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| Glory Sasikala |
There's a strip of what looks invitingly like a 'plain piece of good road' nearer my hostel. Every time I come by auto, I have to warn the driver not to try and mount on to this strip because the vehicle gets stuck somewhere between the chasing slush and the inviting mirage, and then you're bending over to see how to work the wheels out. Nopes, no luck there, you just have to get out and slush it out.
That being the situ, I've totally given up on walking to and fro and now opt for the train from Perungudi (just outside my hostel) to Thiruvanmiyur (15 minutes from Ascendas). Of note, I am now working in Ascendas, a tech park, and I’m living in a hostel. Occasionally, I do brave it out to do some shopping, and each time I do that and I come to what is the longest stretch of muddy rain water on the road and try to balance it out through a narrow strip of land on the side, I come face to face with a cow.
No matter what time of the day or night it is, this cow and I get stuck on the same strip of land. I never win because I simply will not budge till the cow has crossed over to my side. And the cow, for its own good reasons, will not move too.
It has the most beautiful kohl-marked expressive eyes, with long, long eyelashes, and when we see eye to eye, we do seem to recognize each other.
Invariably the cow's owner turns up and says, "hoi! hoi!" and the cow moves.
I'm thinking it’s destiny. The cow probably thinks, "Aw shucks! Not this female again! Here we go once more with the 'no-budge' ritual."
