I never leave my house once I come back from clinic, come what may. The only exceptions to the rule are potentially morbid conditions like not taking my daughter to birthday parties because otherwise, my tympanic membranes would be torn by hours of unending high decibel wailing noises.

So, when I had to go to an IMA meeting, I cannot even explain how much I had to coax and cajole myself to leave the warm and calm confines of my home. I had to go because there was a discussion on biomedical waste disposal. These municipality people are as common and as scary as ghosts in a haunted house and I better understand how to deal with the problem properly. And not taking care of this issue can be as dangerous as not taking your kid to the birthday party.

I made a strong sweet coffee to please myself and started. Being a completely direction-challenged person I had asked my husband the route to the IMA office in the morning itself, and he had told me that I had to take the road opposite Kerala Café and keep going. It is not that I have not gone to the IMA office earlier. It is just that my husband drove each time and I was busy correcting his driving style and I forgot to note the route. Anyway I decided not to use GPS because it's not very rare that we are all convinced to take the most difficult route by that sweet sounding cunning lady.

IMA office in Banaras is located in the densest part of the city where shoppers, pilgrims and basically homo sapiens and vehicles of every colour, size and shape are moving about in random directions. Forward movement happens by inches and I thought that they should install one ‘Inchometer’ also in the car. I was feeling very proud of my sense of humour about this inchometer stuff and suddenly a thought came to my mind. ‘What if I am moving totally in a wrong direction? What if I don’t find it at all? How do I go back?’ Women do have these doubts when they drive. But the answer is very simple. You just have to park your car in any available space and dial your husband’s number. Your knight in shining armour HAS TO drop whatever that he is doing and run to rescue the damsel in distress. And you can list this as the best advantage of getting married, the second best being asking for forgotten towel, from the bathroom. My husband never minds these small lapses like towels being forgotten because he has witnessed worse like my face memory. My face memory is outstanding by being completely absent.

I kept driving and I understood how much my car was being loved by everyone. Bicycles were caressing it, bikes were hitting on it and one car directly kissed it. But my car is used to such attention and kept going without a bother. The road was unending and I was swimming in the ocean of people and vehicles while cursing my husband for misguiding me. I thought how much I would harass him for this and was taking pleasure with the thought and Lo and Behold! There it is! I had reached IMA.

Coming back was a cakewalk because now I knew my way. In no time Kerala café was back in view and I fell in love with my car again because it brought me back to a normal world. I mentally made a booking for the 2008 model Alto car as my life partner in my next life. True love is falling in love with the same person again and again. I have always showed my unwavering love towards my alto. For every wedding anniversary and every birthday my husband tortures me saying ‘let me gift you a new car’. Every now and then ‘True value’ people come and evaluate my car and instigate my husband. None of these people know the true value of my Alto. But I have stuck to my Alto like Savitri.

When I reached Kerala café I even toyed with the idea of going in and having a masala dosa alone. I read in facebook a few days ago that a person who can go to the restaurant alone and watch a movie alone in a theatre is capable of doing anything he wants. As everyone knows that facebook and whatsapp are the real sources of true knowledge; I am a strict follower of these. The only obstacle between me and ‘capacity-to-do-anything’ was my full stomach. My coffee was still in mood to keep me happy and I had to drop the idea. As the house was nearing I felt a small voice in my heart saying ‘say bye to the two hours of freedom Medha. Now you have a lot of things to worry about. Your children have exams. You have to check if they have opened any books yet. And they will ask for dinner. Stay in the car for some more time’. I stifled my inner voice and said ‘No, enough of adventure for today. I will go home and relax on my bed. My little angels will not trouble me at all looking at my tired face.’

Thus, very pleased with myself I entered the house and my kids shouted together ‘Hi mom, Can you make chilli paneer today?’

Immediately I mentally booked two more 2008 made Alto cars as my children for my next life.