THE MAN Who Owned Our Car!!!

Three months, and I still did not have a tinge of idea about it! One fine June evening, in my absence, a deal was made and a four-wheeler was added to our family. Of course, I knew about the second-hand Santro that we were buying, but was in the dark about THE MAN, who had actually owned the car. So impactful was the name of the first owner, that not just me, but a few friends of mine also lost their sleep over it! “Moron, you own the car. I haven’t even seen it and I still can’t sleep,” exclaimed one such friend while continuing, “Blessen, take this as a sign from God. Your car has been passed on from people, who made it big in the profession that you want to be in and I don’t even need to mention about the very first owner. You are literally in the driver’s seat, dude.”

Last Friday, the pastor and his younger son were watching CNN-IBN's discussion on the Bragelina couple’s visit to Pune. “Naah, not my kind of news,” thought the son as he headed to his room to do "better things in life (which would be Orkutting)!" This is when something that his dad uttered got him really interested and made him rush back to the hall. “How do we know that?” he asked his dad. “Check our car’s registration book and you will know. I always thought you knew that.” “No, I had absolutely no idea whatsoever!” exclaimed his son, as he scanned the very first page of the RC book, in deep shock and excitement.

Well, it so happens that our car is actually a third-hand buy. It belonged to a BBC lady journalist, who left the country leaving the onus of selling the car on her driver, whom we knew fairly well. The driver, at the time when the deal was being made, had informed my folks and bro about the initial owner of the car. But because the piece of information seemed a little too difficult to digest, my family did not really believe the driver’s 'story', which is what they thought it was-- just a 'story'. As for me, I hadn’t heard him, so there was no question of me being in the know about it. But after seeing the RC book, my dad had no choice but to believe the driver.

Apparently, the BBC journo had left the country for the fear of her life. The first owner of the Santro was kidnapped and killed by some terrorists in Pakistan. He was also a journalist, although he became renowned only after his death. He is the very reason why Bragelina is in India! The name in that registration book, which got me excited, thus making me call all my good friends at and after midnight, was of a certain gentleman called Mr. Daniel Pearl!