At the strike
When you reach habitually on time to office, you find a lot less people than usual. The reason is the strike of the autorikshaws; you come to know when the first employee hit by the strike enters.
Everyone arrives, either with lot of sweat travelling by bus or train, and the rest of the lot travelled by taxis come with empty pockets. And the sharing of experiences begins; everyone tries to tell that he has the worst tale to tell.
But why? I mean why the autorikshaws union called on this strike….
You search on the net, as it is more near to you, and you can’t participate in the live talk because you have bike and have, in fact, enjoyed the comparatively empty streets. So, the net says, somewhere in America one South American artist with a weird name starved a dog to death, and presented the act as installation art in an art gallery. Thousands of blogs condemned this act, and millions of people (you wonder how people get time to write on Salman’s various hairstyles in his career) have expressed themselves virtually.
To add up spice to the story (I guess) another art gallery invited that artist (with the weird name) to repeat this act. A virtual petition has been released where you can sign virtually to express your disapproval towards the act.
On the net you also find out the explanation of that artist on his act. He says on another blog that it is to tell people how stray dogs die in the third world country, but you have only realized the pain when I have shown you the death and desperation to live in the art’s context. (By the way he has kept some food just outside the reach of the dog, and has written on the walls of the art gallery ‘you are what you eat’)
So, you get pretty much wrapped up in the virtual wired world. But you don’t like the comparatively offensive expression portrayed in the virtual world about the third world. You feel like the starved dog on display and Uncle Sam is broadcasting you all over the world in an exclusive 24-7 live channel. (India TV doesn’t cover that, as it is inside the dog)
Meantime you realized that (the AC is freezing you out!) no you realize that (the road was less crowded), no you realize that (the new girl in your office is wearing dark blue bra, and you can make out it because she is also wet in sweat!), well yeah you realize that (you don’t get to see the quality of rope by which the dog has been tied up in your country), well you come to realize that the autorikshaws are on strike today (but that you know already!) well, the strike is because they don’t want the electronic meters to be installed in their vehicles (the electronics meter could’ve given the printed bill including the fare, the distance travelled, permit number and registration number of the autorikshaw…cool ha!) Moreover they want public servant status and (yet another) reservation in houses. The take of the autorikshaw union on the opposition for the electronic meter is that-they would as prone to tampering and dust and moisture as the existing mechanical ones.
Suddenly you see that girl with the blue bra loses her consciousness, the reason: she waited for the public transport vehicle for more than hour in scorching sun…The strike is a success…may you say!?
The dog had died because of the hunger, so the artist should’ve been more successful by this logic...huh!?
Have you started to feel that you should put this article on your blog?
(By the way the autorikshaw union couldn’t hold for even one day…on the other day the autorikshaws and thus the traffic jam was on!)
