A road less travelled...

Thirty minutes.

Thirty straight minutes at a jam. The car running, devouring fuel like it was a monster out of a children’s fairy tale, with just a huge mouth and nothing else. There was a limit to how much a man could take. It was time to make a difference. It was time to break the cycle and he was the one who would do it.

He gave one last look at the huge snake infront of him, made completely of cars, gorging on invaluable fossil fuel like a blood hungry leech. He closed his eyes and gripped the steering wheel. Concentrate. You can do this.

A hum, like a TV channel which isnt broadcasting, makes, started to go up. It increased in volume and soon enveloped his car. People around him were looking from their cars now. With a huge boom and a big ball of yellow light, the top of the car flew off. Glass fragmented on all sides, littering the road and the cars around in a shower of diamonds. Rohit, the struggling corporate, was suddenly not struggling to reach his office on time. He had become Rohit, the flying corporate, guardian of the fossil fuels. As he flapped his huge, white, angel like wings, taking to the skies, dazzling in the golden light of the sun, speeding like a bullet towards his office, he thought to himself, “that should solve it!”

A rude honk slapped him right back into his car and he discovered the jam had cleared. He changed gears, urging his car to move forward. There had to be a better alternative than taking to the skies with imaginary wings.

Swimming in his pool of thoughts, he was now standing right outside Swati’s house. He saw her come out of the door, just in time, about to take her car. Swati had joined his office last week and he had been wondering how to get chatty with her.   

“Swati!” he called, attracting her attention. She stood wondering for a while and slowly came towards his car. “Rohit right?” she said. His turn.

“Yeah!” he said, trying to play it smart. “I go through the same route everyday to office and I was seeing that you take your own car to office too...I was wondering you know, the rising costs of petrol and everything...”

“I know! Isnt it crazy?” she retorted, cutting him short. “I was anyways planning to dump this fuel guzzler and get the Fiat upgrade offer soon...its where you buy the car and if you are lucky, you upgrade to the Fiat Multijet diesel technology  for the price of a petrol car. That should happen soon enough.”

“Great idea! In the meantime, why don’t you fly with me? I mean, in my car?” Rohit stammered, trying real hard to get the daydream out of his head. He thought he blew it, but he was in for a pleasant surprise.

“You are a funny guy” Swati giggled. “Only on one condition though...” she continued “ we split the cost. That way, we both save” she finished, moving towards the passenger door.

“Sure! Whatever you say!” Rohit scrambled to get the passenger door, almost strangling himself with the seat belt in the process. She smiled again, and nodding her head sideways, sat beside him. Buckling herself into safety, she finally turned towards him and with a twinkle in her eye said,

“What are you waiting for? Lets Fly!”