22) Trouble at the Discotheque

The pressures of working in a software company can be immense and sometimes so blinding in intensity the mind goes numb.

The weekends are eagerly looked forward too to rejuvenate the jangled nerves.
I would frequent the “The Park” that got a good dance floor and a jolly crowd. The music is mostly Latino and it’s my ideal stress buster.

Sanjana, Arthi and I would accompany Vivek, Shirish and Ajit for the outing. All of us work in the same company and in fact, Arthi and I even work on same project. Sanjana is from Mumbai and the boys come from Delhi and it’s homesickness for Hindi that binds us together. For a north Indian, Chennai seems as foreign a place as a Malaysia or Bangkok as Hindi is neither understood nor patronized.

I remember that day- the second Saturday of June, 2005 – for it shook me to the core. We had a couple of beers and proceeded to the dance floor. I would partner either Vivek or Shirish leaving the lovers – Sanjana and Ajit - to themselves. There was this tall, stout fellow and he kept his eyes fastened on me making me very uncomfortable.

After a while, he got brave enough to ask me for a dance. I refused politely for I need to know the person to a sufficient degree. The matter rested there and I gave it no further thought except that Vivek kept teasing that I should have danced in the interest of national unity!!!!

Our troubles took a new lease as this fellow came to our table with his friends and created a ruckus. They accused us of coming to their city and spoil its culture in addition to taking away their jobs. We were naïve to believe that the hotel would protect us. They studiously ignored though it was affecting the party mood in the vicinity. There were curious and inquisitive glances but none ventured to support us. For the first time, we felt the vulnerability of being in a hostile city.

We paid our bills and rushed out quickly. To our horror, these people followed us. We were 6 to their 4 but those guys looked like trained hooligans. Ajit drove the car as fast as he could from the impending disaster while we held breath. Our Indigo was no match to their Qualis as they quickly caught up us on Cathedral Road.

In the meantime, I alerted the police from my cell and luckily in Tamilnadu they have an exclusive women’s wing. To our good fortune, they were at the spot and we breathed a lot easier on spotting the police cars.

The cops spoke to the boys in Tamil chastening them and later sent them away instead of booking a case.

The lady inspector explained,” Ma’am, we cannot do anything. He in the MP’s son and we would get into trouble if we did anything rash”.

Our nerves were still shaken up at this close brush and our hearts pounded with fear at the thought of how close danger was. However, we were determined not to let go of the ruffians so easily. Arthi had the presence of mind to click snaps from her cell phone and it came in handy to see the villains got their just deserts.

To cut a long story short, the local newspaper carried our story disguising our names and Arthi’s snaps were a real help. The police were forced to lodge a FIR against the MP’s son while we moved on in life trying to forget this unhappy incident.

That day, I experienced spine chilling fear and that car race still etched in memory. This spurred me to learn Tamil and within a year, I have become a confirmed localite and no one can guess I am a Sindhi. Now, who can dare me in Chennai?