She slowed as the Sohna road crossing signal turned amber. Bham!!! She was jolted as the car behind her screeched and hit in the back of her red Swift. She cursed the driver behind her and then herself!
By now she should have learnt that in Gurgaon, drivers hit the accelerator rather than the break when light turns amber. She had been doing rounds of Gurgaon roads, daily for last 1 year – taking her daughter to Odissi dance classes. She sighs “the path to success is covered with thorns, but in Gurgaon one also has to circumvent potholes, me-first drivers and just lazing around cows…”
Her reverie is broken up by the cacophony of insistent horns, as the light turns green. She shifts the gear and drives towards the epicenter auditorium, trying not to think about another scar on the car. She smiles as her mind says that her car might as well be called an SCAR! She, however makes her mind busy by making it tick away a checklist – tika, kumkum, kajal, mukut….after all today is the big performance and she wants it to be perfect
The auditorium lights get switched off and the sounds of mridangam waft through from the side of stage. Her fingers drumming up with beat on the arm of chair. A spot light turns up and she sees her daughter strike the perfect tribhangi pose…she is dancing flawlessly, the expressions in her bright eyes are just right, the mudras are perfect and movements fluid….
Her daughter wins a gold medal for her performance.
In the morning her husband looks at the dent in the car and makes a jibe “another one!”.
She responds with a smile “just another scar of victory”