One of those days...

Disclaimer: All characters in the below post (even those based on real people), are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living, dead or living dead is purely coincidental. J

There are some days when you feel very happy for no reason. You feel like nothing could go wrong. You feel a glow when you wake up in the morning. You go to the mess and see that they have made your favorite dish for breakfast. You walk back sipping your tea thinking of all the good things that are going to happen to you. You look up and see him looking at you, a wide smile on his face.

You look right back at him and say, “What the hell are you grinning at, pervert??!!??!?”

The guy from the apartment above yours turns away as if you weren’t talking to him. Happens to me every day.

But this post is not about such days. It is about the opposite kind of day, where you know the moment you wake up that you are going to be screwed in more ways than one. Yesterday was one such day.

As usual I set my alarm to ring at 8.20. As usual I snoozed it at 8.20. As usual, I snoozed it again at 8.25. As usual, the snooze fest went on till 8.45, when my mobile decided to do something unusual and switched itself off. Poor me, unaware of the betrayal, slept on for another hour, most of which I was partially awake waiting for the alarm to ring. Yes, I know that I am awake and I don’t need the alarm now to get up, but this is one of those things that I am weird about. I should get up only when the alarm rings. Or else my day will be horrible. Which it anyways was. Talk about irony.

So at around 10 AM, I woke up gracefully, looking something like this.

Ok, maybe a little less cute, but only a little.

I took my phone, saw that it is switched off and then I looked something like this.

I don’t exactly remember what happened in the next thirty minutes or so. It was like the roadrunner show in fast forward mode. Somehow, I got ready and was about to leave when I got a call from my team mate. Obviously I didn’t pick. Well, for those of you who do not know, calls from teammates are never good. They are either calling to give you work or to warn you that someone else wants to give you work. In either case, you have to work. So that explains the not picking. But this team mate was not one to give up easily. Soon after, I got a message, “meeting at 11.” 

15 minutes and another road runner episode later, I was at my desk, the ultimate icon of composure - panting and gasping for air while simultaneously trying to empty a full bottle of water into my mouth.

The meeting was like any other meeting. My manager went on and on about stuff which I either didn’t understand or didn’t care. I had already started regretting that one bottle full of water, if you know what I mean. Fifteen minutes of blah later, he started talking about work distribution. Ok. That should take what, 10 minutes? All he had to do was tell us who should do what and leave us so that some of us can go pee, right? But nooooooooo!!!! He had to open his laptop and show off the excel sheet that he had made with each of our names in different colours. If that wasn’t enough, he wanted to hear our suggestions on how to progress. Knowing my other team mates, I knew I would be stuck there for a while. So I had to sit there, pretending to listen and nodding to the “suggestions”, all the while trying to somehow control my expressions so that they wouldn’t betray my bladder. When (finally) the meeting got over, I ran out of the meeting room into the rest room. I swear, I have never been so relieved in my life (all pun intended).

[Special note to my team mates who are reading this: If any of you are offended, please refer to the disclaimer at the top of this post. J]

The rest of the day passed without much excitement. I was starting to believe that that is it. I have done my time. I have paid off my sins. Around 7, somewhat cheerfully, I took my bag and walked to the bus stop. 

It happened when I was crossing the road. I looked right, then I looked left, and then I looked right again, just like I had learned in class 2, and then I started walking across the road. And then out of nowhere came this BMTC Volvo. Thankfully the driver was a nice guy and he slowed down to allow me to cross the road.

BAZINGA!!! :-P

Of course there is no such thing as a “nice” Volvo driver in Bangalore. They are a frustrated lot I tell you. I swear he even swerved the bus to the left a little bit to hit me. I gracefully stepped back and gave the driver an I-know-it-is-tough-to-drive-a-Volvo kind of smile. Of course not before cussing at everyone in sight and running like my life depended on it, except in this case it really did. I didn’t know how much more of this misery I could take in a day. That was when my sandals decided to catch up with the moment and break its strap. I was speechless. There were tears in my eyes. Clearly the universe was conspiring against me. Me, just a helpless human, with no supernatural powers to fight back. Cruel universe. I limped to the bus stop, sobbing to myself. I called my friend and told him to drop me home. He was sweet enough (did I say sweet? I meant jobless) to agree. He tried to console me and I tried to pretend that it worked.

I removed my sandals and put it in my bag. All the way, till I reached home, I was chewing over the concept of a higher power. Maybe there is a God. One who gave you small punishments to remind you that you have been ignoring him for too long? Yes. That should be it. It must be the almighty trying to tell me that it is time to go back to him. As if to prove my point, the clouds above parted and the moon came out shining on me. I looked up at the sky, glowing in my enlightenment and you won’t believe what happened next. I actually felt a pat on my shoulder. It was as if God was appreciating me for discovering the truth.

Thus, a day that started like hell literally ended like heaven.

P.S: In truth, the pat that I felt on my shoulder was my bag’s shoulder strap breaking. But the end result was the same. I started believing in the presence of a higher power. Surely irony like this couldn’t have been unplanned. Sniff.


Image Courtesy : Google Images