The Lost time....

The first thing i realized on walking into office today was... i had lost it! the one precious thing... that has been so attached to my hand & heart for three years now.. had deserted me... leaving me all shattered & dejected. I had never really bothered to check out the time hinted by those prettly little needles unless someone on the road had wantonly asked for it! neverthless, it was a part of me, ticking away harmoniuosly with my heart beat and the tune of my life... well, to those of you who are smirking & sneering "it's after all a watch!", well... not exactly. it meant a life that was... an ocean of love that was.... but long forgotten in the tides of time.... this little piece of beauty had been presented to me by a loved one 3yrs ago and since then it has slipped off my hand so many times... on the busy black roads of Chennai & Bangalore... only to be retrieved by me hastily.... amidst the speeding trucks, angry buses, reckless 3wheelers & mocking pedastrians!

But, this time it was different. it was the rush hour and i was running like my-pants-were-on-fire... with a host of things in my hand... ranging from ID card, purse, papers, lunchbox to hair pin,comb,banana(my breakfast) & my lovely wrist watch. i climbed onto the pillion of the Hero Honda and Praveen accelerated it with full force to join the maddening stream of vehicles on the road leading to my office.i did sense a not-so-light object striking my leg and falling off with a clink! but, dismissed it as some stray piece of rubbish from the road caressing my leg during the speeding journey. Only on reaching office... it all came back to me through the good old flashback spiral!! i instantly hired an auto albeit the driver had charged an insane fare of 80 bucks for a distance of 5kms... and went to the same spot near my residence. i must be awarded the "Ms.Nut of the year" award, to have desperately believed that the piece of shining gold-plated watch would still be lying half asleep on the lane for half an hour... waiting for my cosy touch... for being caressed... for being restored back to the warmth of my skin..., with a plethora of slum dwellers in the vicinity sincerely struggling to get their hands on any property on this street that has been left alone for more than a minute!!! i sadly searched for my dear watch... knowing that it had gone off to foreign hands... hands that had throttled my hopes and doomed my dreams :(

i returned to the auto stand in disappointment.... and took an auto back to my office... knowing that there are more battles to be fought and more tears to be shed... i reached my cubicle just in time to make the customary call to my onsite co-ordinator at the US of A... and discuss project issues (which afaic is a redundant term... for my project has nothing else but problems.. problems... and perennial problems!!!) The call went on for about an hour... during which i was lending an ear to the chidings of the onsite fellow (who suspects whether i have cleared at least my pre kg exam papers), mourning the loss of my pretty "timeless" possession, brooding over the uncertainty of Praveen's current job,sinking into depression at the thought of continuing in this horrible SW engineering field despite hating it with all my heart,silently wiping a tear with the edge of my dupatta & replying in affirmative to all the rot that comes through the phone line... from across the seas!! "Multitasking" i call it!

After the sunset of all the drivelling project talk & technical discussions that mean nothing to me... i disconnected the call, changed the status in "Office Communicator" from "Do not Disturb" to "Available" and set about on the ordeals for the day... with a "barren" left hand, a heavy heart, swollen eyes & a cold insensitive computer! The wall paper on the cubicle facing me, read "Today is the first day of the rest of your life!" hmmm......