Taxiiiiii.................

Among 36 candidates screened in, 9 of us got recommended for medical tests. Should i explicitly say that we all were happy?..Medical candidates are provided with chest numbers with a "+" sign. We all were eagerly waiting for that day which appends the sign to our chests. The most crucial tests are surgical and medical tests. I remember few of us calling them "striptease". There were also many stories associated with the tests.

One goes like this.
A lady doctor was examining a male candidate. She was so superb and awesome that his "!*@^^$ " got  "*&^#@^# ".( let ur minds wander). Doctor said to the candidate: " u SOB look at my stars not on my B**B$.." 


So no wonder that we were a bit panic struck. Things didn't go wrong as the medical was carried out by a male Doctor. Usually an NCO (non commissioned officer) will be in charge of taking us to hospital and to take care of paperworks. But he was such a bloody fucker that he always used "Gallies" (abusive language) instead of our names. Just before medical most of us were so upset that only 3 of us had a normal BP. I had a BP of 80/180. Just UNBELIEVABLE...This was more than enough for getting rejected. I was almost expecting an "UNFIT" certification. but when the results came, i was one among the 3 candidates who were medically fit. Those moments are like...mmm...beyond expression..When u realize that you have attained one important goal of ur life, you may imagine yourselves getting a license to do anything.

I was imagining my marriage day....
One of my beautiful classmate in dazzling white frock dancing with me in accordance with the melodious music of a saxophone of the royal Navy band, and all the guests amazingly watching us on the way we dance, and finally an applause when her waist line rests on my left arm and i bending over the bride and forgets completely in a moment when our lips share the sweetness of a kissssss.......mmmm...can't wait 4 that day........

I even forgot to console my friends who got a temporary rejection, congratulate others, and even thank GOD. When you feel that you are the biggest creature on earth, life plays a simple trick to make you realize that you are just a piece of shit!...You may feel so pissed of that you may even curse the day you were born. You may sob like a child, helplessly, and spend sleepless night out of worst nightmares. Soon life will show us how the forgotten ones, our fellow beings etc can help us to overcome the chrisis so that we may feel once again that we are social animals. I had such a situation. But i am not here to narrate it. This was an incident in my father's life which helped to increase my faith in GOD!..So the hero of this story is my father or even GOD. Both are same, aren't they?...

He was at the age of 26 or 28. He was on his way from Madeena to Cochin. As (Nedumbassery) Cochin International Airport was just a vast paddy field during those days, and the aerodrome not even in the minds of draughtsman, he had to get down at Bombay to catch a connection flight to Cochin domestic terminal. Bombay was more or less the same. Crowd, goondas, koolies, all the same. It was the first place he went with his job hunt at the age of 18. I don't know what was inside his "trunk box" then, but this time his suit case contained few Gold ornaments, a Rado watch, and few foreign currency notes when he stepped into Santha Cruze air port. When blood becomes sweat, you can fill your bag with fortunes. You just need to work hard. He had a friend at Bombay, but it will take a while to locate him. Also, he needed to exchange the foreign currencies to book a flight to Cochin. He took a taxi cab. While he was in search for a below average hotel room for a few days' stay, the taxiwala1 offered him a room in his house so that dad need not waste his money. Those days, each penny counts. And my dad's Hindi was not as fluent as these days. So he was too happy to have a companion. It was better to take a bus service, but handling the luggage would have been a tedious job. So as mentioned before, he was given a room.

He heard some strange nioce and whispering of a man and woman at night. He had a sleepless night and wanted to stay awake till the next morning. Slowly, he turned his head towards the voices. The taxi driver and his wife were trying to open my dad's luggage. He couldn't let out an alarming voice. So he coughed and cleared his throat. They disapeared in the darkness. Next day early in the morning my dad got out of the house. He told taxiwala1 that he had to get the currency exchanged. Actually, he was going out to find his friend Chandrakanth. The moment he stepped into a taxi, taxiwala1 told taxiwala2 "ise khadam karo. kisiko koyi shak nahi padna chaiye" (kill him. no one should be suspicious about it). Dad was a bit suspicious. He stayed alert. My dad asked him to drop at Baroli bridge.(Hope i named it correctly). But the taxiwala drove beyond the point that my dad had to literally jump out of the car. He ran and ran. The only thing he could do was to run with his full strength so that he can be out of sight of the taxiwala. He dashed through the slums. Taking sharp turns on corners and running at full pace might have been a difficult task for him. Every block seemed to be the same. he dont know what to tell if he found a door opened for him. He followed his mind took right turns and left turns at random. He was tired and panting when he knocked the door of a house. What was awaiting him there?..Will he get a help? No idea. But the man who came out of the house literally made his jaws dropped- Chandrakanth!...."WTF?" My dad might have thought in mind. He might have felt the haven as a heaven. My dad explained everything to him. Luckily Chandrakanth was a well accepted man in his society. He sent few of his friends to the taxiwala's house. The luggage wasn't opened till then. May be, the taxiwala might have thought to open it up after a while. I don't know how they retrived the luggages, but the taxiwala might have ended up in a condition to be no more called as a "taxiwala". Chandrakanth took care of my dad for a few more days, meanwhile he arranged tickets for dad's journey. Got the currencies exchanged with no trouble. I am not sure about what my dad did in return, but he is still in his heart....

I was in a different trouble. If God can take you to the exact house among a thousand look alikes, he can definitely get you out of any trouble in your life...A Simple lesson which i didn't even think about during my trouble...I am happy to say that I achieved something APJ Abdul Kalam, Shah Rukh Khan, and Rahul Dravid couldn't do; clearing the SSB, but i was ignorant like Goliath who didn't even think about the sling shot from a catapult.....Life will teach you everything, won't it?....And few names like Chandrakanth will stay in our mind forever.......