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    Every morning, I walk up to the IT College metro station from my house, which is about ten minutes, cutting across the sprawling Police Lines. Today was a similar drill. I took the metro from there to Hazratganj Station, which is just three stations away. And today, being a holiday, the metro was absolutely empty. In fact, I was the only chap, I think, who got down at the Hazratganj station. Even as I was returning, I was the only person who boarded from there.

    In Hazratganj, I usually walk for about half an hour every day. But the air was heavy today, even when the roads and the footpath were empty. There was a heavy security deployment near the Khadi Gram showroom where Yogi ji, the Chief Minister of U.P., was to arrive to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi, today being his birth anniversary. I continued walking till I arrived at my usual joint, The Shukla tea stall, on Church Road, Hazratganj, that serves tea and street food.

    The place is heavily crowded. Today was no different. I normally have a Kulhad chai there, which reminds me of the cutting Chai in Mumbai. While I was having Chai, two police motorcycles, blaring their sirens, landed at the tea stall. They started coaxing the drivers to remove their cars and scooters from there. It appeared as a special security drill on the 2nd of October. I was happy to note that I had landed in Hazratganj by metro and was on foot, so I didn’t have to bother about my car. I felt liberated. As a result, the tea tasted even sweeter, the weather even more pleasant, and the walk even more energising, and the mind relaxed. See what blaring sirens can do to you when you don’t have a car.

Written and posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

Author, Poet, & Columnist

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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