Midnight Muddle
Written by Nawika Sharma
We recently hired a new driver, and it had only been a week when for the first time he drove me to my maternal uncle's house in Chandigarh. Since I had to stay overnight, I requested the driver to drop me off. My previous driver was familiar with my schedule and how things worked in our household.
On the day of the trip, I calculated the estimated travel time to Chandigarh, considering that the driver would be able to reach home on time after dropping me off. We set off, and during the journey, I briefly asked the driver about his family and then got engrossed in my work. We arrived on time, and upon reaching my uncle's house, he kindly invited the driver inside for refreshments. After a few minutes, I informed the driver that he could leave and got engrossed in conversation with my relatives, I lost track of time.
Around 9:30 p.m., I received a call from the driver's wife, who inquired about his whereabouts. Assuming that he had already reached home, I asked her to call him. To my surprise, she informed me that he had forgotten his phone at home. After half an hour, I called her again to inquire if he had arrived, but he was still missing. As hours went by, worry consumed me as I imagined countless distressing scenarios. I knew he had two young boys, and the thought of something unfortunate happening to him filled me with dread. After midnight, I decided to contact the police. The nearby police station was alerted, and an inspector was dispatched to meet me.
Just as I received the call notifying me of the police's imminent arrival, I stepped out and couldn’t believe what I saw; the car parked with my driver blissfully sleeping inside. Initially, shock overwhelmed me, but it quickly turned into relief upon realizing that he was safe and sound. I woke him up and questioned why he was there, he explained that he had been waiting for me. Before we could proceed further, the police arrived, and I instructed him to call his wife while I spoke with the inspector. I explained the situation to the inspector, who found it amusing and left.
Then I tried to understand where and how this confusion occurred. I asked the driver about why he hadn't approached me earlier when he knew that his phone was not with him and his family would be worried if he did not reach home in time. He thought that he was supposed to wait outside because after he had refreshments I had told him to leave but not leave for home. So he assumed that he had to wait outside for me as I’ll be leaving soon to go back home. I felt terrible that he assumed that I would make him wait for so long without food and water. In the end, we served him a meal, and he rested for a while before leaving in the morning.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Sleep eluded me, and my mind raced with conflicting emotions. Was I to blame for not providing clear instructions? Or was he responsible for not seeking clarification?