Member-only story
Written on the Back of an Auto
A Hindi verse, a gaze, and the unexpected beauty of traffic
Not a member, read here.
It was a windy weekend evening in Bangalore, the kind of evening where the breeze feels like it knows something you don’t. I was returning with a friend, tangled in the usual traffic, watching the world blur past between brake lights and impatience.
That’s when I saw it: a single line scribbled on the back of an auto:
“Tume pasand hai samundar mein doobna,
aur mujhe tumhare aankhon mein.”
which translates to
“You love drowning in the ocean,
And I in your eyes.”
I tried to translate it into English, but something was missing. The meaning came through, yet the softness, the rhythm, the quiet ache of those Hindi words didn’t.
Some things live best in the language they were born in. Not because they can’t be said otherwise, but because they feel different when they are.
Anyways, let me continue the story…
I don’t usually read the lines on autos, they’re often lost in dust or drowned in loud colors. But this one was different. It had something raw, something true. Like a quiet whisper in the middle of the city’s noise.
