Tempest

Friday, 19 January 2007

When 'Wind' comes a 'Knocking'...

Tug. Pull. Push. Drag. Thud. Groan.
Left...Right...no left. Why am I moving left when I want to go right? Drag.
Stop it.
no NO.
I don't want to go in that direction.
You BRUTE!
Yes I speak to the wind. No rather shout, curse and fight with all my might. If it was a person in my mind it would be a 6’7” tall, hefty guy with a gruff voice who is just knocking you around simply because
1) either he enjoys it,
2) has nothing to do or
3) because he is a bullying brute!

But, sometimes rarely when he is in a highly benevolent mood he gives you a propelling push in the direction you are moving in (this is rare but I mentioned it because I am a fair person). And sometimes when he is in too generous a mood he propels you in your desired direction so hard you wonder what hit you. Thud. This time it was the road. And in a puddle at that. Drenched, dripping wet and bruised. This is the only time when you are thankful about not having bought that sexy Swede coat! That is how I arrived at my ‘oh so posh’ and sophisticated office which is always adorned with damsels in silk stockings and boots. Feeling drab is one thing (you are a poor international student and you pacify yourself by saying you’ll make it up by buying yourself a shop and a spa 10 years down the line), but feeling drab and drenched at the same time while soiling the office ‘matt’ flooring is quite another.

Thus I started my day a little annoyed, feeling a tad bit sorry for myself. I hate feeling like a push-over and the wind does just that to me! Grrr! Maybe I should buy a raincoat (nay no money to waste), maybe I should complain to dad about the brute (but then he’d just tell me to deal with it as usual, “fend for yourself” he’d say in a baritone), maybe I should pray to the wind God…

Tring Tring
“Hello”
“I can’t….there’s a gaping hole…puff….pant…it just droped….I…”
“Yabba?....you ok? What’s happening?”
“ My door….huff….its terrible….he barged in…pant….tell her I’ll come…late….but I’ll..puff….make it”
Now I was scared. My highly imaginative mind had already imagined a very colourful attack on my colleague by a fugitive.
“Relax. Tell me what happened. Who barged? You want me to call the police?” (Blimey whats the number for the cops in this country?? I know the one for the US and India…)
“No cops…I can’t….you are not going to BELIVE this!”
“What?” (Now I was getting a bit impatient).
“Ha ha…sob…sob….gasp….my door! The moment I opened it today it blew off its hinges! It came out in my hands and I almost flew with it! There is a hole in my house!”
‘More like an open doorway’ I thought.

So we talked, more like she ranted and sobbed and raved and I spoke in a monotone for 15 minutes using the words ‘listen to me’ and ‘calm down’ with increasing frequency.

Finally we agreed on a plan of action wherein I’d cover for her when the boss asks and she would Call the carpenters, call the insurance company, call her mom (we fought about that one…she tried to con me into doing it, but after today mornings incident I wasn’t going to be pushed around! No actually I said no because her mom would think something had happened to her….I mean am not that callous!), pay the bills, take some pills to keep calm (she’s not a drug addict, just traumatic!) and then come to work.

The rest of the day was just like any other normal day (though I did remain damp for most of it….not a nice feeling!) Ha ha ha….I laughed at regular intervals in the tube (people were staring at me but I think that was because they were jealous). It was there in the tube, on the way back that I realised I’d truly moved away from home. The wind havoc was actually nothing. I mean I am an army officer’s kid and we have seen much worse. Leaking roofs (as in downpour in the house), flooded rooms (knee deep with earthworms in the rainy season….yuck!), so on and so forth. But then every time these things had happened you never had to worry about how to fix the roof or how to drain the house. You just had to put up with the discomfort/inconvenience, laugh about it and take it as an adventure. But now, suddenly tomorrow if my door comes off its hinges I’ll have to think of the entire How’s and where’s and still continue to smile through it and take it as an adventure. They are the small things in life but my parents did them so well and I never realised it.

Kudus to Yabba.
A salute to Mom and Dad.
‘Whatever’ to the wind.

A hope that I will be able to live up to situations in the same way.

Posted by Pavitra :: 05:37 :: 10 comments