It's been a hard day's night, and I been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I'll find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright...
----Lines from a song of Beatles called "A hard days night".
Today when I got up in the morning, this song kept playing in my head. I don't know how it suddenly popped up in my head. But that doesn't deny one fact; I have experienced the same in last few days.
My alarm rings exactly at 5:45 in the morning and like a morning routine I shut it off and struggle to get out of bed. I sleep facing the window. Its still dark outside. It takes a huge will power to push myself out of bed, it's time for me to go for my daily swim. I open the door and see the door of Sonali and Rashmi still closed. Greed of sleeping little more over takes me and I climb into the bed thinking no one is going. Within 5 minutes a cute little head pop-ups over me. That's Rashmi, asking me to get up too. I drag myself out of bed and walk towards washbasin and start brushing. While brushing I think of the events that await me. The mailbox full of client mails telling us we are not working properly even though we work 12 hours a day, mails from colleagues who think poor jokes would make a person smile, mails from some stupid loan company in USA trying to sell loans to me in India! I look of out the window and see the sun coming out lazily too. Wish I could just go back to bed and sleep all through the day! Rashmi and Sonali are ready and I rush to keep up with them. By the time I am out of hostel I am happy that I got up. Swimming really refreshes me up for the day ahead. Get to meet people who are above 40 and still can win a race against me. This one-hour of swim is loads of fun and a little exercise too. In all a great start to a long and tiring day!
By the time I come out of swimming pool, sun is shinning and birds are chirping. The air is fresh and I feel I can take on the world and smile a little but when I think of the day ahead, my smile suddenly drops to a frown. The road to my office is full of dust and potholes. The traffic boils the blood and people don't stop honking even when they know no one is moving. Once I get back to the hostel, getting ready picks up speed. Not because I am eager to go to office, but because I am getting late. Some how manage to reach bus stop on time. I stand there to wait for bus and right ahead of me a small kid waits in front of me for money. He tries to make all sorts of faces, thinking I would feel bad and give him some money. But I just try to stop myself from laughing. Wonder where will he go if he is given a chance in our own Bollywood!!!
I can never miss my company bus. It's like a parrot, from deep jungles of Africa, who have suddenly found a place in Bombay. Its bright green, yellow and at some places orange too. Some windows don't have a glass pane and if there are then it wont close. Anyways, it provides safe means of transport to office for free, who am I to complain. Let people also enjoy the colors of life, what if it comes laden on a company bus.
As I enter the office, from a sleeper I turn fighter. Open my mailbox. Delete all the junk, read what is to be read and start the work. There are always last minutes changes, "Aaj hi jana hai" deliverables. The products, which went day before, came back with loads of changes along with a big bug sheet, with columns, which decides our salaries - " Bugs closed by team", "Bugs closed by reviewer". It's the matter of life and death while closing these bugs. I have lunch to fill up my stomach, rarely noticing how the food tastes. I rush back to my cubical and start the marathon race to finish everything before "EOD", which is the most frequently used word to say "End Of Day". Phones ring to tell me that I have missed something, while I try and change them; phone rings again to tell me leave it as it is. In between all this I have conference calls to attend to listen the client's complains, as if mails weren't enough. By the time the product is ready from my side its late evening and I have clearly missed my company bus back to hostel. I look out of the window near my seat for the first time of the day and look down at people rushing home. I feel sad at times, as I don't have home to go back to. No hot homemade food is waiting for me on the dinning table. The phone rings suddenly and I just feel like jumping out of the window. I try and answer the phone in normal tone but I clearly fail to do so. The person on the other hand say "Ohhhh...I guess we have missed one of the bug list" and I wonder what it is going to take for this day to end! I jump into work once again and try to finish off work in time to reach my hostel in time for the deadline.
By the time my day ends in office its 9 in the night. Work is done, though I know the next day I'll have a mail in my inbox from client with a big bug list attached. I am totally drained out and decide on taking an auto from office back to hostel. My mobile phone rings and I smile. It's a call from friends in hostel, who would be waiting for me for dinner. I am happy to leave office and go back to the hostel. Told them to keep food for me and not to wait.
The moment I reach the road, I feel like crying. The road is completely jammed. Nothing is moving! I just see in amazement. At 9:30 in the night, where do so many people come from? As if crowd on the road is not enough, people are hanging out of buses too. Forget taking the bus to hostel, its painful to even look at it. Can feel the pain of people who are crammed up inside it. What the hell...I start walking. Before I realize I have walked nearly half way. I stop and try and search for an auto. At last, I find one and try and relax since the day started. As soon as I relax, a big truck comes and stands next to my auto and blows all the black, polluted air it can gather into my auto. All I can do is curse the driver in every possible way! I reach hostel and when I look at the meter to pay the fare my heart skips a beat. Wished, I had taken that over-crowded bus. I pay the amount as fare, which would have got me a value meal in Mc Donald's. I try hard to look at the meter to see if it had been tampered with, but then decide what the heck. Maybe even this auto wala might have had a hard day. I decide to pay the fare and get out of the auto.
I cross the road, enter hostel and into my room. All my friends are chatting in my room and as soon as I enter their giggles and laughter greet me. Food is already there for me. Sonali and Rashmi got it for me. They sit around me, chat with me while I have my food. Rashmi is the first one to realize that there is no water to drink and Sonali is the first one to get up and get it for me. All of us talk about our day in office and I realize I am not alone. We laugh over silly matters and console each other on serious ones. Try to share some jokes, talk about movies and gossip about the other girls in our hostel. We try to forget about office and the tensions that come along with it.
Its 11 in the night and I realize I have hardly got time for myself. I force myself to read a book, but my eyes close. I decide its time to go to sleep. I switch off the lights and snuggle into my warm bed. It's a hard day ahead tomorrow. I close my eyes and feel happy to back to the place where I belong.
