Making an effort!

Over a period of two years my office bag had grown heavier. Usually my interaction with my beloved bag is restricted to me thrusting my hand inside to search for a specific item. My fingers encounter innumerable items (which i subconsciously ignore), between which lies hidden, the thing I am searching for.
Yesterday, I finally decided to check out what had made my bag heavier. When I emptied the contents of the bag on my bed, I was pleasantly surprised to see things that I had unknowingly been carrying with myself everyday. Here is a list of the items that I had no clue about. A packet of Eno, a lighter (I have quit smoking almost a year back), some bills (dating from 2006 to now), a strip of some medicine (I am still not able to place when and why I had bought this strip), lots of movie tickets, lots of Volvo bus receipts, three broken pens, an eraser (????), lot of mints (mentos, chlormint, mintofresh, etc), lots of posts (some of them not opened yet), lots of waste printouts (study material of things I know pretty well now), some polythene bags (???), a Sony phone charger (I am using a Samsung cell since two years), lots of keys (still figuring out where they fit), a lot of visiting cards (of unknown people, whom I have met and forgotten), two doctor prescriptions, lots of ATM machine receipts and my long lost office ID card.
I have disposed of most of the unwanted stuff from my bag. The bag is lighter now.

I wish it was as easy to get rid of the countless, unnecessary, unwanted stuff stored in the mind. Things that we carry inside ourselves unknowingly. Things that we don’t need any longer, but they are there, weighing us down. Cleansing of the mind is difficult indeed!!

Wishes

It is by far the worst day of my life (amongst the important days). I am late for the interview. It is raining heavily. I don’t have an umbrella, because my room partner was kind enough to take mine. That is another advantage of leaving early, earlier than your room partner. The breakfast I had was bad, because the maid was not in a good mood. Burnt toast and a runny omelet, yuck!! I couldn’t find my socks, so I am wearing a blue one on my left foot and black one on my right. I wish it goes unnoticed. I didnt have time to get my shoes polished. I wish it goes unnoticed too. The shirt I am wearing has a stain, which is not too noticeable. Its just a few drops of tea that I spilt, while reading the morning newspaper. I wish again that it goes unnoticed too.

Coming back to the rain, it’s heavier now. As if God knows that I am stepping out of the house. I have to make a dash for the bus stop. Ok..one ..two..three. I start off, like P.T.Usha (sorry, can’t remember any Indian male sprinter). But I am Indian after all. We can’t defeat sprinters from other nations, and this is rain. I am fully wet by the time I am halfway. I give up and stop running. What the hell. Maaf. I light my cigarette which is half wet. The feeling of the smoke going inside my lungs is wonderful in the rain. The cigarette is all wet by the time I take my third drag. All my certificates are safe in the polythene bag. Suddenly a car comes out of no where and splashes mud all over me. Groan!! I decide to shout some abuse at the car which is already speeding away, but then decide against it. I reach the bus stop and reach into my pocket for my handkerchief. Okay, I have forgotten my handkerchief too. Beautiful!

I kind of know that the bus is going to be late. It’s a bad day after all. So I smartly take a rick. As I am getting into it, I see the bus arriving. Smooth…I tear of a few pages from my notepad and wipe of the mud from my clothes. I also use some pages to dry myself. Now I have got small irritating pieces of paper sticking to my face and arms. I crib something about being late and ask the rick driver to quicken. He is an old man, but the rick is older. Our speed is barely30 kmph, and the wheezing sound of the rick is louder than that of an F1 car. I am being tossed and turned on every bump, but the old man is glued to his seat. Practice makes a man perfect. Incredibly, He doesn’t even move an inch. Somehow I feel that the intensity of the rain has reduced. I open a center fresh. The liquid core has leaked and the gum is tasteless without it. I lick the wrapper with the liquid on it and it feels good.

Finally we reach. I am late by twenty minutes. I pay the rick driver, who doesn’t have change. I don’t have time to fight. He gets twenty instead of twelve. It has stopped raining now. I look at my feet and smile. The soggy socks look alike now. The black unpolished shoes are stained with mud. I look at my shirt and smile. The tea stains are lost in between the patches of mud.

Always think before you wish!

p.s.: I got the job.