I was with a bunch of friends, at a time when I have daily classes. There were a whole bunch of people, particularly remember two guys and three girls. We were at a friend's place near Saket, which is close to my house in Thane, but on Thane East instead of Thane west. In reality, its in Thane west only.
Anyway, do not know why we gathered there, but basically its not a class project, and we just waste time. One of the guys tells me to stay away from one of the girls, as she is misleading me. These are all people I do not know in real life btw. We all leave by mid afternoon, so everyone goes outside the building. I ask the misleading girl are we going to college, and she says no. I say, but I thought we would be going later, she says, no Im bunking and hops into a rickshaw. Two rickshaws quickly fill with six people and they go off, leaving me alone.
I walk to the end of the road, see a familiar painting on a public toilet, that I had noticed on the way in. I also realise that I have lost my mask, and look for it frenetically in all my pockets, finding no mask but a handkerchief. I keep searching, and eventually find a cheap cloth mask with a decorative print that keeps falling off and has a bad elastic. I walk down to a junction in the road, and there are a bunch of free rickshaws as well as shared rickshaws. There are also some people forming a line for the shared rickshaws. I notice a clothes sale to the right and go in.
I asked for full sleeved t-shirts and get shown a lot of thick, heavy but ageing shirts. I pick up three shirts after a lot of searching. They are frayed and ageing, are thick and warm, and have ethnic patterns. I pick a fine floral grey and black one, a stroped brown and beige one, and a dark blue and sky blue one with dragonscale print. I ask how much each is and am told something like "65". I mentally calculate that everything should be around 250-300 at max, and check out some masks. There are some items in the shop that are not clothes. They are selling magazines, toys and food as well.
All the shop attendees seem to be either loitering around me or trying to help me. The owner comes and asks them to go back to work and that other customers are waiting. The boys say, this fellow is buying three shirts! The shopkeeper goes back to the cash counter. Eventually, I get to the counter. Shopkeeper asks another boy to show my the bill. The bill is 44,000. I say, each of these shirts are 300 each at max, throw back all the second hand shirts, and head back out.
It starts to rain. Now, I cannot find a rickshaw, no one is willing to go to Vasant Vihar, and all the share rickshaws are for thane station. One guy without a rickshaw but wearing the brown uniform says, come with mee. I cross the road and see a whole row of drowned vehicles. I can see the top of a rickshaw as the third vehicle in a row. This man goes in, and lifts the entire rickshaw above the water line.
This is like Baahubali + Luke Cage. I take out my phone to record this amazing feat, but by that time, he has already raised the rickshaw above the water and is walking towards me with the rickshaw on his shoulder. Then, while walking towards me, he and the rickshaw together disappear into a drain. I expect him to come out again and take out my phone, to take a few photos. They are all blurry and hazy, like water has gotten into the electronics. I keep wiping the screen as if that will help.
A couple of minutes pass, and I pocket the phone, and head towards the drain. I tell him "breathe, come up" as I see him struggling to dislodge the rickshaw which is stuck in a deeper hole within the drain. He yells back at me "typical of entitled riders, to shout out commands first instead of enquiring how the vehicle is, or how I am". I get a sense that this guy's superpowers include breathing underwater as well, and that he is trying to exploit me by blaming me for his troubles. I just ignore him and head back to the share rickshaw stand, without engaging with him any further. He instantly leaves the rickshaw and starts yelling at the back of my head "hey! come back! where are you going asshole!" But I ignore him.
Across the street I keep yelling Vasant Vihar at passing rickshaws, they keep saying no, keep getting filled up, and keep disappearing. One guy shouts "no, but I will take you to Vartak Nagar, get in at the Thane". I figure I can easily find another ride from there, and run behind him, to the "Thane", which is a small police station. I can read the "Thane" in blue letters written on the yellow building. He nods at me. There is already one man inside sitting on the extreme left. There are nylon ropes criss crossing all over the insides of the rickshaw. The man huffs, puffs, sighs and scoots in to the extreme right, inviting me to sit in the middle. I see that the ropes are elaborate braces to hold your knees, ankles and arms. I scoot inwards, towards the middle seat, and physically move sideways in my bed, waking up.
A hole within an underwater pond is a recurring theme. Also struggles to use a smartphone. The exploitative people is something new though. This is one of those dreams I would have forgotten had I not written everything down instantly, as soon as I woke up.
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