It was a hell of a day! Whenever I put on the breaks, my bike would stall would not budge an inch from that spot again, the brakes were bloody jammed, I would be standing stupid in the middle of the traffic, gaping at others. The only thing saving my life was the condition of the highway-It was not really a bloody road; it was a fucking hole. After a glaring completion with the rest I would push the stupid thing with my legs to one side and kick at the breaks till they straighten.
Then it would happen again. I would go through the procedure once more. The poor bike can not be blamed, it is on its last legs, no, it is not that old, five years is not that old in this land. But I haven’t done any maintenance on the thing for the last three years. Surprised, well I am that sort of a guy, I believe in miracles, I think that the bike would obey me and run on its own whenever I want it to. And as hell would have it, it does. Why I don’t know.
I was damn pleased with the thing, for it had never failed me till this day. This was the first great hiccup. I was sorry for it. Yet it was still running smoothly, its engine was in good condition. The poor thing, I thought it looked at me in a rather abashed manner. I saw girls whiz past me at great speeds on their smart Kinetic Hondas. But I steeled myself to the ridicule. Passengers laughed at me from their high seats in the buses. But I was like a saint, immune to everything. Every time I had to push the thing to one side and release the breaks I thought about the tedium of human life and was content. This is just another instance of the absurdities that life holds.
Then I got to the office, things looked bleaker there, the girl who sits next to me is an inveterate talker, wouldn’t stop the useless effort if the world is going to fall down. She had already begun before I reached the seat. Every one else looked dazed and was immensely relieved when I came into their view and ran for a respite. Some were fanning themselves cool.
I put on my ear phones and played the music very loud into my ear because that was the only escape route, my ears have become deaf in the process, but at least it was music and I like music. Then there were other irritants, the boss calls and talks to me with her finger in the mouth. It is funny the way she does it, what for I could not yet guess. She is not young anymore and may have no such thoughts on her mind. I try not to smile, but the feeling somehow escapes through my eyes. She immediately detects it and withdraws her hand chastely. But then unconsciously it goes back into the mouth again and plays with her tongue and lips. May be she was thinking very hard! I had a bad time answering her questions. She gets very personal every now and then and that pisses me off, having this thing about personal life and privacy.
I struggled like this for the entire day at the office, alternately listening to music and talking to my boss when called, and that happens every twenty minutes. Don’t take me wrong; the boss calls every one into her cabin almost all day that is her way of having control.
I felt totally mauled after the fucking day at the office; imagine having to listen to the local FM station non stop for an entire day and having to witness the tricks of the boss’s finger as a side dish, no I did not get any work done, other than the most routine ones. And again in this land who is interested in doing something to make the system work, no one, sadly including me. I loath myself for it, but there are some things we could not do anything about. The work I do is practically useless in the sense that it has nothing to do with the people or their lives. Our department is like a monopoly guarding its trade secrets, but taking a muster only at the end of the month to pay good tax payers money out.
Things again worsened the moment I left the office. The bike was behaving badly. It required some drastic repairs. The brakes again jammed and the biker behind me veered away calling me something very bad. I was in no mood to let it go by then. I chased him down and told him to never think of using that trap which he uses for other enjoyable purposes on me again. His face became muddy and was becoming muddier still. Then I had to stay back and further enlighten him some more- That even if he was the top fucking goon in the locality I would whip him like he was a filthy bitch and he would have to take it lying down.
I left him standing there considering his options.
He was not as big as me but looked mean and could have put up a good fight. He would have been in the right too, it would have been a bloody mess if we had collided. I am sure that I would have reacted similarly in a situation like that. Any way he did not chase me.
The things were not improving at all. None of the fucking shops would have my brand of cigarettes and at the last stop I had to be satisfied with a pack containing seven measly cigarettes. There were other events too….. I was still blazing when I took off from there. Every thing went into slow motion then. The bike behaved sweetly, the day looked all red and quivering. I arrived at my house still crackling all over from anger.
Then there she was, at the door, smiling trustfully and demurely into my eyes. My anger went, I became human again.
After that the nature took over, thunder raged and a terrible whirlwind uprooted trees all over the territory. There has been nothing like it for a long time in the area. Power went and rain crashed over our roof, one or two giant thunder claps sent jitters into our house and into my poor girl. She had her hands over her ears and pleaded with me.
“Why are you angry? Tell them to stop.”
For, I had jokingly told her sometime when we were newly married that the elements of nature would always reflect my current moods- I being one with nature! She feigns as if she believes in it and would come up with such requests when nature starts to go wild.
Like always I ordered the elements to subside -and they wouldn’t.
“You try “I told her “You do control me, don’t you, why wouldn’t the nature obey you?”
Then she said to nature:
“Stop it, don’t do this.”
And miraculously the storm ceased.
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