by a mob of about 10-15 people with sticks in their hands. Now, I could see they were covered in colours (During Holi, people celebrate with colours – a heart-warming spectacle where love and affection spring forth). However, they blocked the road and started gheraoing our car. My father stopped it and asked them what was the matter. He saw that they were drunk and the one who seemed the leader ‘of the pack’ had loads of money in his hand.

They were extortionists trying to loot every vehicle on the empty roads. Morons! On my sisters insistence, my father immediately sped up the car and vroom! we wheezed past through the bunch. But the moment we managed to clear through, we heard a sharp clank behind.

Someone had stuck the car hard with his stick but with no success. But the ‘icing on the cake’ was a huge amount of cow dung smashed right across the back of our car. Yuck!

Since we had not time to examine our damage, lucky to have escaped, we continued our sojourn till we reached Palanpur (the nearest city). Stepping out, I saw the huge amount of excreta splashed and was half-laughing but full of anger.

I wonder how in the name of festivals, anti-social elements like these pop up in every nook and corner trying to loot, harm or even kill innocent passerbys. Booze – that adds to the special effects’ – too irked me.’

Albeit, we escaped unharmed and all our car needed was a good wash, it saddens me to think if our society really is progressing? Or is it acting as a nurturing harbour for increasing such anti-social aspects – small scale or terrorist elements?

Siddhartha