The frog, The White horse, The Caterpillar and Ann

Sanhita

Ann landed at Mumbai in the midst of a July storm. She was expecting somebody at airport to receive her, but was disappointed to find that none of the banners in the airport lounge bore her name. Waiting for more than an hour in the bustling, crowded lounge for that promised ‘somebody' she was feeling disappointed at everything-- at the maddening rain, at her dodgy US office, at her procrastinating Indian colleagues. She was impatient to reach the office.

Suddenly the shower stopped. Ann took the opportunity without hesitation and stepped outside the lounge. Within a second she was mobbed by a bunch of khaki clad rogues. All of them were shouting at her in an awesome accent-- "Ghatkopar", "Madam, Borivoli", "Madam five star, jus' come in", "Madam take my cab!!!" . Unknown phrases were flying around Ann. For a short while she was flummoxed by the milling crowd of taxi drivers around her and their demands. Then she absorbed the shock, collected her wits and suddenly pointed ahead and shouted "There's my car!".

The khaki brigade got distracted for a moment. Ann took full advantage of that split second and jumped into a three wheeler standing nearby. Its driver gunned the engine immediately and the vehicle jerked ahead with a roar even before the taxi drivers turned to run after the vehicle.

Within a few minutes the auto rickshaw scooted out of the airport locality. It was approaching the nearby railway station. From there Ann was about to take a train to Kopar Khairane. She had been deputed there to train customer service associates at her company's Indian Call Centre. She wished she could travel all the way by auto rickshaw. She was enjoying her bumpy ride sitting relaxed at the back seat of the cute tiny vehicle with a tiny curve fixed on her lips. There was a slight drizzle and a strong, gusty breeze blowing from the direction of the sea.

About half a mile before reaching the railway station, the strong breeze became a storm. A sudden blast of gusty wind tore the hood of the auto rickshaw into pieces. The free ends of the torn rexin were flailing violently in various directions battering incessantly on the frame of the vehicle. Suddenly one such piece dropped on her head Ann screamed, and then tried desperately to get rid of the junk. But the more she pulled at it, the more she was getting entangled in the mess. It was an intense and absorbing struggle and Ann was absorbed in it, oblivious to what was happening around her. Suddenlt a shout from the driver brought her back to her senses —
Beware madam. Floods!

At first, Ann could not make out the meaning of the message, but then, suddenly she felt a clammy touch of cold water on her feet. In a sudden last ditch effort she freed her eyes from the grip of the clinging cloth and looked down. There was water on the chassis of the rickshaw splashing around her feet! Alarmed, she looked around to find that the auto rickshaw was wading through a violent gush of water. Only then the words of the driver drove home. She felt a pang beneath her heart and yelled wildly,
"What're you doing, man?"

"Driving. What else?" The driver grinned.
"But there's Water already above the engine. Isn't it?"
"Propeller madam," The driver tried to make light of the situation.
"You mean, the vehicle is moving because of the propeller! Ann exclaimed."
"Yes, madam."
Ann was pretty surprised at such assertion. Bewildered, she muttered, "In Bombay, even these three wheelers have propellers!"

By that moment, the auto reached a traffic signal; it had to halt there for quite a while. Water level started lowering by then. The storm had reduced to intermittent strong wind accompanied by a persistent drizzle. Still Ann was kept busy by the hood-and-the-hair mess.

A little thud on the board shook the auto as well as Ann's attention away from her hair. She looked down and saw a gigantic frog near her feet. Immediately she started thumping on the foot board, to frighten the frog away; but it appeared nonchalant. After a few attempts she refrained and got back to previous endeavour of freeing her hair from the torn hood. A few minutes passed and she got distracted again by the frog; she tried to threaten the frog again; yet the frog refused to budge. Thus, time and again, Ann's attention and attempts were switching between the two sources of irritation – the hood on her head and the frog at her feet.

As the signal turned green, the frog jumped beside the driver and instructed him, "Machchigali Beauty Parlour."
Ann was furious at such officiousness. She shouted indignantly, "Nope, I must catch the train. Drive to the station."

"How would you attend the office with such a hood on head? Your hair is dirty-y-y-yy!!!!!" The frog howled. Such a judicious argument by an inferior being left Ann spellbound. However, she abstained from showing any appreciation. Actually, the frog was driving her mad. Yet, realizing the gravity of the situation, she restrained from suggesting anything otherwise.

Reaching the Parlour, Ann ordered a proper hair dressing so that she could get rid of the torn hood of the auto rickshaw and bring her hair back to shape. As she sat on the salon chair, the frog jumped on her head. Thus it simply got into her nerves. She asked the salon girl to start cutting immediately even if the frog was sitting on her head and yawning. She was so annoyed with the creature, that she even asked the girl to behea the frog if necessary, when cutting off the damaged hair. As the girl stepped forward with her scissors, the frog hopped onto the mirror clutching a few of Ann’s hair strands. Thus it pulled her along through the mirror.

To her surprise, Ann dropped on the back of a white horse waiting on the other side of the mirror. Before she managed to sit properly it started running along a red gravelly road. Before she understood where they had been heading, she discovered that they had been chasing a grey caterpillar. She became very impatient to know why they had been chasing the caterpillar. She started screaming to stop.

By that time they had already reached the finishing line. The crowd received them with loud applaud. The caterpillar transformed into a kaleidoscopic butterfly. Looking around Ann realized that she was standing at the doorstep of her offshore office surrounded by colleagues greeting her and chanting "Welcome Ann."