Mishti - 2

Early morning at 6 we started. After the Mumbai-Pune expressway has been constructed, the drive is hardly 3-4 hours. The fresh air and morning dew were a complete contrast to my feelings. On the way, we took a halt at the food mall for breakfast. To lift up my spirits, daddy loaded me with all the goodies – cream biscuits, slice cakes, french fries, cheese balls and not to forget Thumbs up, the best of soft drinks. Who can stop smiling at such a pleasant sight, definitely not me. I was sure mummy wouldn’t allow it, so looked at her pleadingly, but she just smiled and put the first of the fries in her mouth. I gave an instant giggle and with that I digested that Mumbai has definitely been lost behind. I would keep my promise though and visit my friends in holidays, keep in touch by phone and that is it. Popped in a couple of cheese balls in my mouth and we headed ahead.

About 20 minutes after crossing Lonavala, we took another small break at Shirgaon. Mummy wanted a cup of tea and some medicines for her throbbing headache. I waited for mummy-daddy. I was just strolling by the car when unknowingly I was pushed by few kids playing running race and I stepped over a fruit vendor’s banana basket. She was a giant lady with well built muscles. I shrieked out looking at her. Unable to control my balance, I kind-of toppled over her all together. My goodness, I got scared. She started blabbering in Marathi and hitting me as well. But, it was not my fault, it was just an accident, or was it a mischief. I looked out for the kids but they had run away. I heard a distant laughter, which confirmed that it was a prank. Now, seeing my lack of attention the fruit vendor lady started yelling even more. Her loud wailing deafened me. She was complaining about loss of business but nobody was going to buy her over-ripe bananas, I grumbled. She did not stop for complete 15 minutes till mummy-papa came over. Without any arguments, papa just handed her some 3-4 hundred rupee notes and fetched me up. Her complains stopped. We started to the car but I smelled bananas all over. It was nauseating. Mummy found one of her salwar-kameez from the minimal luggage we had with us in the car. We headed to the ladies restroom for me to change. That was a dangerous sight. It was dirty, watery and filled with dozens of women like the fruit vendor lady. Some kids bantering, some other women fighting over a push, this was worse than the Mumbai local trains. Even I don’t know how I managed to change my clothes and get out of there. In the 5 minutes I spent there, the only familiar reference was Pune. Seems like another 20 minutes, and we would step into Pune. Were they all heading to Pune, was Pune filled with many more of their clan? How I wished I could just run back to Mumbai.

The remaining journey was uneventful. With all my pre-notions, the Pune suburbs appeared much better. Lot many two-wheelers and so many “Neera-kendras”. We were straight heading to the staff quarters, but daddy wanted to drop by and see how his new workplace looks like. Oh, I missed to tell you. My father is a pediatric surgeon and per his new job, he would be the head of department of some recently started but up to the mark hospital in Pune. So, we were heading first to his new hospital and then the staff quarters. As we drove through the roads of Pune, I had difficulties in getting the names of everything, from shop names to hoardings. Everything was in super fluent Marathi. Not that I didn’t know the language, but those were complicated to read and who is going to visit the shop or get attracted to any advertisement with such complicated words. But, I hardly knew what was next in store. We parked in front of the hospital and I got out to read the name, written in bold Marathi and subscripted in English. I know it is weird but I never bothered asking about the hospital name to Daddy. I knew the address faintly, Paul road, Kothrud. So, coming back to the hospital name. I can bet all my pocket money that none of us would read it straight in one go, for the first time. My daddy would be the HOD of the pediatrics department of Sant Dnyaneshwar Aarogyarasradhika Rugnalaya. Phew, I just took a long, heavy breath, looked at my dad and he smiled back. This was indeed a little complex name for a hospital. Welcome to Pune!