One of my colleagues, Chandran, had this very interesting story to narrate. He is from Tiruvannamalai, a small town in Tamil Nadu. He was schooling in a place, in TamilNadu, which was near Pondy. Those days TamilNadu was a dry state. So people used to go to Pondy for drinking. but carrying of booze from Pondy [ a Union Territory of India formed out of four enclaves of former French India ] to Tamilnadu was illegal. Anyone caught smuggling booze into Tamilnadu was dealt with severity by the police.
Since Chandran was then in his 9th standard, the police did not bother to check the students. The school students used to smuggle booze in their school backpacks.
One weekend, Chandran and his class mates decided to have a beer party. Chandran, went to Pondy and picked up 8 bottles of beer. He stacked them neatly in his school backpacks. His schoolmates were waiting for him eagerly. He got into the public transport, which was heavily crowded. As he stood on the foot-board of the bus, hanging outside, by holding on to the side rails, the weight of the bag became increasingly difficult to bear. as the bus stopped in the next stop, he handed over the bag to a lady sitting by the window side. The lady took the heavy bag fro him, and rested it on her lap. Relieved of the he pushed his way into the bus, and stood, tightly squeezed by the jam packed crowd.
Those days, the roads were in really bad condition, full of pot holes. The buses normally swayed, jolted and shuddered as they made their way through the crowded disorganized erratic traffic.
As the bus hit a really deep pot hole, The beer bottles in the bag clanged against each other and broke. The beer flowed out of the backpack to wet the saree of the lady passenger. Her saree was now drenched in beer. The entire bus reeked with the stench of beer. The lady was aghast, at the turn of events, as an innocent backpack burst open with contraband materials. She frantically searched for the dubious school boy, who had dumped her with banned items. She started telling the co-passengers, " The bag was given to me by a young school student."
Chandran, knew that his reputation was at stake. As quickly as he could he made it to the doorway, and jumped out of the moving bus, and ran as fast his legs could carry him, bang in the opposite direction, till he disappeared into the crowd.
He waited till the bus vanished from eye sight, and went to a nearby shop, to buy and light a cigarette , and smoked in new found peace.
Since Chandran was then in his 9th standard, the police did not bother to check the students. The school students used to smuggle booze in their school backpacks.
One weekend, Chandran and his class mates decided to have a beer party. Chandran, went to Pondy and picked up 8 bottles of beer. He stacked them neatly in his school backpacks. His schoolmates were waiting for him eagerly. He got into the public transport, which was heavily crowded. As he stood on the foot-board of the bus, hanging outside, by holding on to the side rails, the weight of the bag became increasingly difficult to bear. as the bus stopped in the next stop, he handed over the bag to a lady sitting by the window side. The lady took the heavy bag fro him, and rested it on her lap. Relieved of the he pushed his way into the bus, and stood, tightly squeezed by the jam packed crowd.
Those days, the roads were in really bad condition, full of pot holes. The buses normally swayed, jolted and shuddered as they made their way through the crowded disorganized erratic traffic.
As the bus hit a really deep pot hole, The beer bottles in the bag clanged against each other and broke. The beer flowed out of the backpack to wet the saree of the lady passenger. Her saree was now drenched in beer. The entire bus reeked with the stench of beer. The lady was aghast, at the turn of events, as an innocent backpack burst open with contraband materials. She frantically searched for the dubious school boy, who had dumped her with banned items. She started telling the co-passengers, " The bag was given to me by a young school student."
Chandran, knew that his reputation was at stake. As quickly as he could he made it to the doorway, and jumped out of the moving bus, and ran as fast his legs could carry him, bang in the opposite direction, till he disappeared into the crowd.
He waited till the bus vanished from eye sight, and went to a nearby shop, to buy and light a cigarette , and smoked in new found peace.
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