No Standing Any time

            Since Melbourne was accessible by local metro from Laverton, I decided to familiarize my self with the city on the next weekend. I made a call to an Indian friend who lived in Melbourne (He was referred to me by one of our many well wishers back home) and requested him if he could show me around the next day. He agreed and asked me to meet him at 9.00 A.M. ‘Under the Clock’ – which in Melbourne meant ‘out side the Flinders Street Station – the main metro & local terminus in the city.

            I caught a ‘perfectly timed’ train from Laverton which dislodged me at my destination at 8.45 A.M. so that I was standing ‘Under the Clock’ by 8.50. It was then that I noticed a prominent road sign with ‘NO STANDING ANY TIME’ written on it. Since I did not want to be on the wrong side of the law on my first day in the city, I decided to move away from the board and walked about 50 metres to the West. There too, there was another sign with the same wordings. So I decided to move further away. On noticing a third ‘NO STANDING ANY TIME’ sign even there, I decided to walk back to my original position. It was then that my friend spotted me ‘under the clock’.

He asked, “Abe tu kahan gayab ho gaya tha?”

I replied, “Yaar, I was here ‘under the clock’ ten minutes before 9 but the sign said ‘NO STANDING ANY TIME’. So I was trying to be away from these signs which are everywhere.”

He then gave me another Australia ‘gyan’ – “Abe bewaqoof, woh to garion ke liye hai" (You fool, that is for the vehicles)