it was 13th of October. Repeat.. 13th of October. a Monday. I was assigned first shift at the office which means waking up when half of the public were under their blankets.
5:15 am.
the day started in the most unnatural way. I woke myself up with zero external help @ 5.15 am!! A record of sorts. . Aravi, another first shift veteren, quite prophetically said “it is certainly going to be an altogether different day today”.
Rome was not built on a day and so was this incredible achievement. It took me a week long braintoning to achieve this incredible feat. On any other normal day, it would be my mobile SE K790I which wakes me up. Sinkari melam, my alarm tone starts its day by buzzing @ 5.30am. and religiously goes by its chore for the next 1 hr. it is only then I make up my mind whether or not to get up . Singarimelam,a keralaean traditional symphony, is a very lively and heavy tone to wake upto. This alarm tone was suggested to me by aravi. He thought the combo tone with his ear deafening sound can wake even a dead from his grave. From the experience I had with it, aravi as ever wasnt wrong.
But all was not well with the mob in the last couple of weeks. it wasn’t really at the pink of its health and had even gone completely dead for a week. Its behaviour had turned highly volatile and the comfort levels I enjoyed with it were hitting new lows. and on most days, Singarimelam my wake up mantra was silent too. The performance decline of the mob had very adverse effects on my attendance logins also. I was so accustomed to the tone, that it was almost impossible for any other tone to wake me up. even the so called powerful attendance swipe in system @ my office had started assuming that I am a regular in gen. shift!!
Rome was not built on a day and so was this incredible achievement. It took me a week long braintoning to achieve this incredible feat. On any other normal day, it would be my mobile SE K790I which wakes me up. Sinkari melam, my alarm tone starts its day by buzzing @ 5.30am. and religiously goes by its chore for the next 1 hr. it is only then I make up my mind whether or not to get up . Singarimelam,a keralaean traditional symphony, is a very lively and heavy tone to wake upto. This alarm tone was suggested to me by aravi. He thought the combo tone with his ear deafening sound can wake even a dead from his grave. From the experience I had with it, aravi as ever wasnt wrong.
But all was not well with the mob in the last couple of weeks. it wasn’t really at the pink of its health and had even gone completely dead for a week. Its behaviour had turned highly volatile and the comfort levels I enjoyed with it were hitting new lows. and on most days, Singarimelam my wake up mantra was silent too. The performance decline of the mob had very adverse effects on my attendance logins also. I was so accustomed to the tone, that it was almost impossible for any other tone to wake me up. even the so called powerful attendance swipe in system @ my office had started assuming that I am a regular in gen. shift!!
5:30 am
after 2 weeks of no response and some serious repairs, the lights on the screen returned. The two weeks of my mobs sabbatical made me loose some of the “without-u-i-cant-live” kinda relationship I had with the mob. and as was before sharp @ 5:30 my mob now recuperating itself from a serious repairing overhaul, sung the sinkarimelam to me. i was in the loo and the sound made my life tre even more pleasurable. on my return I played the tone again and was happy on seeing my mob live in action. Everything looked extremely pleasant.
i dashed to the office and after quite wide login shuffles the previous week, logged @ 7:15am (late by only 15 mins)
8:30am, outside the office
At the tapri outside my office, I had just got my teeth off from the vada paav. Sachin was sitting next to me. Suddenly a lightning went through my head. My mobile?? The mob was not with me there. Peace followed, it would be there on my desk. After some quick bites, I was back at my desk and now it was the time of further jolt. It wasn’t there.Quite obviously peace surfaced again, where else can it be other than on my cosy cot at home. And this was not the first time that I had faced this loss phenomenon. But still inside in, I was getting a bit uncomfortable. A sense of loss was sinking slowly on my mind. I left it as more serious work made me occupied for the rest of the morning.
At the tapri outside my office, I had just got my teeth off from the vada paav. Sachin was sitting next to me. Suddenly a lightning went through my head. My mobile?? The mob was not with me there. Peace followed, it would be there on my desk. After some quick bites, I was back at my desk and now it was the time of further jolt. It wasn’t there.Quite obviously peace surfaced again, where else can it be other than on my cosy cot at home. And this was not the first time that I had faced this loss phenomenon. But still inside in, I was getting a bit uncomfortable. A sense of loss was sinking slowly on my mind. I left it as more serious work made me occupied for the rest of the morning.
2:30 pm,outside the office
it was afternoon. It was lunch time and I was again at the same tapri. Prasad was my companion now. Today is the day when we will be given our appraisal letters. Our report card for the year’s performance. Prasad asked me about my expectations. With the economic gloom in US, I said I don’t expect much this time and would hail myself extremely lucky if I get somewhere around the officially announced avge pay hike. Prasad was upbeat and said I can blindly get lot more than that. When I returned the question to him, as always expectations of his appraisals were well above to what I cud even think. The appraisal letters were ready and my boss called me into the cubicle and handed over the letter to me. On my first glance through the document I was literally shocked, was completely taken off the ground. I was handed over what you can call an over-the-top (as per my expectations) pay hike. The one even in my best of dreams I never dared to think.
I was on cloud nine, truly ecstatic and thanked god that at last after a month long carnival of setbacks something great had come my way. I was turning highly philosophical and thought how rite it is to believe that there is light always at the end of the tunnel. All through my journey back home I was constantly pushing my heart to the extreme ends of happiness. I had a very long walk through the various bylanes, I polished my shoes at the hands of the 3rd cobbler each one separated by atleast a km, bought an anniversary issue of outlook, and reached home late. I was every bit tired but very very happy.
it was afternoon. It was lunch time and I was again at the same tapri. Prasad was my companion now. Today is the day when we will be given our appraisal letters. Our report card for the year’s performance. Prasad asked me about my expectations. With the economic gloom in US, I said I don’t expect much this time and would hail myself extremely lucky if I get somewhere around the officially announced avge pay hike. Prasad was upbeat and said I can blindly get lot more than that. When I returned the question to him, as always expectations of his appraisals were well above to what I cud even think. The appraisal letters were ready and my boss called me into the cubicle and handed over the letter to me. On my first glance through the document I was literally shocked, was completely taken off the ground. I was handed over what you can call an over-the-top (as per my expectations) pay hike. The one even in my best of dreams I never dared to think.
I was on cloud nine, truly ecstatic and thanked god that at last after a month long carnival of setbacks something great had come my way. I was turning highly philosophical and thought how rite it is to believe that there is light always at the end of the tunnel. All through my journey back home I was constantly pushing my heart to the extreme ends of happiness. I had a very long walk through the various bylanes, I polished my shoes at the hands of the 3rd cobbler each one separated by atleast a km, bought an anniversary issue of outlook, and reached home late. I was every bit tired but very very happy.
7:30 pm @home
I shared the hike news with aravi and said world over believes 13 is a bad day, but not anymore for me. Aravi supported me saying it was foolish to go behind superstitions and said he joined tata motors on 13th. Some trivia also encouraged me to think more in that direction. Varghese kurien, the milkman of India, author of the latest book I am reading, started his career @ anand on 13th. Sikhs consider 13 as the most ominous number in their religion. Outlook also had a spl essay on the no.13 by renowned rationalist sanal edamurukku justifying the unnecessary importance given to the otherwise ordinary 13. So the shared bottom line with all the inputs was that it’s all bloody superstition to blindly go by the fear of 13.
Aravi meanwhile started calculating the net in hand salary I would draw from now on. And I went on remembering mom and thought of conveying the rather surprising hike to her. I went on looking for my mob, it has been without me for the whole day. I went to the extremes of my bed where I normally keep it. It wasn’t there. Panic slowly crept in. Aravi started dialing my no. and it replied quite pleasantly that it’s out of coverage area. GOD DAMNIT!!. I slowly started to get into the grip of the problem. I realized that am loosing something of my prized possession. The first buy from my first salary. It was a true state of the art gizmo. It had the distinction of spending the most time with me for the last 2 yrs. it was my sleep buster, my image catcher, my connection to the world, it was kinda signature of mine to the world. Half an hour into the search made it a foregone conclusion that someone else is now playing with the keys of my mob. The no.13 was slowly coming back into my senses. I corrected myself that it was impossible to have a large majority to be wrong on a belief. There was essentially something strange about 13. Signs of Triskaidekaphobia Surfaced on me.
Aravis mob helped me reach mom and I said the whole episode of the day to her. She knew how I was close to the mob and said there is always equilibrium at every juncture in our life. For the success of ones life this equilibrium is highly needed. The hike news as expected made her a bit shaky and asked me “da just check whether it’s your name itself on the appraisal letter” I smiled gently at the spontaneous humor delivered by mom. Then suddenly I saw the ghost of 13 in front of my eyes,I turned sober and crosschecked my name in the appraisal letter. Thank god it was me there. Mom on a parting note said u had been very fortunate to be at the extremes of emotions on the very same day. a kind of leveler at the end.
I shared the hike news with aravi and said world over believes 13 is a bad day, but not anymore for me. Aravi supported me saying it was foolish to go behind superstitions and said he joined tata motors on 13th. Some trivia also encouraged me to think more in that direction. Varghese kurien, the milkman of India, author of the latest book I am reading, started his career @ anand on 13th. Sikhs consider 13 as the most ominous number in their religion. Outlook also had a spl essay on the no.13 by renowned rationalist sanal edamurukku justifying the unnecessary importance given to the otherwise ordinary 13. So the shared bottom line with all the inputs was that it’s all bloody superstition to blindly go by the fear of 13.
Aravi meanwhile started calculating the net in hand salary I would draw from now on. And I went on remembering mom and thought of conveying the rather surprising hike to her. I went on looking for my mob, it has been without me for the whole day. I went to the extremes of my bed where I normally keep it. It wasn’t there. Panic slowly crept in. Aravi started dialing my no. and it replied quite pleasantly that it’s out of coverage area. GOD DAMNIT!!. I slowly started to get into the grip of the problem. I realized that am loosing something of my prized possession. The first buy from my first salary. It was a true state of the art gizmo. It had the distinction of spending the most time with me for the last 2 yrs. it was my sleep buster, my image catcher, my connection to the world, it was kinda signature of mine to the world. Half an hour into the search made it a foregone conclusion that someone else is now playing with the keys of my mob. The no.13 was slowly coming back into my senses. I corrected myself that it was impossible to have a large majority to be wrong on a belief. There was essentially something strange about 13. Signs of Triskaidekaphobia Surfaced on me.
Aravis mob helped me reach mom and I said the whole episode of the day to her. She knew how I was close to the mob and said there is always equilibrium at every juncture in our life. For the success of ones life this equilibrium is highly needed. The hike news as expected made her a bit shaky and asked me “da just check whether it’s your name itself on the appraisal letter” I smiled gently at the spontaneous humor delivered by mom. Then suddenly I saw the ghost of 13 in front of my eyes,I turned sober and crosschecked my name in the appraisal letter. Thank god it was me there. Mom on a parting note said u had been very fortunate to be at the extremes of emotions on the very same day. a kind of leveler at the end.
11.59 pm
Fortunately 13 didn’t suck me anymore on the day.
P.S. After a week of my mob.Loss, I went through its bill, warranty cards and all. I calculated the life span of the mob at my hand and it came out to be 652 days, which added out to wat else the dreaded 13!!
P.S. After a week of my mob.Loss, I went through its bill, warranty cards and all. I calculated the life span of the mob at my hand and it came out to be 652 days, which added out to wat else the dreaded 13!!
