It Could Happen to You !

1.       Nighttime ......... location.......... Doddenakudi village, Bangalore

2.       Status – Tired, hungry and penniless (only electronic money available)

3.       Environmental condition/resources at disposal – Balmy weather, just a hint short of chilly, all restaurants closed, even hole in the walls, no transportation excepting 11 number bus(for the uninformed it refers to walking)

It is difficult to sleep on a queasy feeling in your tummy, particularly when you believed you have earned the right to un-quease it. I knew a Domino was somewhere close to the Marathalli bridge and decided to trudge along to it.

In enter...... the dregs of society, the riff raffs and all........gaunt...........skeletal...........bearded and stinking...........alternatively of sweat, and booze.

With the laptop slung across my shoulder and in Friday casuals I was a sure shot picture of a techie, often confused for the financially well endowed.

One glance at the three told me this is going to be ....easy.... !!

I am no Dharmendra, but they were all puny, and under water at various levels.

A shove by the most inebriated. It was hard and I fell down.........heavily on the bag.

Another one aimed his feet at my face but missed. The third however landed one nicely on my back, and it was some pointed shoes this one was wearing so it hurt. Meanwhile the first picked up a stone and was making a swing.

In this mess the laptop bag had split open from the front, which is a very rare thing. A hint of metal caught my eyes from the tumbling baggage and I ....................for a moment froze.

It was my Ram Baan.............my constant companion of the lost years............... it was a Punch.

I had found it tucked away in some remote corner of my cupboard, in Delhi and I had just put it in my bag and promptly ............forgot about it.

I slipped it into my fingers. Its cold feel reminded me of the countless warm liquids that it once used to see. I made an uppercut motion towards one face and stopped midway.

Never use a punch on a face …makes it too messy and too identifiable.

I delivered one with full force on his upper arm; it nicked some of the skin away. The guy howled and started of some kanaada words.

A razor sharp pain course from the back of my leg it was a short knife, like the pen knife , but very pointy, the back of my leg started feeling very warm and I knew the cut was deep.

A brawl, followed as the animal brain took over the rational one. I just forgot about all the pain in my back...........the hunger in my stomach ..............and the tiredness in my body.

A punch in one and the other bare knuckled, I started wild swings. Two of them went down, thanks to two blows at the leg and the arm and one for good luck in their guts.

The third one was slightly nonplussed by this; after all it was sheer numbers, one against three.

I stared at him, with no expression and then motioned him to go away. He hesitated and then walked off, that what the drink does, it shows who you really are, and he was a coward.

The other 2 were whimpering, I picked up my bag, transferred the spilt contents to the center slot of my bag and surveyed the damage.

A deep cut on my lower leg.............. a developing bruise on my back........... and small cut on my butt. Thankfully it was all internal ............no external visible damages.

To eat ………..or to trudge back………… clean and sleep?

The smell of baking cheese reined powerful than the smell of dripping blood. Dusting myself, I cleaned the cuts with some water from my bottle. Twenty minutes later, a vegetable extravaganza inside it was dawning on; the pain was coming back with a vengeance. I needed a drink to numb it, but then I could not touch alcohol.

I walked out, and paid 250 bucks for a 30 minute ride in an auto.

A warm bath, and two Flexons later, I hibernated…….

Come morning I thought about the night.

You are walking towards a hotel hungry and tired and someone kicks you in the shin…could it happen to you??

It could happen to you!