From Office, With Love

Minutes to go before the most exciting day of the week comes up, no but seriously, Monday is as exciting as it gets! So excited that, the week doesn't wait for our opinion and just rushes to get to Monday in just two days after Friday. This is life, ladies and gentlemen! Whatever is between the Friday and Monday sums up our life. Too philosophical (rubbish), ain't it? That's what happens to every one on a Sunday evening, pondering what is that one useful thing I do in my life, apart from updating the time sheet at work. 

Monday mornings are just fun, it is, primarily because it doesn't give a damn whether you like it or not, it's coming already (Look at the clock). Nevertheless, it is that day when awkwardness is taken to the next level. So it's like we are in time slippage from the last week's / weekend's happenings that we need to be in Miller's planet (Courtesy: Interstellar) to shrug off the weekend vibes. But nah, you don't have that much time, all you get to do is pray that you don't have any shocking mails waiting to tear your last ounce of hope, the moment you log into your mailbox (Been there, Done that). But, it's not what I'm talking about. The most exciting part of my Monday is when I hear this line for the first time - "So, how was your weekend?" 

Brings in such a smile to our faces (Or sadness, depending on whether you had a weekend or not) and we tend to talk so much putting the guy who asked the question, in a state of bother, like our PM's reaction to the most warmest of hugs from the one and only..(You got it right). Little does the person realize that whatever story he's cooking, none of us care about it. I mean, who cares about "I met a friend of mine for dinner (drinks) on Friday and had a chilling weekend", so what he means is that he met for dinner on Friday and woke up for dinner on Sunday (or was it for Monday's breakfast). Whatever, you get the point. 

Just as the conversation is closing, I gather people around for a cup of coffee (My best part of the day) and we talk about everything (on our smartphones) and there's absolute silence, deep within and outside. We get up and try to check the keys are working in our keyboard and then lunch time! It's there we alter the dynamics of time and compete hard to disprove Einstein's relativity - Stretch time to its maximum. But no, that doesn't happen. We are back at our places in less than forty minutes (That's lesser than my manager's coffee break). 

Couple of hours of serious work(in mobiles) and finding time in between to work in laptops. Attending calls, finding time for coffee break (Hey, don't judge me. I love caffeine) and looking at the time and waiting for it to strike the time to leave. Simple. No wait, it can't be that smooth, it's not even college, just when you think your stars are aligned properly and shows signs of a peaceful exit, you get a ping (Hi), fast forward two hours later, leave for home, have dinner and try and fail to decide what TV series to watch. Surrenders unconditionally to the one thing that doesn't disappoint (Sleep) 

Fast forward to the next four days, on a  Friday evening, just when we are about to leave, there's another voice from far behind "So what's the plan for weekend?". The honest ones say "Nothing" and that's about how 90% of Indian working class spend their weekends. Adios until the next weeken-(yawns)

One of those games...

Just as I stare at the cursor, after having opened Microsoft Word, I wonder what makes me to write on topics, certain topics. While most of it all revolves around Cricket, it indeed is thought provoking as to whether my blog is restricted to just the game or something more. No, probably not just the game, but this is a record of all the good moments in my life. It’s been four years since I started, writing has not been a passion, but I’ve been fond admirer of thoughts. Thoughts convert into actions, they say. But I say, thoughts convert into words for me, and these words drive the action.

Yesterday, the 15^th of Jan, 2017 was one such occasion which had to be documented. For these blogs of mine, is merely a record of a few good things that over the years I’ve encountered, moments which I’d like to cherish upon in the future. And what better than a game of cricket! Just the game every spectator would have wanted, a high scoring thriller with a game full of twists and turns. Last Morning, as we parked the vehicle and started to move towards the stadium, it was afternoon! Crazy yes! It took just over an hour to reach the gate, as we passed through an ocean of blue jerseys. We also bought one. I think I kept seeing the jersey for a while, before a friend of mine rushed me up. Little did they know the emotions that ran in me as I observed the special number on the back of the jersey (People who know me would guess the number). It was packed, both the crowd at the gate and the jersey over my shirt. We had quite a number of accessories – A pull-over (assuming we would have needed while returning, which turned out to be a blunder), a hat, power sun-glasses(To avoid annoying people by asking the scores every time) and a new addition – An annoying trumpet. Little did we know, buying the trumpet would come in handy at the last moment.

I’m going to run through the events of the game now. Something, which most of us by now would have read (at least heard) from the papers. But this is the version of a fan. A fan, whose interest, if asked for, would have only, uttered the seven letters of the game. Oh! Number seven here as well! Co-incidence!

As we ran through the seats, there was a pool of players standing still. The National Anthem was played. When a little over thirty five thousand sing along, it surely is a moment of pride. We ran and ran and finally found our seats, hardly twelve rows from the ground. Yes! We were on the ground level technically. Such a beauty, the ground. People thronged. The first ball was about to be bowled. Most of them stood up. Crowd erupted as VK led the team for the first time in one day internationals. Quite a moment for him. Umesh had the ball, and as he ran in, there were cheers from the thirty thousand plus crowd. Fast forward, as we went past the thunderbolt stumping from the man behind the stumps. Next up was a caught behind appeal, umpire did not react. The man behind the stumps was confident. The captain came appealing and he saw the wicket keeper in desperation. MS Dhoni asked for a review. What happens next is something everyone knew including the umpire, probably. The confidence resulted in a positive review and a crucial wicket. With a stroke filled Stokes at one end and an elegant Root at the other, Englishmen made 350. This was their highest against India in One day Internationals.

The Indian openers came back after the break, loud support from the audience. We, meanwhile, were still trying to calculate the money we had in total and a strategy to utilize them for the next fifty overs. We did not have anything in the first innings, except for a salt-filled-samosa and some five litres of water. We were dehydrated. Energy had been sucked out of us in the first innings, just like that advertisement when Dr. Sun sucks it out of the kids. The only irony being a kid who was so active, next to our seats. We wondered how the salt effect still hung up on him. We managed and took a gamble to buy out everything with whatever he had. Technically, we were bankrupt in the fifth over of the second innings. Just when that happened, VK had come in and hit a humongous six towards our stand. Just when we thought we were in for a serious chase, he was running out of partners at the other end. A Yuvraj’s six brought life to the crowd, who screamed their heart out. It was a typical Yuvi pull-shot. He was gone soon. Next up was the ex-captain ( Years from now, when I read this blog, I want to keep this memory of Dhoni’s first ODI not as a captain in ten years, but most importantly, VK’s First ODI as captain) . Decibel level rose to newer heights. People stood on the chairs and cheered for their star. While I screamed for a while, later began to observe the crowd, I knew it was time for me to feel those few seconds when Dhoni walked from the pavilion to the centre. There were cheers of “Dhoni!! Dhoni!!..”  in unison. Nothing much happened after that. An absolute silence followed when MSD got out to a cheap shot.

In came a Kedar Jadhav, hometown boy from Pune. Score was reeling under so bad that India needed another 300 runs approximately. What happened next was a treat. The next thirty overs, India dominated. No wicket fell up until then. Yes, VK as usual hit a century for the nth time while chasing. But it was Kedar who stole the show. A solid partnership began to build as Morgan (Eng Captain) began to see the game losing out of his hands. Kedar cut, pulled, drove, glided, flicked the ball to all parts of the ground. VK on the other side was on a roll with his usual self. Crowd began to cheer for every single run. When VK hit his century with a six, the crowd burst out in joy! The boy next to me, closed his eyes, with his fists closed, let out a roar, which still resonates in my ears as I write this. “Congratulations Virat” read the display board. In the next few overs, Kedar would reach his hundred with a late cut. The crowd stood up and gave a standing ovation. We bowed to the young man, who resembled a bit of Tendulkar, in taking the attack to the opposition. He was calm, no big celebrations. He was struggling with cramps on one side, and VK got out with another 80 runs required, it was Kedar’s and Hardik Pandya’s role to finish the job.

Kedar fell on ground, the physio came in, play stopped for a few minutes. Morgan helped Kedar in the middle, the crowd applauded the sportsmanship of the opponent captain. Kedar stood up and shook his head, refusing to have a runner. The crowd supported and cheered the lion hearted act of their home boy! One ball later, Kedar rocked back and pulled Ball to maximum. This shot, summed up Kedar’s innings that day. Full of grit and determination. He had to prove and he did it in style. What a moment!

We were in the game. We always were, despite losing Kedar balls later, and Jadeja sometime later, moments from victory. Hardik and Ashwin didn’t want to keep us(spectators) in the waiting. Bang! Six off the last ball of the second last over. Boom! Another six, this time from Ash, a monstrous six that went twenty tiers deep inside the midwicket stand. VK was pumped up in joy. Ash and Hardik celebrated. And came the young man, again calm and composed, Kedar came out to a greater appaluse. “Worth for money” one exclaimed, as people began to move out. They knew this was a greater worth for money.

As Dhoni came out of the pavilion with players shaking their hands out. He smiled. When Ash had hit the winning run with a six, Dhoni probably realised the game is in right hands, the team was in right hands. The weighing role of a finisher, for the first time in years, came little off him. As we began to walk out, I saw the young kid still shouting and waving for his Kohli to probably come have a look.

I came out smiling thinking of the kid, who probably will go on to explain the game the next day at school. Thank you VK and Kedar, for giving us a run for our money! You will be remembered. This match would be remembered. Had finally stepped into the stadium of Pune as well, after Chennai’s and Bangalore’s. 

Suit up!

Six months back when I had written the last post, I knew that my next one had to be after the next good thing I encounter in the following months, but just when the previous phase crossed my mind, something else caught up, that I’m getting into a Management programme (Refrain from using MBA, for few argue that this is a techno-managerial). I wouldn’t disagree when I say that there were numerous occasions when I wanted to sit down and pen my thoughts, like after the Suryashibir trip at the start of the semester, Samaarambh and the Independence Cup, where I first led our team into the field(a square cricket field, yes!) the first time when I went all suits with the college formals aka uniform(At least that’s what these people call) and when the one-that’s-not-supposed-to-be-spoken-about happened, it was joy outbound, but I couldn’t go beyond a line, with most of the times I giving excuses as lame as the time being 1am or charge about to die despite the charger at the socket but switch turned off. See, these are excuses. Excuses that begin to form a cloud of uncertainty, that takes the very originality out of us (Although originally, I’m lazy deep inside). So why start today? What’s special? Eh, nothing. What would make this special is that when this post goes live despite the fact that I’m not sure if it will as I write this.

Far from the voices of Chennai Super Kings and the breeze of Marina Beach, to the vibrant city of Bangalore, this phase has been a shift to Amchi Pune, there goes the quota of Marathi for today! When I last visited home, everyone began asking how Pune was (is). I replied “Oh Hinjewadi? It’s amazing! I visited the extremes of Hinjewadi from the D Mart in the east to Hyderabadi House in the west”. The next ten minutes nobody knew how to take the conversation forward. Yeah, it was a bit awkward! Not as awkward as laughing at the jokes (If that’s what you call them) in a Marketing class. Technically, we have been occupied. Oh yeah, this is on the same lines as when that distant cousin of yours when pursuing his/her MBA programme used to say “Life’s been hectic” , now we all have been going through that phase and get to say that. Twelve plus subjects per semester in the first year makes it look like one trying to crush the clothes to remove that last bit of soap while washing. A tad more would tear it apart. Add projects – reports plus presentations plus viva for most of the subjects, you feel like adding all this in your Life Resume!

With having breakfast at twelve in the noon to having dinner at three in the morning, it’s been a little complicated. Thanks to the cheese paratha at D hostel. D-Hostel, not from the same franchise of D-Mart (Or is it?), has been the home in giving us the warmth (I say warmth to appreciate the round-the-clock hot water supply!). Despite the heat (Not the cold temperature) faced, there’s that chaai which fills your stomach the first thing in the day. Likewise, plenty of positives. Let’s save the rest for some other time.

When on a Saturday night, something makes me write, it has got to be MBA (Oops! Management degree, nobody heard it!). Despite the sick and sulky material of the blazer (Oh, It’s the uniform), somewhere deep, when you wear that up, it adds something. Not just looks, of course, one would easily find a picture with the blazers in each of the profiles (Eh, including mine). C’mon not always one gets to wear them (Unless otherwise it’s the one-that-you-are-not-supposed-to-talk-about). It’s okay to make some noise and publicise, after all I’m part of the Media team in a MBA programme (At least that’s how I pacify myself).

The Experience

In another couple of days, I'll leave Bangalore to pursue my higher education.

Phew! That escalated quickly, isn't it? When few of my friends left their first job, they put a lot of things over social media which made it pretty obvious for a reader to infer that the concerned did not have a good time at his/her workplace. While many passed on comments and high fives, I saw through those posts and treated with no special attention. I used to think how I would be when I leave the job, my first job. Well, certainly not dramatic but direct pass from the heart.

If you had followed my blogs(which only I did myself), I would have shared the way I felt when my college director read my name which was the third last in the list. The 20 minute interview at dinner time when I did not even had the lunch owing to some delays in the interview slots, the 10 minute walk back to hostel after the interview, and the 5 minute swallowing of noodles(11.30 pm) followed by rushing back to the auditorium in 15 minutes, all for that one moment. That moment when someone reads your name to let you know that you are selected, offered a job among hundreds.

As and when the names were read, the atheists and non believers as well folded their hands, closed their eyes. People were screaming and jumping upon hearing their own/friend's names. I stood there watching all by myself before that sudden burst of adrenaline pumped up, senses were back to position, all eyes were on me and few of my friends shook me with wide smile on their face, while I listened to the last 'Ganesh from EEE' part from the director. A second later, rewind and played it, 'Ajay Ganesh from EEE'. Oh dear, one should be there to feel it. That moment, when you throw the weight of past behind you. All those poor marks seemed to me as a speck of dust in front of a job offer. That was close to two and a half years back.

A year later, when half my friends were enjoying their holidays, I was waiting for that one mail from my company which called me over. Every single morning, noon and night before bed(Sometimes after bed as well) I used to check the mailbox that once Gmail failed to load, shocker! Only to realize that my dad had switched off the Wifi. I was excited for the job. I was excited to be part of the corporate world. I wanted to see and feel how it was. I wanted to feel the sophistication involved with it. Of course, I wanted to spend money from my pocket without that extra half a second thought.
Then came that evening, the very evening when India won a Lord's Test match. My joy doubled. It was destined. The place was Bangalore. Took out my dusted notebook where I had my check list and started off right away.

Fast forward a bit(Two months into the firm) I was there in a training room, not to attend a training, but to let them know that I attended the training and learnt something(The Test). First attempt, duck out! Second attempt, clean bowled(Absolutely clueless). The last attempt came just after Dussera, I had gone home despite being able to celebrate, also to study. When I started off, I was upset, my father asked me to give my best and not to worry and take things seriously. How could I not worry? It was my first job and did not want to be thrown out because of a percentage less than the cut off in an exam. I decided that an exam should not stand in my way to continue in this firm(Though heartbeat rose a few hundred more when I thought that). Next day, I finish the exam, check my result. Bang! Employment confirmed. When I boarded the shuttle, called my parents and told them that I shall come the following week to get the rest of my luggage. I was not meant to leave that early :)

22 months since the day I first stepped into the firm, here I am, trying to assimilate thoughts and experiences that I shall never shy away from sharing. The journey was never easy(As many would say) but something I shall cherish for a long long time.

Unlike many, I shall not be glad and thankful for leaving it. For I earned this job! Every inch of the script has been mine, there's no way I'm going to blame myself. It'll be different the next two days at office, the way I look at people, vehicles, shuttles, cafeteria and of course the application that I work on. Things shall move on, but not the memories. Deep down, there's a place for saving this phase of my life.

P.S. Search for the dusted check-list is on!

A Friday..

The last day of the week is indeed fun. Not only because you get to wear tees and jeans (Supposedly adds to your style quotient), but also for the simple reason that one can get up late for the next two days. So yes, I’m here to just talk about a Friday. A fun filled Friday (That’s because it rhymes well, relax!)

After spending a lot of minutes in figuring out which one to wear for the day and in the process picking that one outfit, which we think is unique (but unfortunately not) and is supposed to stand out, but ends up standing in that one group in office, who pick that exact color or t-shirt that you wear and give an awkward smile when u cross them in the corridor. Despite all such negative thoughts interrupting, one finally gathers all courage to give a smile towards the mirror and leave for the day. Supposedly casual, it turns out to cause more discomfort owing to the exposure of formals for the previous four days. Best part is when you find your shuttle, the first checkpoint to observe your peer’s opinion on the outfit you wear, but worst case is when you find the shuttle moving when you are lagging by some distance, just then you pull all your energy and increase your acceleration only to find out you have gone past the shuttle owing to some bad braking system (Sneakers!!). Finally you get in with some good music playing in your headphones, along with some gasping, only to find the last seat in the bus. What a start for the “The Day” of the week.

After the routine set of tasks, having checked the watch for some hundred times, one badly waits for the clock to strike six. Post lunch (as usual a heavy one) one fights himself to complete the task badly despite the occasional yawning. He checks the time, few more hours to go. A wide grin appears on his face, adjusts himself from his lazy posture and sits upright. He doesn’t care the weird noise made by his chair, spoiling the sleep of his peers, as all that’s running in his mind is the plan for the weekend.

When the task is sort of completed, the time narrows down for him to catch the shuttle. But wait! One thing is missing, a “Chaai break”, it’s by default addressed as “Chaai” though one drinks Coffee. Let’s save that debate for another day. A brief pep talk with colleagues, some good friends and having laughed really loud that the senior manager three tables away hears it and gives a stare or sometimes smiles away (Probably thinking of his days). Meanwhile, the deadline nears. Next one hour turns out to be hectic as the task is to be closed. Just then a mail pops up with the next set of tasks lined up.

The face turns small. Worrying about the plans (About making one), he looks the people around him. Predominantly, everyone is already into the weekend mood with some fun activity happening in the break out area. There are smiles everywhere despite the rush. Some of them are already on the move, taking their helmets. Our friend’s hands sweat, he just stares at the mail. Just then his lead comes over, looks at him, smiles and says “Not going by shuttle?” He is shocked, and then shows his entire teeth (overwhelmed at the response) and closes his system, picks his bag. For one last time, he checks the watch. There is a lot of time. Smiles and runs towards the shuttle along with the large group. Fighting his way in catching a seat in the shuttle (despite the glasses in his face badly dislocated owing to some serious struggle), he makes a call and says “Plan in still on!” After hanging up, he connects his headphones (A Pre-requisite for most of us in Bangalore). 

Time to Win

This week has been full of upsets so far(Despite the fact that I left early than usual all these days and was not asked to stay back in office). It all started last week, when India lost to Australia in the first test at Adelaide by a rather close margin. Virat's heroics and an attempt to send off another flying kiss to Anushka seemed futile as he had to weep the tears of other cricketers(Basically, India lost and Kohli was the captain) and he had to lead from the front to march towards victory(which he did very well without doubt) but after the result, had to convince the boys to pep up for the second test, by which time he will turn deputy to our Brigadier Dhoni, who will lead the team. So amid the scratching-the-wound-just-when-about-heal comments by the critics, few(including me) tried to look at the positives from the game(very few though). India batting was solid like never before with almost all the batsmen carrying the good form they had been in. Bowling was below par and blaming them on a lifeless pitch, Australians themselves seemed hopeless, is not a matter of concern. Half way into the second day, people knew that this was a match which will be decided by the Batsmen. Either they can lead their teams to victory or in the worst case, they will be cause for failure. It happened to be true. Fifth day, first session dominated by Indian Juggernauts, Vijay and Kohli anchoring and at the same time having an eye on the target, kept taking the game away from Australians and then came the magical spell of Lyon(or rather, the curse of Indian batting began).

Despite a brief stay of Rohit and the vital partnership with Kohli,wherein we still had a chance, but Rohit thought probably "let me step up the gas a bit" and the result, in an hour, the hopes of an entire country turned into a gas and in turn was no where to be seen. Yes, it was a collective failure despite a singular heroic innings from the captain. Who is to be blamed? The Indian bowlers, who were lifeless or the Indian middle order, which never seemed stable or the lack of application from the tail-enders to even get close to the total. Blame game began, people were shocked, no one could believe what they saw, as Kapil Dev rightly said "If India is to lose this match, only they can make it happen" and there it was, Kohli losing the first test as captain, despite his wonderful knock in both the innings.

Coming back to the present day, the scorecard reads 2-0, India had lost the second match at Gabba. The herculean knock from Vijay on the very first day, knocking the opposition bowling with a splendid hundred on one of the world's fastest and bouncy tracks, Rahane on the other hand lending a support, we seemed to be in control, witha bit of hiccups in the late middle order(not to talk about Rohit's yet another failure), we managed a 400+ total in the first innings. Australians came in, attacked, played an aggressive game with all including the captain(who continued to daunt the boneless attack of Indian bowlers) by scoring a fine century. Meanwhile, Rohit thought his mouth is powerful than his bat and he could cement his place by sledging the Australians(Johnson in specific) and the result, an almost-hundred from Mitch, it did not stop there, the last four wickets added 250 runs and the bowlers went on a leather hunt. Indians tried to pull off a Lord's, by sending down a series of short balls, but the Australian bowlers(apparently batsmen) hammered them all over the park. Though they swung their bat and they did drive and cut when the length changed. Lets not add spice to the wound, as it was yet another long wait to rap up the tail. With a 97 run lead, India were left with more than two days, to make amends to get back into the game. By the time, they got into the game, it was lunch in the fourth day and the result was already before us. 128 to win, Aussies gave us false hopes and Ishant, the lone performer on the fourth day, did give us a bit of hope, which of course never lasted long. Once again, the batting failed, this time, every single batsman failed and collectively drafted yet another overseas loss and very well took the possibility of winning the series along with them to the dressing room. 

So, being an ardent follower of cricket, just like anyone, having turned tired of cursing out of frustration, got up today morning, read a few articles and you would of course know, what they would write. But somewhere down the line, I took a step back, looked at the match, at the so far concluded series, with an eye like never before. When I thought about the positives, there were so many, Indian batting improved, we finally saw 300+ scores and fifties and hundreds. Batsmen applied here and there to build the innings, but the same was lacked in second innings. Everytime, we see a collapse, we feel they are little complacent, but they are not. More than us, they know the seriousness, they are playing for their country and one can never looked relaxed. Am sure they are pretty serious than we think.

The bowling department has always been a cause of concern, that is why the captain feels it is the batting that can boost the chances of winning abroad, but again, that is possible only if bowlers reciprocate with 20 wickets to get a result. Often, both these departments never go hand in hand, when in the first innings, Indian batting put up a good score, the bowling though seemed good for quite some time, lost the control the first instance of match getting slipped, could be seen. Whereas, in second innings, when the batting failed and left with almost nothing for the bowlers to defend, the bowlers gave their heart out and ended up picking all the batsmen's wicket and it was only Marsh and Johnson who saw Australia home. 

My point is, there is some severe lack of link between the batsmen and bowlers. As a unit, one has to collectively step up, to see a positive result. It is indeed a fact that, one player can change the course of the match, but it is the team, as a whole, which can see the victory. Australians performed because of Steven Smith's excellent hundred and some fine knocks by Rogers, Johnson, Starc. But eventually, they knew the bowlers were the trump cards, which could decide the match and it indeed happened. Johnson, Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon, all stepped up to the occasion, they knew the onus was on them, they welcomed it, they took responsibility and honored the captain. This is team effort. 

Now, I'm not saying Indians never had such instances before, they did, probably better than what I told, but right now, that is what is missing. When India's bowlers were given a task to give it all in the second innings, for me they did a pretty good job, exposed the middle order and tried everything, but not fruitful. It is for this reason, one must talk to the players, get their opinions, get clarified and fire all cylinders from the next match. I feel, when they collectively perform in one innings of a test match, the rhythm will be back. Once that is back, players will not think of 'Loss' as a result. Optimism is missing, it can never come on its own, we have waited enough. Time to speak out to the players, groom confidence, nurture and shape their brains, fine tune their thoughts, correct the way of approach. All this is possible by only two people in the team, The Team Director and Captain. 

Ravi Shastri has seen it from commentary box, now from the dressing room. He knows what is missing, Dhoni has seen it all, he knows what is expected and needed. Together, they both should speak out and let the team know what is it out there for the million fans, who wake up with an alarm to cheer for their team, to follow the scores despite office hours. Time to speak, time to lead. Time to Win!!

One fine day..

Seven days have gone by, nothing has changed, of course yes, the current posture of mine as I write another episode of my life. December is the month that usually is considered as the lazy month, fairly true owing to the look that one has throughout the day, the eyebrows tend to be curved in a way that even when someone screams at you, you tend to turn slowly, only to check the noise that disturbed your otherwise calm brain. So basically what I'm saying is, I'm one of those lazy guys who does not bother, even in the worst of catastrophes, especially if it happens to be during this month of the year. Wow! What a way to end a year which we started with, having a resolution to wake up early, to follow a strict routine, some people even took resolutions to wake up at least once in the year to witness the sunrise(those people apparently failed to see the sun the very next day, I mean, they did not get up in the time-frame wherein we categorize into as 'Morning', my bad English, can't help it). So leaving apart the resolutions part(which I myself have never followed even once, either because I lost the book where I noted down the set of resolutions or three hundred and sixty five days were not enough for me to narrow down the set of choices I had). One hell of an excuse, ain't it? 

One such day in the week, wherein I got up late and failed to switch on the geyser and had bath(Let's not talk about the experience of an ice-bath, you know). Having managed to somehow beat the trauma early that morning, I managed to enter second into the shuttle in three steps as some extra-ordinarily brainy women were thinking which foot of theirs to place first into the bus, I managed to sneak through and just when I smiled at the fight near the door of the bus, Boom! My brain had witnessed a situation, a massive blow to the skull, either because of some strong rod or a Hulk smashing my head and leaving a wild roar. Except that this time, it was me who gave the roar, cursed the one who had caused it, opened my eyes to find a spectacle wearing guy saying 'Sorry' which I heard in a female voice. I couldn't understand the logic, all I wanted was a place to sit. Finally managed to sit, closed my eyes and wondered when the day would get over.

Upon reaching my desk, surfing through the world news and trying to debate over a lame topic and meanwhile managing to complete the assigned work(I avoided the word 'stress' before work assuming it is a common phrase associated with someone from my world). So there it was, last minute rush to catch the shuttle, all I wanted to do was send a mail, opened the world's most fastest browser(we were asked to use that over the world's powerful browser) and all that popped up in ten minutes was "Not responding". Thanks to the important twelfth standard one mark question, I could use a shortcut to open the Task manager(proud moment for an Engineer when navigating without using the mouse but with just the keyboard) Just when I stopped smiling over my achievement, I witnessed the worst nightmare for someone who deals with a computer. They usually refer to that situation with a phrase 'The system got hung' . We will be helpless, pray to the oldest of Gods for a miraculous resurrection as the entire screen will stare at you without blinking the eyes and all you will have is the poker face and a sound from inside the CPU that gives a fake noise to make us believe that it is working hard. I kept staring. Few minutes later, my boss pings me, urgency, fifteen minutes to board the bus and on the top of it, something very important for a human, is supposed to be done. My poker-faced look turned into the alter ego of Dr. Bruce Banner and I guess I turned into one when I hit hard on the table(The trick of making something work by threatening even a non-living thing does come true) and Gods responded, the system functionality restored and sent a mail and ran towards the shuttle only to find the bus had not come. After my gasping got over, I got into and found a window seat(Haa! Like a child who has no idea why he/she prefers window seat). I thought "One hour to go! Just one hour before we reach home G! Hold on!".

A day which though not being fruitful so far, made me re-think about the purpose of..(Let me stop there, because the philosophical part, not needed) A voice "Excuse me! Is anyone coming here" pointing to the empty seat next to me. I think I did not even reply, but she said "Thanks" and sat down. A regular practice in this city is to have an earphone whenever you travel, not because of a style quotient, but just to make others know that you are not deaf(which people think you are, looking at the behavior). To share my part, I took a JBL earphone and plugged in and played the music at high volume(She gazed a quick look at me, probably thought I was deaf literally) and I slowly reduced the volume. A two-seater in a bus is built by the brains of the world as they have ensured no extra inch of space, leave alone for two, not even for one. So just imagine the way how cramped we were seated. Half way through, her soft shoulders touched mine, I was alarmed(No! No!! Just kidding) I didn't bother to spoil by giving a wild shake. I sat still thinking she might move into another posture sooner or later. It did not happen. Signing on an attendance sheet(in a bus, Mind it!) is our customary procedure, which of course nobody follows. It came to me, I marked mine, offered to her. She did not get it. I called her, she did not respond. There was no light inside the bus near my seat. I did not see her face. Then a bright light from a street lamp from outside lit her face. I saw her. Her eyes were closed(Sleeping! Chill) I didn't want to spoil her sleep(possibly the best in the day) and gave it to others. I smiled and started playing my favorite playlist and kept having that extra smile. Her stop came, she got up and she was in a hurry, managed to get her bag, adjust her hair(Very important to be presentable in the city, especially in the night) and took the earphones and was about to get down. As in movies, I expected her to see me once before getting down, luckily she did, she smiled and waved her hands. I couldn't believe it, I saw behind me if there were anyone else(Nobody). I smiled(this time the smile crossing the threshold), she got down. Then I saw, there were two girls in front of my seat. I laughed at myself(they were her friends, probably) and thought "Not that bad for a day".