The Motorcar Diaries: Part 3

12 Sep
No news of Appu, no SMSs, no calls. I tried calling him twice but found his number busy so evening I went to his home and found a visibly dejected Appu. The truck is still in Vizag it seems. Repair work is happening. He is answering only to the questions asked. Heaps of magazines (all expensive) related to cars scattered here and there. No wonder he knows so much about cars. Of late Appu’s behaviour at home has gone from bad to worse, his mother complained. He argues (for hours) for every single thing . Whether it’s about keeping the green bath towel instead of his favourite blue one, or not opening the door even after the second knock.

I thought Appu needed a break and took him out for a ride. On our way he said that Hyundai Accent car was now available in Chennai canteen! Now that’s really a twist in the tale. We should have been bit more patient and booked the car from Chennai. We could have avoided this damn wait.
On our return we saw 2-3 Hyundai Accent cars. I tried to avoid the sight but Appu did not miss it. He started abusing profusely seeing the cars. I asked him to calm down.

13 Sep
Appu called around 5:30 in the morning, rather unusual! He said an interesting but very intriguing story. “A friend of Appu, who happens to be a truck driver saw the truck with the car, on his way to Chennai some 80 kms from the city”! Strange, when did he befriend a truck driver? How come the driver identified the truck? How did he know that he had booked the car and the very same car is there inside the truck? I did not ask these questions. Good to see Appu back in his elements. So according to him the truck should reach outskirts of Chennai by afternoon, worst case scenario by late evening. He asked me to get ready for delivery of the car. He is taking half day leave.

13 Sep, 8:00 p.m, my home

Appu came around 8, he was already on the phone talking in Hindi, he was struggling, talking to truck driver it seems. The conversations continued for almost an hour. I could see (in several occasions) his tone reaching the crescendo. After a while his brother joined the call (a conference call) from Hyderabad. Appu was furious most of the time. Later my wife told that in office also he is busy talking over the phone. At first his colleagues thought that he was pleading with the chief exam officer for more marks (Appu failed in one of the exams for some certification). It seems all of a sudden, in the middle of the work whenever his phone rings; he will get up, run towards the adjacent room and start talking for hours.
I just finished reading a book “The Afgan”, it’s about stealing of boats by a bunch of terrorists, now I have my own doubts but I didn’t share it with anybody. After today’s incident I decided to have a constant eye on Appu.

(To be continued....)