Hello Yashica ji, a tree has fallen on your car!” said an anonymous caller before hanging up.
It was such a sudden call that it took me some time to reconnect with what the caller said -the relationship between the tree, my car and the caller.
I called him back and got to know that he was my neighbour, of course, I am not acquainted with him as I rarely know anything about anyone in my locality. Aree, don’t become judgmental now. Don’t you know it’s now a trending culture here in Delhi: Not to know thy neighbours.
Those who want to show they are extremely busy, have to prove it too by pretending they know nothing about their neighbours. So, even if we know something happening inside the next door neighbour’s house, we claim we don’t even know their names. What time their maid comes and goes, when the wife is going to cook, why the kids are not going to school and even what’s in the menu for dinner-we know everything but you know what? We are too busy only to know who is living in our neighbourhood.
So, I called back my well-wisher and got the full details on how due to heavy rain and thunderstorm a branch of the tree fell on the roof of my car. Yes, I knew it was raining heavily and officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have been issuing warnings, forecasts and do’s and don’ts for the worst weather conditions. Not only this, I also learned that many persons were dead in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan among other states. I agree the loss was huge, but, what was the fault of my car? And, why should I bear all the loss!
I wanted to connect with the WB (Weather Baba) and appeal it to bear the cost of the damage done to my car. Certainly, I would have pleaded for your loss too, but, connecting with the West Bengal’s Chief Minister seemed a better idea to me than the Weather Baba. I know she is not my CM but she has recently promised to help everybody in every possible manner.
“We do not have control over nature. We will not be able to bring back those who have died, but our government will be beside these families and help them in every possible manner,” the CM had said.
But, since she must be busy in maintaining a model code of conduct in the ongoing panchayat elections in the state in which nearly three people were dead and several injured (by the time of filing the report) due to the violence erupted over the elections, I reversed my idea and decided to approach the WB. To share with you all, here is my application to the WB. The letter is lying in my balcony waiting for the next air blow to take it to the HoD Weather.
Dear Weather Baba,
I agree you are not in a good mood today but some part of the planet earth needs your attention on urgent basis.
Few of your team members like rain, thunderstorms, lighting are hitting hard in some particular areas of the earth. Though I have no personal enmity against any of your team members, but,they have damaged my car and have also thrown life out of gear, leaving behind a trail of destruction here.
Request you to kindly compensate for the loss on an immediate basis, failure to which we may file a case against you to the higher department.
(On a personal note, I suggest you call your team back and address their professional issues so that we are spared of their anger.)
Thank You in advance.
Your’s truly,
A human from earth
Since Yashica Jalhotra hasn’t got any refund yet, she is seen continuously watching the movie ‘Oh My God’ and learning the strategies from Akshay Kumar to win her case against WB. Send her some inputs at letters@tehelka.com
