Rahul is waiting in his taxi for his customer to walk out of the Airport. He saw a couple walking towards his car. The man among the couple appeared to ensure it was the right taxi towards which they were walking. His eyes kept swapping between his mobile phone screen and the car registration number. They walked right up to the window. The man said, “I am the one who booked.”
“Hello, sir. Welcome.” Rahul welcomed his customers.
The woman opened the rear door of the car and found her seat.
“Sir, you don’t have any luggage?” Rahul exclaimed.
“No, we only have two bags. We will keep it on our laps. Shouldn’t be a problem.”, the man replied.
“Okay, sir.” Rahul got his answer.
The couple appeared comfortable in their seats. “Where to, sir?” Rahul asked.
Man: “Just drop us near the powerhouse. The one near the children’s Hospital.”
Rahul: “Alright, sir.”
Rahul started driving. The ride progressed for over ten minutes. Rahul was comfortably driving, and the couple was just sitting idle without talking. The man among the couple was quite impressed by how smooth the ride had been so far. He asked, “What is your name?”
Rahul: “Sir, Rahul. Your good name, sir?”
Man: “My name is Santhosh.”
A conversation started building between them.
Santhosh: “Rahul, I’ve been observing how good you are at driving your car. You are really a very good driver, especially the way you are handling the speed breakers, which impresses me a lot.”
“Thank you, sir”, Rahul happily responded.
“There are many drivers who don’t drive responsibly. It’s not like they do not know how to drive, just that they are always in a rush. I sometimes get head rushes just by sitting in such taxis, not at all peaceful.” Santhosh added.
“Yes, I know, sir. I always drive thinking that there is a pregnant lady in my car, and I have to drive more carefully. Keeping such a thought in my mind makes me want to drive responsibly, and it helps me get good compliments from my customers, and they give great ratings too.” Rahul replied with a smiling face.
“Wow. Surprised to hear such a reply. That’s an interesting thought to carry. Anyway, if it makes the ride smooth, definitely a win-win.” Santhosh opined.
Santhosh and his wife, in the backseat, looked at each other and smiled, acknowledging the “cool” answer their cab driver just gave.
“How long have you been driving this Taxi?”, Santhosh continued the conversation.
Rahul: “Sir, it’s only been two months.”
Santhosh: “So this is your own car, or is it rented?”
Rahul: “It’s my own car, sir. Actually, I’m the third owner of this car.
Santhosh: “Wow, but the car doesn’t look old.”
Rahul: “Sir, the car is only three years old. Actually, the previous owner of the car died due to some reason, and there was nobody else in their family to use the car, and they were trying to sell it in a hurry since they were moving to their hometown or something. I got a good deal. Didn’t think too much. Bought it.”
Santhosh: “Wow. Good for you.”
The car reached the destination.
Santhosh: “Thanks, Rahul, for a great ride.”
Rahul: “Thank you, sir”
Santhosh paid the fare, and the couple got out of the car.
It was the final cab ride for Rahul that day. Rahul drove to his home and arrived there by around 8:30 PM. He parked the car inside the gate and entered his house. There was heavy rain, some thunderstorms and lightning. The night was so dark. The lightning illuminated the night now and then. In one such lightning, if someone had been looking into the car at that moment, they would have seen someone sitting on the rear seat of the car. It looked like a woman, and it appeared to be pregnant. The face was pale. The eyes looked dead, and it had no soul. An entity, completely negative, empty inside out.
The next day, Rahul received a call from the Regional Transport Office.
“Am I talking to Mr Rahul?” the caller asked.
Rahul: “Yes, who is this?”
Caller: We are calling from the RT office. In yesterday‘s lightning, we lost some devices. Some records were lost. Can you bring the documentation related to your car to the RTO office today?
Rahul: “Sure. I will come.”
Officer: “Thank you, sir.”
Rahul reaches the RT office.
“Good morning, sir. I am Rahul. You called me earlier today.”
Officer: “Yes, yes. Please come, sit down. Have you brought all the documents?”
Rahul: “Yes, sir. I have brought whatever I have. Please see if these are sufficient.”
Officer: “Great. We are in the process of 100% digitalisation of our records. We feed in details from paper to computers and then upload it into the new portal as batches. We lost this computer in yesterday’s lightning.” The officer pointed his finger towards the computer, which was lost in the lightning.
The officer continued: “It seems the officer did not unplug it from the socket when logging off. Around 50 records are lost, and we are trying to call in each owner and get the details from them. That’s why we called you, too.”
“Okay, sir. No problem.” Rahul humbly replied.
Officer continued: “We shifted the paper records to the main office already. Otherwise, we would not have called you. It will be a ruckus if we make requests to pull the records from them now. It’s just 50 people. Calling them in to the office is way better, don’t you think?”
Rahul felt awkward finding how unempathetic the officer sounded, but responded, “Yes, sir.”
Officer: “Okay, the documents look sufficient. Let me enter these into the portal.”
The RTO official entered a few details into the portal by referring to Rahul’s documents.
Officer continued: “Sir, do you have any idea what the original insurance company was and the policy number of this car, the one which was bought by the first owner when he purchased this car? Do you happen to have any copy of that document with you?”
Rahul: “No, sir, I don’t think so.”
Officer: “Wow, that’s too bad. That is one mandatory field we must enter in this application. Would you have the contact number of the first owner with you, sir?”
Rahul: “Sir, I am the third owner of the car. I don’t even know who the first owner of this car was. I can try to contact the family from whom I bought this vehicle. I will check if they have any contact information of the first owner and let you know if I get the information.”
Officer: “Yeah, that will help. This is the only information pending now. If you get this information, please call and inform me.”
“Always better to keep the RTO records straight.”, the officer “reminded” Rahul.
Rahul: “I’ll definitely try, sir.”
Then Rahul walked out of the RTO and sat in his car, feeling fed up with how these officers are unnecessarily pulling him into the circus they created.
He picked up his mobile phone and called the wife of the second owner of the car.
“Hello, who is this?” The woman asked.
“Hello, madam, my name is Rahul. The one who bought the car from you a few months back.”
“Yes, Rahul. What happened?” The woman asked.
Rahul: “I was asked to report to the RT office here since they had lost some computer records due to yesterday‘s rain and lightning. I provided them with all the details I have, but they also needed to know what the original insurance company, the policy number, etc, that were bought by the first owner. Do you happen to have any documents with you related to that?”
Woman: “I don’t think I have any documents left with me. I gave all the documents that I have when we sold the vehicle to you.”
Rahul: “Do you have the contact number of the first owner? Maybe I’ll try to call him and ask.”
Woman: “Okay. I’ll once check if there is any contact number somewhere in the files which my husband used to keep, and let you know. But you should know this, that this owner was not at all social during the time we bought this car from him. I’m not sure if he will help you.”
“Oh! Is that so!” Rahul was surprised.
“Yeah, he was really upset those days since his wife passed away only recently in the car accident. It was some of his close relatives who were in the forefront in completing even the car resale formalities. The owner did not speak anything to us. He was there only to put a few signatures. He just wanted to sell off the car and leave.” The woman said.
Rahul was surprised to hear such a statement from the woman. He had to ask, “The car accident. Do you mean, it was my car that was involved in the accident?”
“Oh! You don’t know this! Yeah, it’s the same car. A motorcycle hit the car from the side, and his wife, who was sitting in the rear seat, got severely injured and died. Poor woman, she was pregnant too. It was the mistake of the motorcyclist. He also died in the hospital after spending a few months in bed.”, the woman replied.
“Oh! God, it’s terrible. I didn’t know any of this. Why didn’t you tell me about this when you were selling it to me? I would not have bought the vehicle if I had known that this vehicle was involved in an accident.” Rahul looked very worried, hearing all this.
“Rahul, we sold it to you in very good condition. This accident and stuff happened before we were buying it.”, the woman replied.
“But despite knowing that a person died inside the car, why would you buy it?” Rahul sounded disappointed and curious.
“I was not involved in these decisions. It was my husband who bought this. He found this to be a good deal. The price was very low since the vehicle was involved in an accident. He always wanted to drive his own taxi. He spent for all the fitness works from his pocket and got all the approvals to drive it as a taxi.”, the woman said.
“Okay, madam. Thanks. I’m disconnecting the call.”
It was too much information for Rahul in a short window of time. Rahul, visibly upset, disconnected the call.
Rahul now looked worried, puzzled and even speechless. A sense of negativity surrounded him. It clouded his mind. He just learned that the car in which he is sitting is a vehicle in which a pregnant lady died an unnatural death. The motorcyclist who caused the accident is also dead. The second owner of the car, from whom Rahul bought the vehicle, is also dead. Then a thought sparked in Rahul‘s mind. “Is this the reason why I always feel that there is a pregnant woman sitting in my car?” The thought frightened Rahul so much that goosebumps engulfed Rahul‘s body from the toes to the head. With a body full of sweat, Rahul slowly turned his head to look at the backseat. The end.