Spurred on by the favorable comments of his peers , the author has decided to delve deeper into his daily routine. Maybe something funny and worth writing about will materialize .
I would like to believe I live a normal enough life. Like most people ,I do not begin my day with path-breaking science discoveries , flying through the window to save the world ala ’superman’ or even worry about what the foreign heads of state had to say while i was dozing off. My day has a shitty beginning , literally. 
However this does not mean , that strange things do not happen to me. I have a large collection of strange stories from firsthand experiences that would make even “Ripleys blah blah…..” jealous. So here goes…
It was an unbearably hot afternoon that day , more so cause I was standing near the bus stop , waiting for Taxi , bus , auto whatever I could get on that hot day. It was about 3 pm when I saw a silver color Wagon R pull up alongside the bus stop. Now for those not tuned in , people often use their cars as taxis on the Gurgaon-Faridabad Highway as many commuters use that road everyday. So its not unusual , to see people giving rides to as many as 3 or four people for reasonable amount of money. Anyways , I thanked my stars and politely inquired if the man was heading to Faridabad. He was. He looked young , maybe in mid 20s , like one of those call center employees. From his car , it looked like he had moved up the corporate ladder pretty fast.
He asked if I had a job in Gurgaon, I replied in the negative and told him I was interning in one of the companies there. When I asked him about his job , he smiled and said he was an artist. Wow! I said “Never thought artists looked so corporate and professional”. He explained he was not a painter , sculptor or a musician but a different kind of artist. I was perplexed. On top of that , he said , he was top of the line in that trade. After a little coaxing he looked at me in a strange sort of way and said he was a magician. Duh!! I thought , so much suspense for that. Actually I was expecting he would say he was RAW or something. I was disappointed. Apparently my disappointment was palpable enough , so he asked me “you do not believe me that i am a magician?”. out of courtesy I smiled and said i did. He said he would prove it. And from his right hand suddenly produced a watch identical to mine . Impressive!! I held up my left hand to compare my watch with this one , when I gulped , It was gone . My watch !!! The man had somehow removed the watch from my left hand while driving , while talking to me and while thinking at the same time . Talk of multitasking!!! I asked him “How did you do that , without my knowledge?” He smiled and in addition to the watch handed me a shoelace. “Wats this?” i began , and then I looked down at my right shoe , it was undone and had no shoelace. Freaky. Now I was seriously impressed and worried at the same time. I mean how did the guy even do that , he didnt bend down , while conversing , he didnt seem to have shown much movement all throughout the ride.
I checked the back seat , maybe he had an accomplice , hiding behind . Nope , no sign of any man. In the meantime the guy had produced my wallet and my pen , that were there in my left pocket . I realized my folly , maybe it was not a wise decision on my part to have smiled in ridiculous apprehension that he was really a magician. I said “Now I really believe you are a magician , would you stop this madness now?” He smiled and said “I am not a magician , I told you I am an artist . I happen to have very good fingers”.
Then like a bolt of lightening it hit me. He was a con-artist, albeit quite a showoff at that , from his elaborate demonstration of his art. Perhaps he sensed my feelings or maybe he hears what people think , i am not sure which, but he told me not to worry. He said i was his friend and he would not try to swindle me. Then we talked for a while , apparently he was quite fond of his car . He said it could go pretty fast . And then , he suddenly stepped on the gas. The car shot forward like a bullet. I didnt know wat to do. I mean , he might be a magician or a con-artist or whatever , but I was pretty sure magicians still hadnt discovered the art of safe driving at 120 kmph. Sure enough , we got pulled over by a police jeep. The policeman , looking all grumpy and sweating , started to give him a ticket for speeding. The artist all through this , remained calm and smiling , even cooperated with the policeman to the extent of offering him a glass of water.
We moved ahead , at a reasonable speed now. Out of curiosity , I asked him if he would pay for the challan , he smiled and said he wouldnt need to. “Hows that ?” I asked . He told me policeman have a very poor memory of car numbers and it was unlikely he would remember it till he got to the station. “But he noted down your car number in the ledger , he doesnt need to remember it” I averred. At this , he produced the ledger with his right hand , It was marked Haryana Police and had plenty of challan receipts. At this point , I had given up trying to understand , how he did what he did. Maybe he was a magician after all.
Anyways , my stop had come , I paid up the man and walked home feeling dazed after this unreal encounter.
