the twilight zone

The power savers in the lobby and station zones are flashing in tandem with the lightning in the sky on this cloudy Saturday late morning. Why on earth do I have to come office, deeply dowsed and stinking with all that mud on my clothes.I did not have particularly cool start this season. Cursing and praising the rain with my double tongue, threw my topcoat on my colleague's chair. What a day to start with. Looked around for company and found none. This is really going to be a spoilt day for me.

Okies, let me call Ranjan, ..Yes..he is my friend for all seasons. He is my friend since school and despite he being from a orthodox Tamil family and me from typical Marwari family, we share great fellowship and everybody envies that. I finally got to hear some good NEWS, from him, on a otherwise bad day. He has just started from his home and will reach office in another half hour. We both live at the same residential colony and also planned to travel together to office this morning(late morning) in my car. Does it really seem that this plan going to work.No way. When was the last time that I planned something and really followed it. It must be a decade. My paternal uncle arrived from our town on some official work and he is staying at a hotel near to his office. My mommy insisted that he come to our home and have that day's lunch with us. My father was also home as it was a fourth Saturday of the month. As am the one who can never see grim on my mothers face, went to pick him up. Uncalled-for , all this shifted our office going program by 2 hrs delay. That is it. Ranjan wanted to join me later, after I finish all my obligations and duties.I was done with all my duties and started to office thinking that Ranjan would already be there at the office waiting for me. I finally landed in the office. So that's where it all started.

On this plain Saturday, even the coffee machine is on a dim mood and took leave! I was just thinking whether to start with the work or wait for Ranjan to arrive, so that we can plan to share our work and then move on from there. I thought of arranging some snacks and started walking to cafeteria. I am lucky this time. It is not closed and I bought some lays and a chocolate cookies pack. Enough till evening, I thought. I came inside the office, but by then the door was half open. Was it me or did Ranjan come to office. Had he come, he would have given me a call!! But he did not. Okay, it must be me who did not close the door properly, earlier when I used it.

Well, the fun has just started outside. I peeped through the glass window from the 8th floor, my working floor, into the world outside. Strange I could hardly see anything. It was complete blurred and foggy and the sky is as black as the black gold. It was as if the sky is overwhelmed with all the water on earth.The virtual Diwali of the lights in the office is still going on. And there was an abrupt darkness and calm in the office, except for the tiny ray of light, that is piercing through a window hole from one corner of the station zone.

My troubles just started to burgeon. Now even the computers stopped working. What the hell. Why did it had to happen now, to my surprise it is also the first time in our office history, that even computer stations stopped working when the power failed. So be it. What on earth am I supposed to do.I wanted to know where is Ranjan, still he has not come to the office. What on earth is happening today. Even my mobile is short of charge and the phone lines went dead. Nothing is going my way today. I could not stop cursing the LG guys. Why LG? Simple , the phone I happened to carry today is LG, not the regular beauty that I get,... still guessing what beauty am talking about....oh dear dear...it is The Nokia. Recently I bought a new phone and my dad wanted to check that one out. So we exchanged our mobiles just for a day. And as always its battery gave me "Dhoka".

Now , when is Ranjan going to come. Or is he not going to come at all.The rain seems to coming down like a meteorite shower with full force and this will naturally put down anybody's plan to venture out. I wish Ranjan could come so that he would get my ID card that I forgot in the restroom. Yes...I forgot my ID card in the toilet.No there is no way I can go out, unless or until somebody comes.Holy crap..that is it..I am done now. My eyes became almost wet. Tears are just 1 Milli micron from the exterior walls of my eyes to rush down my cheeks. Anyway, why on earth am I worried. I am not the one who hates loneliness. I actually cherish every moment of it.Those tears were just accidental,I presumed and traveled back to my desk to think about my next course of action. what...what ...what shall I do until some lucky man..never mind even if some lady comes to my rescue.... Nothing really struck my mind. An idea popped out of my mind.I never tried sleeping in office. Power is down due to heavy winds and rain. It is not hot due to cloudy climate.I slowly dropped into dreams.....aha...aa..ohhh...... ....

THUD....THUD>>THUD>>THUD. what the hell is happening. I woke up. Gone...all my dreams have become a distant dream and here am back in this ****ing world. I started wondering if Ranjan has arrived and if yes..why did he not wake me up.He checked here and there and there was nobody.Ranjan has not turned up and it seems he will not...until Monday morning(for regular office). That sound was a sudden cloud burst,nothing more. Gone, all my sleep is gone..how hard I try now ...cannot go back to sleep.So what's Next.

I always thought that am a great singer. Relax I meant bathroom singer. Why cannot I try that now, when no body is around and all of office is mine...simply mine. Am the king, am the emperor and am the prince of my kingdom now. so I started singing....gaathaaa rahe...mera dhil....thuhiiiiii meri...manjil.....kabhi...bhe^&$#*....do not remember the lyrics. Next song... chahena mujhe koi jhanglikahe......yahoo!! I waxed my project managers cube and jumped on to his seat...he he .....idiot!! he thinks he has all the power on this earth to do anything he desires.No he was not particularly rude to me at any moment. I did not give him that chance anytime. But none of my colleagues really like him. He is a chameleon and many are vexed with his attitude. Forget about him, in this stimulating moments when breezes of independence flowing over me,why think about him. So am on my way to become next Indian Idol...in my dream world.It is some thing like a "Alice in wonderland" world of mine....I always spends my free time in that world floating like a freshly plucked cotton from a mid summer cotton plant, slowly feeling the sense of my every dream( Yeah of course day dream)..ummm....cho sweet...I am loving it...the McDies way.

What shall I sing next. I wanted to be little romantic. Let me try out. It goes something like this ....woh lamhewoh bhaatein...koi na jhaane... beegesi raathe..barsaathe...woh beegi beegi yaadein......Not Bad. Not Bad?? Who on earth did say that? That voice sent jitters through my spine and scared the s*** out of me. I am not alone in this office. On a normal day, I would not believe in supra or super natural things. But today.....holy shit. I was running for cover. Scariest of all is it's a female voice. So it cannot be my Ranjan also. I was running all over the petal, trying to hide myself from the unknown. In all this, I heard a sudden burst of laughter from one corner of the zone, where there is a tiny space through which a ray light was protruding through it like a laser.

That was a phenomenon unfolding befor me...OH MY GOD. What am I seeing. My eyes went dead blank. A gal!!!!!! in the office. My mind started thinking...is she beautiful, how does she look like. who is she..do I know her. What was she thinking when I was singing. There was no stopping of her laugh. I did not know what to do. Can I go and talk to her and ask who she is and howcome she is here. Or is she from some other world working here to capture people from earth and capsule them to there world to use as specimens in there bio labs to test there bio weapons which they later going to use on our humans. I could not even see her face.

Her laugh was a euphony to my ears. Her face was half bent with her black and silky hair flowing over her face in a rhythm to the tune of her laugh. I have never seen more resplendent hair than this before. I just wanted to feel her hair ...once,just once before I die.May be you need a better person with good poetic sense to describe the beauty for her hair.My pulse was clocking new records. She is of reasonable height and well maintained body structure. Honestly, from the point where i am standing, I could not get really good view. But she must be a goddess of beauty. No questions can be asked!! I have decided to strike a conversation with her. No matter what. She was still laughing, slowly retiring. I went near her,holding my breath tight( Otherwise I would need 108). She raised her head a little. With every inch her head raising, I was moving faster and faster to get a glimpse of her aesthetics.

I saw her. I was awed. Never ever expected I would see goddess of beauty right here in my office. I thought such people existed only in Greek mythology. Myth came true. Where was she all these days. How fortunate am I to land in this office on this eventful day. Am I in my "Siva in wonderland". That means can I touch her. Can I get a feel of her beauty. Before I could extend my hand towards her, she extended her hand, thinking that I was trying to introduce myself. She said, " Hi! I am Hasini.". Hasini.Oh My.....god. Hasini. Okay okay...am back.Replied back. " Hi, I am Rohit". Now I was back to this world. It is all real. I still could not believe my luck. Is this all real. She saw me with a confused expression on her face. I asked her to be comfortable and she took her seat and asked me to do so. Her voice...so cute...it still reverberates in my mind. Hasini..Haaaaasiniiiiiiiii...I was always dreaming a gal with name Hasini and she entering into my life. Is she the one. Am I really going to be lucky....