I Bought The Monk's Ferrari (3 page)

I gathered some courage and walked up to her, I could make out the words 'Sachin Tendulkar' etched in small fonts. Now I knew!!!!

This was Tendulkar's Ferrari, a Ferrari Modena 360, gifted to him by Formula One Champ, Michael Schumacher in England only a year ago. I tried to peek in through the dark window pane, no one was inside. Sachin Tendulkar was scheduled to return from London and the Ferrari was there to pick him up.

What a stroke of luck! Ferraris are not common in India and sighting them is an opportunity of a lifetime. This was the second time I had sighted a Ferrari. My entire exhaustion evaporated in a jiffy, my mood turned jubilant and when I turned towards the host of taxi drivers who had turned their back towards the airport exit to see the Ferrari, I even saw my name on a small placard. There it was!! I waved furiously to the driver, who came forward and apologised profusely. I returned home comfortably ... dreaming, all along the way, of the Ferrari. Would I own a Ferrari, ever? Only time would tell....

I
was in Hyderabad, in honour of our Hyderabad team having achieved record sales figures. It was quite a stressful day at work ... more so because I had to take the morning flight to Hyderabad, and I just hated morning flights.

I thought of retiring to the hotel room, when Nitin Chengappa, one of my colleagues at the head office came up to me and said, 'Ravi, we've a party tonight with the Hyderabad team.' Partying was the last thing that I was looking forward to. After two nights of partying and an early morning flight, my body was in the state of suspended animation. Despite my reluctance, I could not refuse. The whole team had been eagerly waiting for this evening. I decided to join them. This was my first visit to Hyderabad in my new job, and I was to motivate the team.

Become a possibilitarian. No matter
how dark things seem to be or
actually are, raise your sights and
see possibilities-always see
them, for they're always there.

N
ORMAN
V
INCENT
P
EALE

The bash was at Touch, a new chic pub in the heart of the city. A new pub, that too, owned by the reigning stars of the Telugu film industry, Nagarjuna and Amala, it had to have an aura of grandeur.

The party started at nine o' clock, well behind the scheduled time of 7.30 p.m. Jinesh (the national sales head), Nitin and I trooped in with the Hyderabad seniors at around 9.30 p.m.

The music rocked—predominantly Bollywood and Tollywood. If you have not heard of Tollywood yet, you must listen to the beats of Telugu songs to believe them. How on earth the heroes and heroines gyrate to these beats and keep their hips intact, remains a mystery.

The mood was groovy and liquor was flowing. I turned around and scanned the pub. Jinesh was busy doing 'bottoms up' with his sales team. He never touched alcohol. Quite amazing, it was, for a teetotaller to show so much of involvement when it came to getting people drunk.

Nitin was nowhere to be seen. I looked around to catch a glimpse of him, but could not. I assumed that he had stepped out for a phone call, or to the rest room. The music was getting louder and groovier every minute. The beats were getting all of us in a mood to dance. Time flew past, we hardly noticed.

'Ravi,' a whisper in my ears brought me back to reality. It was Nitin.

'Where were you? I was looking for you. You were the one who brought us here and you disappeared without even letting us know!'

'Come with me,' he continued, 'Now!' the stress on the word 'Now', worried me.

'Where? What's happened?'

Or, was this a diversionary tactic?

'Nothing has happened. Come, I'll tell you.' He sounded quite mysterious, but I decided to go along.

'What's it, Nitin?'

'I want you to meet someone.'

'Whom?'

'Sandy,' he said, as we entered the lift.

'Sandy! Who's Sandy?'

'He's an old friend of mine.'

'Do I know him?' No reply.

Why on earth would I need to meet an old friend of Nitin, I wondered, but out of courtesy, did not ask him. The lift stopped on the ground floor. It was half an hour past midnight.

Standing there in the lift lobby was a man in his early thirties. Hair cut extremely short and clothes which gave him away, he stretched his hand out towards me and said, 'Hi! I'm Sandy.' The looks were typically Andhra, but the accent was distinctly American.

So, this was the person Nitin wanted me to meet. 'Oh, Hi! Good to see you.' I hated the fact that I had to be nice to some unknown man in the middle of the night. I wanted to get back to Touch quickly, back to the music and my vodka. I looked at Nitin, wondering and at the same time, imploring him to tell me why he wanted me here at this hour.

'Come,' said Nitin and started walking towards the main gate. I had no choice but to follow. He stopped and turned back when he reached the gate. I had a 'clueless' look on my face when I had begun to follow him. Now, as he turned back and looked at me, my expression had turned to 'clueless and irritated'.

'Wanna go for a drive?' He said with a sly grin on his face. I could have killed him for that.

'Why on earth would I want to go for a drive at this hour, Nitin?'

Nitin sensed my frustration, so did Sandy. I turned towards Sandy, wondering what kind of joke it was. That was when I noticed Sandy lifting his hand pointing down the road. 'What do you say now?'

'Woooooow!' I immediately followed it up with a college Romeo kind whistle.

A few yards ahead, shining in the streetlights was a brand new, spotlessly clean Ferrari. Sandy had just invited me to ride a Ferrari ... was I dreaming! I pinched myself, I was awake after all. It would be my first chance to sit in a Ferrari.

Now, I knew why Nitin had dragged me away from the party. A ride in a Ferrari had been my desire for long. For nothing in the world I could have refused this offer.

I immediately walked towards the waiting car and got in. Sandy got into the driver's seat and said, 'Don't get nervous. I drive quite well.'

'I'm sure, you do ...' my sentence fading midway as he turned on the ignition and revved up the engine. The sound was awesome. The feel was great. The experience was pulsating. He pressed the accelerator and the rubber hit the road. As it cruised along the near empty road, the acceleration and the speed set my adrenaline racing. I was finally sitting in a Ferrari ... first time in my life.

We took a round and returned.

'Sandy, may I drive?' I could not resist asking him as we got out. He looked at me, then at Nitin, paused for a second and tossed me the key. 'Here. Drive carefully. It's not been insured yet.'

'Thanks, Sandy,' I muttered and got into the driver's seat. Nitin got in from the other side. Sandy could not, for it was a two-seater.

The engine purred as I turned on the ignition. The rest was pure ecstasy. Ten minutes of unadulterated driving pleasure and energy as I whizzed past the sleeping areas of Hyderabad. When I finally returned, I was in the least willing to return the keys, but I had to. The car was not mine, after all. It was someone else's Ferrari that I had driven. Nevertheless, I HAD driven a Ferrari!

Heaven on Earth is a choice
you must make, not a place
we must find.

W
AYNE
D
YER

For days to come, every morning while driving my car, I remembered this drive. It was the high point of my visit to Hyderabad.

The Air Deccan flight from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram, DN 702 was scheduled to take off at 8.30 p.m. in the evening. However, till 10.30 p.m., there were no announcements of when the flight would take off, or if it would, at all.

I happened to book tickets for that flight. One does look for fare economies while going for a vacation, and I was no exception. Air Deccan was a low-cost airline in India and they offered excellent fares from Mumbai to Thiruvananthapuram on a night flight. I was heading to Maldives for my annual vacation with my family and the three of us were very excited. There was only one direct flight to Maldives from India. We would reach Thiruvananthapuram at 10.30 p.m., and after an overnight stay there, would take the morning flight to Male, the capital of Maldives.

It is not the strongest of the species
that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.

C
HARLES
D
ARWIN