All the walking had made my legs weaker. On top of that I had run out of water.

I was thirsty like hell! The Shiv Temple stood right in front of me. The humongous
idol of Lord Shiva in middle of the temple somehow provided me a strange
comfort, an eerie feeling of safety. Somehow, I felt I was now under hi shelter,
and I will be safe. I started looking around the park for a water tap, so that I can
quench my thirst, but to my utter disappointment, couldn’t find any! The gates
of the temple were locked, and people were sleeping inside it. For a moment,
the idea of climbing through the gates and barging inside the temple struck me,
but I realized it would do more harm than good. I could also notice the CCTV
cameras inside the temple. I finally returned to the bench I had kept my
backpack.
Fortunately, enough, there weren’t many mosquitos troubling me. I thanked
God for a moment, and adjusted my bag trying to use it as a makeshift pillow. It
was a starless sky and a crescent moon, and I was gazing upwards in complete
darkness. I found the darkness strange. Somehow, over the past few months, I
somehow felt habituated to this kind of darkness. There is a soothing pleasure
in darkness. Something in nothingness. I tried to sleep but waking up till late
night back in my college had completely shifted my sleep cycle. It was 2 and I
wasn’t being able to sleep. It was 2 by my watch. “Let’s wander around a bit, it’s
boring here, plus I am not being able to sleep anyways”, I thought to myself.
Picking up my backpack, I decided to move out of the park. BIGGEST MISTAKE
OF THAT NIGHT. TRUST ME. When I look back upon that night, I really wonder,
had I not left the park that night, the night would have been much simpler.
I walked out of the park. I used to live in the area, hence I was kind of familiar
with the streets. I kept walking straight and was lead into a gully.I could spot two
dogs up ahead in the streets, who were looking at me strangely. Dogs are sweet
creatures, or that’s at least what I used to think till that night. The two started
barking at me. Then another dog came from the side of the street and started
barking madly. As I began retreating and getting out of the gully, I found two
more dogs at the entry of the gully! I was ambushed and surrounded by five
dogs barking ferociously. My mind had stopped working from the fear of the
dogs. “Dude, the last thing that might wanna happen now is one of them barking
at you”, I thought to myself. Suddenly, I could hear a rumbling sound , and a man
started approaching. He looked like a guard as he had a stick on him. I heaved a
sigh of relief as he shoed away the dogs! “Where do you wanna go, which house
number?”, asked the guard in a somewhat low tone. He was an middle aged
man with a moustache and wrinkles all over his forehead. I didn’t know what to
reply. I obviously can’t tell him my real story. He’ll consider me to be a madman,
or even worse, might call the police. I thought of cooking u a story. “Actually, I
had come to visit a friend’s place, but I don’t seem to find the house”. “What’s
the house number?”, he asked quite firmly. “I am sorry, I don’t quite remember
the house number, but I know the place, it’s just that I am a bit lost”. “Please get
out of here, you can’t wander here like this”, he said. He had already begun to
sound a bit agitated. He wasn’t probably buying my story.
“I’ll find my way here, just let me off the dogs, please”. “I can’t allow you to roam
like this. It’s a residential area!”. ‘Do I look like a thief to you’, I thought to myself.
“You’ll get autos on the main road, go there and head back home”, he again said
with a firm voice”. “Okay” Well, going to the main road didn’t really seem like a
great plan, but I had to get out of this man’s sight. Hence, I started walking
towards the direction of the main road. Soon, I was out of the guard’s sight. I
was feeling parched, and badly needed some water. “Wait for a few more hours,
for the metro to open up”, I somehow tried convincing myself that this too shal
pass. As I kept walking towards the main road, the Greenday song kept ringing
my ears. “I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known!”. I could
spot an empty plastic chair outside one of the houses. Janakpuri was a place
where most people lived in bungalows. It was a Punjabi locality.

I went, sat on the chair, and stretched my legs. I was beginning to get tired of
all the drama that was taking place. It seemed like a comfortable spot. No guards
to worry me, nor ferociously barking dogs. I tried taking the nap. It felt really
funny, that even though I was tired, I wasn’t being able to sleep at any costs.
Probably, there was a fear circulating in my mind. After it was Delhi, the crime
capital of India! How could I just fall asleep peacefully! I could see a dog coming
towards me. “Not again!”. I look for a pebble or any object that could scare him
away. However, it seemed to wag it’s tail. “If a dog is waging its tail, it is trying
to get friendly”, I remember my dad telling me when I was in third standard! I
tried to whistle, thinking that it might get friendlier. But what! It started barking!
“Damn, not again!” As soon as the dog started barking, two other dogs started
running fro the other end of the street. “Oh, my fucking god! After all that
drama, I was finally resting quite peacefully, and this really had to happen” . I
had to get up from there. “Tough luck”, I sighed.
Now, I had to go to the main road. I didn’t really have any other options. Outside
on of the bungalows, I could see a guard sleeping, and spotted something
pleasant. “A bottle of water!” I started pacing towards it. The guard was snoring.
I picked up the bottle and drank and drank! I felt like a lost man in a desert who
had finally found water to drink! Water had never tasted this good in my entire
life. By now, I had almost reached the main road. It wasn’t so dark here. The
street lamps made the place quite well lit, and it didn’t feel so shady, as it felt
back in the streets. I reached the intersection. I was probably visiting Janakpuri
after a year and half. In the day time, it’s look so different, bustling with cars,
people traffic! It seemed really quiet. I went ahead and sat on the divider. Yes! I
was sitting in middle of the road on a divider.

Occasionally, a few cars kept passing. It was 3am! A rickshawala was sleeping on
the road beside his rickshaw. “Only when one doesn’t have a particular thing, is
when a person understands the real importance of the thing”, I remembered my
dad telling these words to me, when I was a kid. Well, it seemed very true today.
We all have roof to live under, a room to sleep in, good food to eat and water to
drink, and almost most of us take these things for granted. One night, I don’t get
a shelter to sleep, and this much drama happens. Imagine the plight of those
people who go through this every day! Everyday!! Just as these thoughts were
clouding my mind, I saw a lady approaching from other side of the road. She was
quite tall, and had long hair, which was kind of covering her face. She was
wearing a bright yellow saree, with black bordering. I stood firm. I couldn’t really
see her face properly, because she was standing in a dark area. She started
crossing the road and walking towards my direction. “Is she scared of me?”, I
started thinking. Ironically, she was scaring the hell out of me. Out of the blue,
she started running. I kind of panicked and turned away. When I turned my face
back, I couldn’t see her. I went up ahead, but she was gone! Vanished into thin
air. And all this happened within a time span of 30-40 seconds. I know it sounds
unreal and spooky, but this was what actually was happening. For a moment, I
couldn’t comprehend what had happened. My mind was continuously thinking
of possibilities. How could she must have gone away, as there wasn’t any gully
nearby that she might have entered. I’m talking about the middle of the road, at
the intersection! Then I remembered there was an auto standing on other side
of the road. Probably, she might be chasing it. Probably she might be in a hurry
to get back home. After all it was 3 in the night, the auto wasn’t there anymore!
But I should have heard the sound of the auto, it was really quiet after all! While
all these thoughts were shooting in my head, I see the rickshawala getting up
and blabbering something, until I realised he was talking to me. “You really
shouldn’t be here bhaiya, the police keep on patrolling this area, if they see you,
they might trouble you”. “But I am waiting for the metro to open up , I’ll go as
soon it does”. “Well then , you should wait near the metro station, not here”. I
started walking again! It was 3:30 by now. I had started walking towards the
Janakpuri east Metro station. Cars kept on passing by. I was about half a mile
away from Janakpuri metro, probably near the District centre. Tiredness had
begun to kick in, and I had to feeling sleepy. My legs felt like they had weights
attached to them, and I was somehow dragging myself along the road. The
heavy backpack made it all and more difficult. About 15 minutes later, I had
reached the Janakpuri metro. Numerous people were sleeping on the road here.
I took out my phone. “Shit, five percent battery, it will die down really soon!”. I
opened up What’s app and started texting a few people, telling them I was in
Delhi, and was having a fantastic night! Yeah, well truly ‘fantastic’. Not even 10
minutes might have passed, that the battery died down. Well, I didn’t have
anything to do, then just wait till 6 o clock for the metro to open up! “2 more
hours to go! Ahhhhhhhh”. I couldn’t sit around for long, yeah, that’s very me.
Can’t settle for long! Even though I was really tired, I started walking again, till I
reached a park. The very same park, the second park where I was sitting and
watching Narcos. I went and sat on the bench. “Fine, just relax here, don’t go
anywhere else until the metro opens up, and then this tiresome night will be
over”, I said to myself. “What not had I thought I’ll do when I come to Delhi, and
where did I land myself! Damn, I shouldn’t have even looked at the waffle shop.
It’s all because of those waffles!”, I tried consoling myself.
I could hear the sound of a vehicle coming, possibly a motorbike. Soon enough,
a motorbike halted near the park. There were two men sitting atop the bike,
wearing khaki uniform. They had probably seen me sitting there and wanted to
question me. “What are you doing here in middle of the night!”, asked one of
the man in a stern voice. “I had come to visit a friend, but realised he wasn’t
home. I don’t have money for sab to go back home, so waiting for the metro to
open up”, I said trying to maintain my calm, even though I was scared. Scared of
what you might ask. Well, anything can happen. These men may not even be
real policemen. They might be there trying too rob me. I had an iPad and a laptop
in my bag. What happens if they simply snatch my bag and go away. Or what if
they might just take me to the station. What am I supposed to do then? “What
friend, what is his house number”. “I don’t remember the house number. He
recently shifted here, but I know where the house is. It just two blocks”. “What,
you don’t even know the house number”, he cut me off in the middle of my
sentence. “And you’re roaming around here at 4:20 in the night”, he said raising
his voice this time. “Show us your bag”. Now is the time, I get scared. What if
he actually does something! I opened up my bag, and he had a look into it.
“Where do you live, let me call your parents”. “Sir, they aren’t here, and I’ll really
go away as soon as the metro opens up”. He stared at me for a few seconds. I
stayed numb. “Get lost from here. Metro opens at 5. You should be gone by
then.”
He kicked on his motorbike and drove away. I heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank
god, nothing really happened”. I was also happy of the fact that the metro opens
up at 5, whilst I was thinking to be 6”. I walked ahead and sat on the metro
pillar. Again, a dog came and stood near me. Yeah, a dog, again!
This one looked quite young though and was pretty sweet. I tried to stroke it,
and it seemed to enjoy it. “Ah, finally a dog which is friendly” I played with him
for some time, until metro opened up. I walked upwards towards the station.
FINALLY, I felt safe. Finally, I was in a safe environment. That feeling, that
emotion, cannot be explained in words. Later, I took the metro to Rajiv Chowk,
and visited the Bangla Sahib. Well, it had been one hell of a night, thought it was
quite stupid on my part to be spending it like this. There were options, which I
should have thought of, but didn’t. Whatever it was! One hell of a night it was!