The romantic inside me always liked and nurtured the idea of working for an organization that operated secretly and away from the humdrums of civilization. Heavens conspired, in favor or not only future can tell; and I landed up with a job that makes me travel out of the 'civilization', if I might say, to work. Although, nothing about the operation of my organization can be remotely called secretive, as it is pretty much known by its name, nonetheless the ‘away from the civilization’ part kind of worked for me.
Anyway, in this dream of mine, I took the liberty of considering myself to be a scientist (strictly speaking, am a writer with no connection to scientific research whatsoever) who works at the company where I work and have to regularly travel 3hrs to and back from office. We usually travel by office bus, which is scheduled on a particular time every day. So, this is just another day at work... well maybe not just another day. Throughout the day I have been extremely busy, especially running around with different types of data from one building to another. In my bid to complete the work as much as possible, I outdid myself that day, and was about to miss my evening bus back home. But, my mind had something else planned for me and I noticed my watch just at the nick of time and rushed from one building to my desk in another building to gather my belongings, punch in my attendance, and catch the almost leaving bus before it starts its ride. On my way to my desk, I met everyone who slowed down my pace by asking questions that could have been kept for the next day. Desperately, I had to wrap up the conversations, move on to get my stuff, and head out of the office gate. No sooner had I stepped out of the building to check whether the bus was still there as I expected it to be, I saw the bus has started its engine and beginning its slow and grand exit. With my body type, I ran as much as possible. Luckily, there was a commotion at the main gate for which the bus halted in its tracks. This gave me the chance I was looking for. However, as I started running, the bus started again. I stopped to catch my breath and the bus stopped again. Was it playing tricks with me? Or was I supremely unlucky that day? Putting my thoughts aside, I just had to get going. At that very moment, someone from the bus turned back and saw me running and called out to the driver to slow down. Feeling immensely grateful, I jumped on to the bus to discover that the bus was entirely occupied, with no seats empty. A long way back home, all the way standing! Sighing, I stepped on to the bus. The person who stopped the bus then approached me and said, “We have been waiting for some time for you… what took you so long to come?” My jaws literally dropped as I noticed the person I was speaking to was none other than my project manager from the previous company I worked with. Surprised and happy, I asked whether he has joined my present organization. Relaxed and with a smile he said, “Yes, it has been quite some time now that I joined this company. How come you haven’t noticed me in your morning or evening buses?” Embarrassed and thinking what I can possibly answer to such a question, I noticed many occupants of the bus was from my previous organization. I might have missed out noticing one person but an entire bandwagon of known people was hard to miss. Was something wrong with me? Little did I know that surprise has only begun. As I stepped inside the bus further, in order to find a decent place to stand I saw my mother was sitting next to the driver with a smile on her face. “What the hell are you doing here?’’ was the only response I could muster after I saw my mother in my office bus, which is known for its strict rules to never let any relative board. She said with a sweet smile, “You come back every day alone and are usually tired to even eat. So, I came to take you with me.” Gratitude, love, and confusion knew no bounds for what I felt that time for my mother. However, the most interesting encounter was yet to unfold, as I noticed just beside my mother who was driving the bus. My household maid and cook! Yes, that’s who I saw. I almost gave a shriek and asked her what does she think she was doing? Again with a smile and yes, the humor was on me, she said, “This is my part-time business. Recently, I have ventured into driving buses as well. Since, your mother decided to come today to your office, I thought of driving her.” I woke up startled and realized that I have not slept through to hear my response to what my maid said. Neither did I saw whether I made it back home or not keeping in mind the many bizarre things that happened around. However, one thing was for sure, I had a smile on my face that was long gone due to a lot of stress and I was ready to face another day. |
AuthorA professional corporate writer, writing outside the box. Categories
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