Sipping tea, I glance at the newspapers which on normal weekdays I can’t lay my eyes on. But, I am disturbed by the horrific tunes that my brother apparently calls music. Yup! That bang-bang ranrdom noises is a wake-up alarm for him! He decides not to wake-up anyways! :(
I get set to my office happy that my bag weighs light without the lunch box. I ride to office with KFC in my mind and humming some tunes to myself. The traffic however decides to annoy me. Looks like everyone in vicinity have to travel by the exact same roads as I. There are people walking on roads and vehicles on footpaths. “Mayhem”! I exclaim to myself. Cursing and ranting as to how everyone are in a hurry, I continue my ride. Since, the shortcuts are already jammed, I decide to take on the main roads and patiently wait in the signal. Because I realize that I am certainly not running out time. The first signal towards silk board takes me 15 minutes to get through. Phew! I wonder if the decision wasn’t that wise because I have 2 more even worse signals in the making. But, showing some faith to my own decision I continue. By the time I cross silk board junction I realize I have somehow turned from the sophisticated lady with very good vocabulary into an impatient person who can swear at any random person. Conclusion- Bangalore traffic can create alter egos! I, who invade through the traffic, enraged, riding on the footpath yell at a guy who is dodging with vehicles on the road as to- “For god’s sake, there is no zebra crossing here.” Yup! I do not stop to wait for him pointing at me for being on the footpath. I just scoot away. Hastily, I come to screeching halt seeing the lights go to red from yellow. In that relaxing 60 seconds, I realize I have just turned into a absolute freak. But, KFC chicken again lingers in my head and I smile. Happy! Again. I decide to discard my impatient self and adopt the cooler one instead. Within seconds there is this car in front of me driving so slowly without letting me overtake it . Exactly! I have no control as my alter ego takes over. I decide not to let him win. After trying to sneak in through the left then the right, finally I overtake him. The victorious feeling and the winning smile takes over as I am happy and relaxed until I hear a thud, feel my ankle twisted, knees scraped, flying in the air right in front of my damn office. I turn around and see a helping hand, grab it without bothering to look at the face and try to scoot AGAIN. Alas! This time my activa is lying by on one side and I have to seek help to lift it. I hush up all the concerned colleagues assuring its nothing and ride it down into the parking lot only to realize that my vehicle is damaged. On my way up, I feel the pain in my ankle and calf muscles realizing that the fall wasn’t that silly after all. By the time I reach my cubicle I am slightly limping but do not mention the incident to the team. Its then that the pain takes over and I know I can’t escape the curious glances of my team mates when I limp and blurt out the truth. Next moment, there are pain relief sprays on my desk and my entire bay smells of medicines. Everyone unanimously drop the KFC idea as I can’t walk that far (which is actually close). We end up eating our very own INDIAN Biryani in a restaurant that’s like.. err.. in the building next to my office. By afternoon, my husband calls to inform the change in plans and that he will reach by Sunday. It is 3 PM and my ankle is so swollen that I decide to leave home early. By 5, I had mastered the art of limping. The pain however, had reached its limit. Within hours, I am on my bed with my foot resting on a dozen pillows. However, this time around I successfully managed reaching home in a vehicle that screeched all the way as though it suffered a great deal when compared to me. Looking at my ceiling, cursing the fan that for no apparent reason had stopped functioning, I realize that the long awaited KFC never happened. But, ultimately what happened is that I have a swollen ankle, damaged vehicle, a fan that isn’t working, husband who cancelled his plans and also mastery in art of limping.Taking a deep breath, I exclaim to myself- “This had to be. After all it is Friday the 13th!!”
Hope you had a lucky day,HPK!!!
