PEEPPP….. PPEEE…. DHOOOOOSHSHSHSH…… PEEPPPEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!! All around the vehicles are screeching… I must cross the road… Damn! Where’s the signal?? I can hear the honking all around me… must cross now… Why in the world my sandal strap’s coming lose now???? I step on the road… and the signal turns GREEN… the vehicles advance…. menacingly….
I wake up with a start to sweat beads. The alarm’s ringing and… Oh my God! Didn’t I just sleep?? It’s already 7:00 am! Must remember to drop the phone check on my way today…. My head aches as I open my eyes to see the sun beams lighting my window sill and I see dust… what Robert Fulghum would call stardust, casting a beam all over my room… it’s very beautiful.. but no time now to really stand back and admire the ways of nature… so I drag myself out of bed and head straight for a bath.
In the meantime my mental checklist is bombarding me with all kinds of reminders… the phone check to be paid, the newspaper headlines, the milk to be boiled, the clothes to be soaked, the stale bread lying in the refrigerator, the dust bin to be cleared, the visit to the bank, instructions for the maid…. Mind is in a chaos… grappling with all this…
Tick Tock! TICK TOCK!!!
After my bath, I find myself ironing the clothes…. Another five min for my checklist to rattle off… the client meeting to be arranged, the quality checks to be streamlined, the roster to be put in place, the reports, the 200 odd mails to be checked…. 200 odd mails…!! Each day and everyday. My mind refuses to stop giving me instructions… things to do… very important things to do. As if these things would never get done if I don’t do them… But hang on… I was told nothing and no one is indispensable… So where did this thought come from? Blame it on the morning chaos…
Ironing is over and kitchen needs to be attended to now… just then I notice some pigeons on my balcony, feeding on bajra seeds, strewn by my guardian angel… they seem so utterly peaceful and content. They have their sun, their morning peace and their breakfast… all readymade… while they bask in the glory of the gilded sun rays… My eyes rivet to the wall and the grandfather is telling me it’s already 7:45 am!!
I rush to the kitchen and quickly fix up a make do breakfast of Maggi and a glass of milk. I am told, if all and every one of us were to start their day with a glass of milk, our world would be a much happier and healthier place to live in… So I believe… therefore the stress on milk…
Ding Dong!! DING DONG!!
My breakfast reverie shatters… now who’s this?
“Newspaper bill Madam – Rs. 107.50/-”
I hand over Rs.110/- and politely wait for the change…
“No change Madam.”
Now I know I don’t have Rs. 7:50/- so I snap back, “Get it from the shop downstairs.”
And he also snaps back a denial…
CALM DOWN…. Now a good idea to start a day with snapping back… Not a good idea at all…!
I close my eyes. Breathe easy and ask him to keep all the money… You have to grant me this… I didn’t snap back… just politely muttered through clenched teeth “Keep the change”.
He leaves… leaving a bad taste…
I am back in the kitchen and try to gulp down the dried up remains of my breakfast… I drink water and am ready to leave for the station to catch my usual 8:15 am Church gate Fast local…
I collect my keys, wear my shoes…and just then… Oh No, Not AGAIN!
Ding Dong! DING DONG!!!
This time it’s more complicated… I open the door and guess who’s there… It’s like you are marooned and famished and the only option at hand is to have cold tea with stale dry bread and that too, only 2 measly pieces… THAT’s the way I feel when I look at this man… and right now, he’s at my door, looking alarmingly agitated. Meet My Landlord!
He’s accompanied by the building Secretary, who’s usually a quiet and indifferent kind of guy, but as of now he looks capable of murder…
They want to check my kitchen water connection… The secretary is upset. It has been leaking all over his house for the last 2 days. His house is in a mess and his wife is not so happy about it… though his 5 year old son doesn’t seem to mind this indoor swimming pool… My Landlord is upset. He’ll have to shell out precious money to fix this up… and I am upset… I don’t have time for all this!!! I’ll get late to work… The only thing on my mind is 8:15 Churchgate Fast… I hold my tongue and suggest, I think politely, “Can we do this over the weekend please?”
No takers for this however…
I suggest, “Look, I am in a hurry. I’ll get late to work.”
The Secretary says, “Madam, you are away the whole day and I need to get this fixed. My whole house is in a mess and my family is very upset…and I can’t wait for the weekend to arrive!”
My Landlord quips in, “Look Madam, I am a very important man and I can’t afford to come for these kind of ridiculous things every day. This has to be done today and I mean TODAY and I mean right now actually…!”
“But I just don’t have the time right now. Why didn’t you intimate me about this in advance?”
“Look I am the landlord and I decide. I can’t come over every day.”
“This has to be done today.”
“OKAY… Fine!! You do what you have to do… I am leaving… Kindly close the door on your way out and don’t make too much noise!”
Sitting in the auto, all sorts of security hassles enter my thoughts… On one hand I think… these men are so unreasonable and anyway, there’s nothing in the house worth stealing… but then again I think… what if they close the door and leave the key hanging on the door… keys can be so easily duplicated…
Am finally at the station… 8:15 is long past gone… It’s 8:27 am Churchgate Slow I’ll have to settle for… Bad! Very BAD..!!
I’ll get desperately late and maybe even miss the morning meeting… Phew… and to think that the day has just begun! The train arrives and I board, squashed like a fly amidst swarms of people. There’s sweat and there’s perfume and I can’t figure out which one is more nauseating… The trains lilting rhythm has always made me snooze. Just then…
“Main koi Aisa Geet Gaoon… Ke Aarzoo Jagaoon… Agar Tum Kaho…
Tumko bulaoon… Palkein Bichaooon… Kadam Tum Jahan Jahan Rakho…”
A group of young girls on their way to college are playing Antakshri on the train…
“Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi mein Tum Bahar Banke… Mere Dil Main Yunhi Rahna… Tum Pyaar Pyaar Banke…”
The frown on my face is waning… I can sense a quietness, a soft release… my mind taking a back seat…
“Jab Koi Baat Bigar Jaye.. Jab Koi Mushkil Par Jaye… Tum Dena Saath Mera… Mere Humnawaaz…”
I feel a catch in my throat as the image of my guardian angel flashes in my mind… who I hope is still sleeping peacefully… above all the mayhem… dreaming the song of life…
“Aa Chal Ke Tujhe… Mein Leke Chaloon… Ek Aise Gagan Ke Tale… Jahan Ghum Bhi Na Ho… Aansoo Bhi Na Ho… Bus Pyaar hi Pyaar Pale… Ek Aise Gagan Ke Tale…”
My mind wakes up…
Terrorist Attack Imminent – US Under Threat Again // Korea Tension High amid War Drill // Iraq arrests over 12 over Church Siege // Suicide Bombers storm Afghan Police Headquarters // Ethnic Clashes in Myanmar kills 100 // Swine Flu reaches Asia
“Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai…. Sabse Niyara Gulistan Humara Hai…Janmbhoomi Hai Humari Shaan Se Kahenge Hum… Sabhi Hain Bhai Bhai Pyaar Se Rahenge Hum… Hindustani Naam Humara Hai… Sabse Niyaara Desh Humara hai…”
26/11 Round the Corner – Nation on High Alert // Riots Break out All Over the Kashmir Valley // 700 Crore Telecom Scam Unearthed // Human Bomb explodes killing 79 // Mass Suicide by 50 farmers due to inability to pay back debts // 27 die of floods in Bihar // Naxals Plunge in Blood Bath killing 23 Jawans in Garhchiroli // Maoists Intensify Anti India revolts // sfruls bruaisber easabf // zskg auwegasehligaw // skeg lawegj…….
“Humko Man Ki Shakti Dena… Man Vijaya Karen… Doosron Ki Jai Se Pehle… Khud Ko Jay Karen…”
I hum along… despite all else…
…And the Song of Life continues…