A very fine day

Sometime after mid-night: I wake up with a jerk, feeling thirsty. Grope in the dark and get hold of the water bottle. Take a few sips and feel ok. Try to recollect the dream; too hard. Open my eyes, too dark outside, close it, still dark. A few more sips. Lay back and try go back to sleep. The pillow is not helping, off it goes. Finally, sleep.

08:00am: Just done with the newspaper. Get out of the bed, fumble on the pillow, and hit the water bottle, water all over. Didn’t put the cap back on the bottle in the night. Water falls over the mobile phone. Switch it off in a hurry. Wipe it clean and try to switch it back on, with prayers aloud. Doesn’t switch ON. Now swears.

08:15am: Forgot to call her. Pick the mobile phone, not working. She’d angry, was also angry yesterday night. Will call from office. But she had asked to wake her at 7am. Her Interview today. She’d very very angry. Say a small prayer, that she got up by her own.

08:30am: Start ironing clothes for office. Sparks fly from the hot piece. Light goes off. Fan stops. Try switches in other rooms, not working. Open windows and doors. Neighbours swearing as well. Whole building out of zing. Can’t take bath, water too cold. Inspect yesterday’s clothes, not bad, can manage today as well. Pick-up accessories, rush out. Neighbours stare.

09:00am: Try to get a rick, 11th one stops. Actually dosen’t stop, one gets in while rick still running. Give a mouthful to driver. A bumpy ride to office, no say about traffic. Search for wallet, forgot to carry. Now driver gives back mouthful. Can’t give back. Plead and borrow from security guard. Promise to payback double.

10:00am: Need to have breakfast, no money. Accost a friend, but he too forgot wallet. Move to another one, get reminded of previous borrowings. Promise to give back with this one. Finally get money. Me, happy, friend not. Go to cafeteria, breakfast over. Buy a pack of biscuit, mix it with coffee. Oh! still not called her. Rush back.

10:05am: Don’t remember her number, it’s on the mobile. Pull out the SIM from mobile. Again start asking among friends, now for a mobile. Friends frown. Say that it’s last time, get a phone, get the number. She picks the call, hears and drops with same speed. Ten more calls, no response, on eleventh she says ‘What?’ ‘Sorry’ and tell her the story. She doesn’t believe and also she got up late and she is anxious. Not good at all.

11:00am: Get into team meeting. Asked for pending report, not yet done. Boss not happy, others smile. Playing with coffee cup. Coffee spills, worst - drops on boss’s shirt. Boss not very very happy. Others giggling. Boss’s boss steps into the room. Boss not at all happy. Meeting Agenda – Performance Appraisal Initiation. Me, very sad.

12.00pm: Calling her again. She asks if her resume was updated. It was NOT, had planned for this morning. Still say, YES. She wants to be sure. Again say, YES. Say a prayer, ‘let the interviewer be blind’. She wants to know how to answer, “where do you see yourself five years from now?” Don’t know the same about self, how one can answer for her. Tell her that will call back with answer.

01:00pm: Buy lunch and looking for a table to sit. A slight nudge on the elbow, sambar on the pants. Rush to the breakout, no water. Manage with tissues. Make it worse than sambar. Rush back to cafeteria. Food plate not found, cleared by house-keeping. Buy one again, running out of money. No place to sit, stand and eat.

02:00pm: Go for a fag. See friends already smoking, no need to buy today. Good conversation going, pulling everyone’s leg. Get pulled up for coffee on boss. Even for sambar on the pants. Cigarette slips out of fingers, goes down fifteen floors. Friends threaten to throw from balcony. Assure to bring back the cigarette. Rush down fifteen floors. Too late, cigarette turned to ash.

03:00pm: Remember her question. Google “want to be five years from now”. Boss suddenly appears from behind. Fumble with keyboard and mouse. Able to minimize ‘Craigslist’ and ‘Facebook’ but boss catches Google. He doesn’t seem angry, seems surprised. Asks if am looking for a change. Say NO, say looking it for her interview today. Boss not convinced, but smiles, not the same boss, some things changed. Maybe it’s the coffee, need it spill it more often then. Call her with the answer, not a good answer, Google knows not everything. Her phone switched-off. She’s in the interview. OMG! Anyways was not a good answer.

04:00pm: Call her back again. Still switched off. Long interview maybe. Moments later she calls back. Not happy, bad interview. Interviewer not happy with old resume, last experience completely missing, latest papers presented not there, field studies - where are they? She starts giving a mouthful, blames one for the mess. Try to cool her. Not happening. Try to pacify her, not working. Can hear colleagues giggle. At least she forgot about ‘five years from now’. Phew! some relief. She asks did one book train tickets for her mom. What tickets? Oh tickets. She says tatkal tickets. Pain starts.

05:00pm: Client pings on chat and asks for project status. Project not started, how to say. Don’t ping him back. Chat with friends. Oops, chatted in wrong window – “Alloy project still not started. Client asking. :).” Oh my god! Chatted in client’s window. Client’s chat status – ‘Away’, start breathing again. Shut down chat application. Mistake, shuts down computer.

06:00pm: Finally, time to leave. Boss calls, for a meeting. Give excuse, need to rush for doctor’s appointment. Boss asks issue. Frequent headaches, may be migraine, need to get it checked. Boss asks to bring medical certificate along tomorrow. Headache starts. Return money to security guard. Guy asks for double. No money left now. Will have to walk home.

06:10pm: It starts raining. Run and take cover under a bus stop. Speeding car splashes water, drenched all over. Start walking again. Go to collect repaired phone. Finally phone, thank God, now can call her. But where is the SIM? Left it at office. Walk back to office again. Painful.

07:30 pm: Still walking. Every rick guy stops and asks. Where were they all in the morning.

08:00pm: Enter home. All lights and fans running. Forgot to switch off in the morning. Had forgotten to close the windows as well. Pigeons inside the room and shit all over the place. I rush to pick up the newspaper. Want to make sure I read it correct in the morning.

Horoscope:
Leo: You will feel on top of the world today. Personal tasks will be done without any issue. On the work front it will be a smooth sail. You will be able to achieve a difficult job and this might bring some good news in the coming days. Your seniors will be impressed by your skills. Love life will get a boost. Will make a difference in loved one’s life. You might also get a surprise. Money flow will increase today and will stay that way as the affect of Jupiter is strong. You will be able to help friends and co-workers. You will achieve more than you set out for. Overall, a very fine day.