the world's a full circle

Life has a way of reminding you that the stories are long and the world's really small I chanced upon this interesting looking lady driving the auto the other day while asking for directions; also the day when we had our edit meeting and i kindda blurted out that I d like to do this story on women auto drivers in Bangalore..but as it turned out I had no clue about the woman with the red bindi and khakhi dress...not even her auto number. Well nonetheless I went to the traffic police office in Shvajinagar (where all auto guys get their display cards done), who by the way, had absolutely no documentation by gender-- progressive-- maybe. But in this case that meant I had to look up approx one lakh names, and since names like Manju, Gulab, Lakshmi, Sowmya, with a combination of surnames could be a man or a woman, and the addresses next to most of these pockets of the city you never knew existed, it was a safe bet (though admittedly insane) to flip through another lakh of stamp-sized pictures just to seperate the husk from the grain. But then again, the traffic commisioner's office was a quiet , passive space, two floors above the rest of the city, drawing some sweet evening sun and a pre-drizzle breeze, so no complaints....part of the job you'd say. Well i had four names by the end of it, and a hope I'd find them. Well after days of sitting on it, one really overworked day, I said lets do a city scan on those four I had.. and i zeroed in on one soumya keshava....went to the given address...couldn't find it, asked everyone about it, was at it for one-and-a-half hours and finally gave up. But right as i got on to the main road I had a van "intercept" my auto with these 4 burly suspiscious looking men who demandingly questioned me on why I was looking for the address, who I was, where did I get it and I plainly said..the police station.That poor that shot in the air-Soumyta Keshawa-was the man in front of me! who'd lost sleep over somebody who had came looking for him at this unholy hour, insistent as hell, got his friends along... and what a waste......But that was quite the stuff of a big loud laugh..occupational hazards you'd say. Then I finally called a friend up , who I remembered had interviewed a lady auto driver long ago and fixed a day with her......and whaddya know, Lakshmi 'was' the lady with the bindi, in khaki I'd crossed the other day