It’s been a while but I still remember that cold February (I guess that was it) morning… I had just got up from a sleep so sound that I felt I could go on for ages (that is till afternoon!)… Working away… toiling hard in the corridors of knowledge... I turned in my bed to face the glorious sunrise… (Ah! How I miss those early mornings!).
Probably… it wasn’t so early coz the room was already abuzz with activity. Now I know what that thudding sound was!
There wasn’t any space ship landing… and forget the aliens who had come to rescue me from term end exams… it was my ‘conspirator’ rummaging away noisily in her cupboard! Alas another chocolate was on the way! (And to think you never shared any! Wait till I catch you red handed!)…The story goes that ‘conspirator’ gets chocolates every time that she conspires against me with ‘we know who’!
BOOOOOM…I jumped out of my skin…for a while I was paralyzed… she stood there with her hands up in the air (What good is that? I think I have gotten used to it anyways! So much for my peaceful morning!)… and then the ‘uncoordinated’ expressions were replaced with … a mutual sheepish grin. That happens often! Happy ending, eh? I thought so too…
As I forced my self out of bed…yeah you are right… smiling…I did a little stretch and was on my way to answer the call…(com’on you ought to guess the caller!)… the world was still wrapped by a cover of fog… the view spectacularly limited… nothing was visible beyond the corridor…as if the field ahead was miraculously erased (I think I was still hoping the arrival of those Martians!{or whatever you call the generous inhabitants of Mars!}), unaware of what lay ahead…
Enough for scenic appreciation, I thought. I headed in the direction of the ‘booth’ (you can guess what I am referring to)… Noooooo! Was I so late? Oh God how could this happen to me? There in front of my very eyes someone just entered the loo! How I wish I had not tried to trace those aliens! ‘I and only I can rescue myself from those exams and what about answering the call? Surely those aliens weren’t gonna invite me to their ship to help myself’… I was completely back to my senses now… waiting patiently for my turn… ah! Those moments sure felt like ages!
So… while I passed time… talking around to an old mate who was desperately trying to get rid of her sleepy eyes… splashing ice cold water on her face… I finally got my turn. I was just entering the room when… the ‘cursed’ thing was delivered. Unaware of what it enclosed, we thanked the bringer and sat down to acquaint ourselves with what the world was going through…it’s then that I was told…
I sat there with my copy of Times international, Vidu with Delhi times and…Sheikh with the main paper. ‘Guys! Seeeee…’ she screamed… I still think I saw a concealed smile on her face… ‘Bird Flu has unleashed terror all around! Chicken consumption may prove fatal.’ That was it… the eyes of this foodie swelled up…Heartbroken I rushed out of the room to have a few moments alone…
Days became weeks and weeks months. Mc Donald’s no longer meant Chicken Mc Grills! Those were replaced with Alu ti… don’t even make me say it! All this while my ‘conspirator’ smirked at my grief… well not that she had conspired this time… but eh no consoling? Only family and mates like Shreya shared the pain…
At last today’s a great day. Chicken at home? Yummmm… Ah! How long we had to wait for the taste of a single morsel!
It’s now as I was sitting munching away that I remembered some ol’ times. Great memories eh?
As I sit here typing away this extract, my mind is flooded with memories of a hundred more such incidents…
P.S. This is a piece of fiction… bits n pieces put together
P.S. Apologies if you don’t understand a few things… it might be unwarranted!
P.S. I am still waiting for my share of chocolates… I made the conspiracy a runaway success after all!
P.S. Thinking bout… those days…those times…n something else…
