Noida trip - part 1

My recent business trip to Noida was more sort of eye-opener rather than just a travel.....I got to figure out that there is altogether a different world out there in India which is neat and organized, where people don't have to pass their vehicles amidst abrupt and arbitrary construction sites, where the public places aren't suffocatingly congested, where we have roads that span for miles untwisted and the intercepts are accurately orthogonal.......where everything is sparse and have enough flare of its own to accommodate things.....where not every lane smells like a public toilet forcing people to hold their breathe or die inhaling the toxins....all in all.....Noida was utterly a different sort of city I had come across in India.....and trust me it was enthralling being a part of it for a week.....

The trip was a part of technical training that I was supposed to deliver......no sooner I landed the Delhi airport....bunch of taxi walas circumvented me in an attempt to offer their transport service....I was almost pushed to a corner by their overwhelming willingness to offer business....some of them nearly snatched my luggage as if they were my relatives or something who had come to receive me....no sooner I told them that I have already got a cab booked from office and it would be just a matter of a short call before it comes and escorts me to my destination, they all instantly turned around showing downright indifference and got dispersed in crowed......after going through all the sign boards held by cab drivers at the arrival section.....I couldn't find my name.....now I knew I had to make a deal with one of those cab drivers......I approached to one......he offered: "bhaiyya....Noida sec 34 ka keval 1300 Rs".......

"hahahaha...."..I thought...."kevel and 1300Rs in the same breath.......???"....after enough discussion and argument...... I later fixed a cab for Rs 1200....which i know is sufficiently more than the reasonable fare.....(I don't know why I am so disinclined at bargaining things).....nonetheless...that was an official trip...and I knew I would get reimbursements......

after reaching guest house....I called Namit who happens to be one of my closest college friends......we drove around city roads.....visited a few places.....watched girls eyefull...... and then decided to drive to dehli to meet few more friends....Namit handed me a bag which contained his vehicle's papers....may be I was thinking something else and did not hear him saying that it contained bike's registration papers.......most of the time while holding the bag I assumed that it had nothing except an envelope.....while returning back from friend's flat in delhi......I stopped to purchase tooth paste and other items at a small shop.....I shoved the items in my pockets and then we drove straight to the famous atta market for dinner.....weather had been little cloudy.....thunders and bolts threatened of rain......the drive on the expressway that joins delhi and noida was smashing....exept that you pay toll to use it...huh!.....it had started raining and time was almost 10 PM while we stopped at atta for dinner.....I noticed that the bag was not with me...hesitant, I asked Namit......

Opesh: Abe.....tera bag.....usme kya-kya tha??
Namit: (unbeknownst of bag loss, while parking bike....) bataya naa....gadi ke papers the.....
Opesh: (faints...and stammers).....abe.....wo....mm....mujhe lagta hai.....wo...kahin gir gaya....
Namit: (eyeballs out....jaw dropped...) bhai...bol de mazak kar raha hai??
Opesh: (stammers further...) abe....mm.....mazak nahi.....sach mein......kahin kho gaya.......
Namit: (puts his both hands over his forehead, in disgust...) batti lag gayi........

what could be worse than this....namit was dumbstruck.....I knew dinner was a forgotten concept now.....the "bag" became everything for Namit for that while......we moved outright back to delhi.......traversing the same path that lead us to noida......in slightest hope that we could find his bag and papers somewhere on the way......but to me, glimmer of hope wasn't even remotely evident.....somehow Namit had hope that we would be able to find it.....never saw him that serious......we covered 20 more kms and this time in utter slience.....neither of us did not speak a word.....nature turned cruel......thunders....bolts....storming winds......heavy torrents of rain drops that hit against us as we crusaded back.....I constantly tried to recall where I could have dropped the bag......but then...again it seemed to be weak and fruitless attempt......

continued in part 2..........