"Bengaluru's Dora"

Namaste people and welcome back to my blog, my favourite season is here and Bengaluru just gets prettier day by day. Nobody asked me to write a blog this time around, guessing you're all fed up with it xD 

This story again dates back to 2014, while we were all prepping ourselves for our tenth standard boards, we stayed back in school often to revise what's already been studied or to concentrate better on the vital ones which we were sure would pop up in the question paper. 

One such evening, a friend of mine and I stayed back in the school to revise "As You Like it" since our boards were just around the corner.

We attended classes as usual and once we were done with the revision, we got out of the classroom and got down the flight of stairs. My friend and I never left school without bidding our byes to the housekeeping staff and the security personnel. While we're doing that, a small girl in a ponytail stood in front of the Ganesha idol we have in our school, and next to her was a housekeeping aunty, we and our English teacher enquired as it was strange for a kid of that age to be back in school at that hour. 

The aunty says, "Her dad hasn't come to pick her up yet" 

"By when did her classes end?" We asked

"It ended at 1." she replied.

Just to make sure that the kid is comfortable, all 3 of us started conversing with her, but we had to switch to Kannada as she found it better to talk in, after making sure she was fine, we questioned her about where her dad was and she remained clueless. 

After many unsuccessful attempts, the Sherlock Holmes in us comes out and now we decided that we will help her reach home safe and sound. 

Our natural instinct was to enquire in the office, but by the time this masterpiece of an idea struck us, the office was out of business hours, not knowing what to do, we asked the girl if she knew her dad's number, to which she nodded "no".

The poor kid has been waiting for her dad since 4 odd hours, that's when our teacher asked if we will be able to assist her in dropping the kid home as she was unfamiliar with the city and the language, both of us being the local boys, instantly said yes but what must we do next? 

We bluntly asked the girl, "Do you know where your house is?" 

"I know the route to my house" she tells, that is when the Dora the Explorer becomes alive in us. 

We decided we shall drop her off at her house since she knew the route and that it would serve as a stress buster for us as we were cooked enough for the upcoming exams.

We left school on foot assuming that her place is nearby and allowed the small kid to guide us. 

File photo

Credits: pixabay 

For Bengaluru folks, our school is located right next to Lalbagh West Gate, the girl walked us towards South end circle and we followed her, she kept guiding and we blindly followed, right when we were about to reach South end circle, she took a right and then she took us to Armugam Circle, from there it was Basavanagudi and then KR road, and then we finally reached NR colony, where she entered narrow lanes, folks not familiar with Bengaluru, just be informed that she took a longer route than a straight path, that too on foot.

When we reached her place, we were greeted by a weeping granny and a very tensed dad, her dad had reached the school late only to find that it was completely closed, he constantly rang the office, but remained unanswered, he had come home and informed granny, both were hoping for a miracle.

So as soon as we reached, the granny ran to us and hugged her grandchild, thanked us and welcomed us home. The dad then asked us what happened, we briefly explained the incident and informed him that his daughter gave us a mini Bengaluru tour before reaching her house. 

When questioned she replied, "This is the route that the bus takes to drop me home." 

So she waits for her dad everyday, if he cannot make it on any day, he informs the school bus and that is the route that the bus takes, kudos to her grasping power, while we applaud her intelligence, her dad shot a question that put us 3 in a fix.

"Why didn't you check her ID?" 

Little did he know that my friend and I never wore ID cards properly. 

So folks, just like the kid, be able to grasp everything around you but also like the 3 of us be a little foolish, go around a bit, go with the flow, gain experience and never forget to have fun ! 

Adios!