“Even Q7s are more common”, she sneered, looking out of the car at the two Audi SUVs moving side-by-side amongst the scores of cars inching slowly towards Ghazipur crossing on their way to a weekend out of Delhi. We were headed towards Corbett.
Jazz spotting had become a second habit for us ever since our Honda Jazz had joined the family. The remarkable thing about the car was that there were so few of them on the roads. You could be out the entire day on Delhi roads and come home and say “two today”, as excitedly as if you had spotted not one but two tigers in Corbett.
So spotting two Audi Q7s side-by-side was like QED -“ Jazz is the most exclusive car on the road”, beamed my daughter.
**
It was a strange day. There was something in the stars.
Traffic started thinning on the roads around noon. 2:30 Sri Lanka won the toss and started batting. And they hammered our bowlers during power-play. And then Veeru went for a duck on the second ball of the game. And then Sachin.
“Lets go for a drink” I said, switching off the TV.
Drove to the Club and ordered a beer. There was a large screen. Someone was distributing whistles and flags. Thirsty. Ordered another beer. Strangely was reminded of Captain Haddock. . Another beer.
Received an SMS “ Tell Poonam Pandey to prepare to strip”. Grinning from ear-to-ear a three- beer-induced- smile I keyed in - “Forward to all”. Stopped myself just in time and deleted the message from the outbox. Somewhere someone hit a six. People were up all around me whistling, screaming.
We came out to the parking lot. Perhaps the beers were affecting my vision. I looked again at the spot where I had parked my dear new white Honda Jazz.
It was replaced by three cars. I rubbed my beer-glazed eyes. Three Honda Jazz. Parked side by side! Not one, not two, but three. Same colour. Parked at the same spot!
It was a strange day. There was something in the stars. We saw India win the ICC world cup after 28 years. And we saw three Jazz cars parked side by side.
