The Near Hit

I was in the microbus, grateful of the driver's driving speed- I was already late to meet the guys over at Mike's Breakfast in Naxal. We had just passed the red light at Singhadurbar, and were approaching Bhadrakali, when an armed policeman (in his private bike) was overtaking from the right. He seemed visibly irritated and was glaring at the driver. He drove close by the driver's window, staring at the poor guy, and finally overtook us. The policeman sounded quite rude to me. Most probably the microbus driver had swerved to the right, and caused some discomfort to this biker.

So, the driver looked over his right shoulder at the conductor inside the microvan, signaling 'Can you believe that?'. Little did he realize that the policeman had stopped his bike a little ahead directly in front of the path of the van.

The driver thankfully looked back at the road at the last minute. He would have killed the armed cop and wrecked the bike. He slammed on the brakes, and managed to stop the van.

You can guess how angry the cop got. He lumbered over, and put his face inches from the poor driver's face. Said something incomprehensible, and despite the driver's timid reply, delivered a cracking slap across the driver's cheeks.

It must have been burning, both from the pain and the embarrassment, because the driver put his elbows on top of the steering wheel, and buried his face between his arms. Poor guy. But he should thank god or whoever that he did not hit the policeman, otherwise he would most probably have been made 'bepatta'.

With visibly shaky hands, probably ruffled by the close shave and the tight slap, the dejected chap carefully edged his van ahead.