It
was one of those days when the representatives of the executive body of a trade
union of the health workers, met in Colombo. The discussions dragged on into
the late hours of the night, over copious mugs of beer. At last it came to an
end, with everyone feeling very sleepy. The representative from Galle had to be
back in his hospital early in the morning for duty. A taxi was summoned and he
was put in it, in an inebriated state. He told the driver "Galle bus
stand", meaning the bus stand in Pettah, Colombo. He was fast asleep in
moments. He got up a long time later and when he looked out of the window, he
realized with amazement that he was still in the taxi, reaching the outskirts
of Galle. The sea was on one side and the coconut tree studded shrub jungle was
on the other side. Realization came to him that the taxi driver, had
misunderstood his instructions. Instead of taking him to the Galle bus stand in
Pettah, 3 miles away, he was being driven to the bus stand in Galle itself,
which was 200 miles away. What was more amazing was the fact that he had slept
through it all and was reaching the end of his journey. He had only Rs.10/= in
his pocket. The taxi fare from Colombo to Galle would reach above Rs300/=. He
thought fast. He knew that there was a cemetery by the side of the road at a
place called Dadella, just outside Galle. It was the 'witching hour' of 3am. He
told the driver that he wanted to pass urine and to stop the vehicle. The taxi
came to a stop, just past the entrance to the cemetery. Our friend got out of
the car and entered through the open cemetery gate, walked far inside and hid
behind a fairly large tomb-stone. He bided his time. After sometime, the driver
got restless and sounded the horn. On there being no response, the driver got
out of the car and came looking for his passenger. He entered the gate briskly
and was confronted by rows of tomb-stones. He ran back into the car, started the
engine after firmly locking the door, did a 'three-point-turn' and was seen
making a fast get-away, towards Colombo. You can imagine the tales he would
have told, about his encounter with a 'ghost', who got a ride from Colombo
Hospital in his taxi and disappeared into the Dadella cemetery in Galle. The
respected trade union representative took his walk back to the Galle hospital
through back roads and arrived to report for duty at 8am.
No comments:
Post a Comment