The 12 hour Ordeal

8.00 pm


'The story revolves around a dying father and his son, who is trying to learn more about his dad by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. The son winds up re-creating his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and his great failings..', Jini read out loud from the internet.
Just then Monty, my cousin from Dehradun, clad in loose fit Tees and long sporty shorts, came and sat besides me. He wore a Nike band around his wrists and was looking like a mini Rafael Nadal. Way too trendy for a 15 year old I tell you.

'No shit.I ain't watching nothing but horror, alright?'

I lay on the bed adjacent to the computer. I had been yawning incessantly whereas people were getting excited at the idea of ordering a DVD. I was just too tired to get excited i guess.

'Oh cmon. English horror scares nobody. You remember Dead Mary, don't you? We had as much fun watchin it as a one legged man would have at a butt-smacking party!', Jini retorted back. Her face wore a naughty grin at the apparent smart-ass comment.

I admit Dead Mary had to be one of the lamest movies I had ever seen. It was about these 6-7 teenagers who travel together to a cottage nearby a lake to spend the weekend. Obviously it had some busty, hot blondes or I wouldn't have ordered it. Anyways, they end up playing this insanely retarded game called 'Dead Mary' which causes one of them to be possessed or something. Then they get slaughtered one after the other. Thats about all I can recollect.
Anyhow forseeing a debate getting underway, I quietly took my pillow and helped myself to the the adjacent room.



Earlier that day,
7.00 am

'Baby, I gotta deliver this today', I said. My voice was shaking. I was holding a legal document in my right hand. 'If I don't, Marsellus Wallace gonna fuck us both.'

'I love you baby'

'Yeah, I love you too baby, but this is not the time!'


'There he is, shoooot!'
The cops had zeroed in on me.


BANG!
BANG!





The next instant, I was in bed , still trying to feel the shot from the Smith and Wesson handgun. I had, in the language of counter strike buffs, been headshotted point-blank in the middle. I wonder what happened to my baby after I conked out. Man. She was so bloody HOT.

'Uff, 7 already?', I thought, as I tardily dragged myself into the washroom.

By 7.30, I was all set to leave for another day at Whirlpool.

11.30 am
Whirlpool Of India Limited.

Kuch khane chale?', I heard Mayank as he ambled towards my cubicle.
I had been facebooking/orkutting/blogging since morning and had been on just a glass of milk, so was a bit hungry myself.

'Haan theek hai. Khattri se bhi pooch lete hain.'

However Siddharth had to supervise the manufacturing of a machine, so he asked us to go ahead without him. So Mayank and I went to this clumsy little dhaba a few km from the plant. I would have surely told you its name, if there would have been one. Anyhow, we gorged on some double egg-butter-bread which satiated our tummys atleast till lunch. We returned soon after and it was facebooking/orkutting/blogging, once again for me.




1.20 pm

'Chal Sagar, its time.'

I closed all windows adeptly. It was lunch. Well actually lunch was from 1-1.30, but everyone preffered to reach there not before 1.30. They would get a longer break this way.

'Ahha shahi paneer today', Khattri read out the food card for the day as we all sat down to eat after a hard day's work!





4 pm
PDC main cell.

It was usually around this time that the staff got fiercely active. Actually Mr. Bhatia conducted a meeting at 5 everyday, without fail. He would ask each one of us as to what we did the entire day. As a result the office would go up in a cacophony around this time. People used to scamper to get details, by hook or by crook. Thanks to the innumerous frauds at iit, we had adapted pretty well to this culture.

'Sir and PE sleeve wale project mein kya chal raha hai?', as I caught hold of Sunil Sir who seemed to be running around hastily.

Mr. Sunil was the senior engineer at Whirlpool and was probably one guy who had impressed me the most. There was just this air of carelessness about him and yet, he somehow managed to wind up all his work before deadlines.
'We have picked up the samples from the line. Tension mat le. Now it just needs to be handed over to the quality control department for testing.'

I memorised each and every word. This was the way we usually did our projects.




5 pm
PDC conference room.

The meeting was underway. Everyone was present. Mr. Bhatia threw some volleys at Mr. Shreekant first. Shreekant was responsible for the cooling projects going on in the company.

'If YOU can't do it, then give it to ME. I'll do it for you. This way I'll atleast be able say SOMETHING in the inter-department meetings!'

'Sir the testing report has come from Pune today only. We'll start working on it as soon as possible ..'

'Ahh. Whatever. Please see to it that you complete it today before leaving.'

I was next.

'Yes Sagar?'

'Sir I have picked up the samples from the line today. Now it needs to be handed over to the quality control department for testing.'

'Hmm. Ok. And who was dealing with the evaporators?'


The meeting went on till 6pm.

It was time to hit the road finally.





6.30 pm
Badarpur border.

♫ ("Ek ucha Lamba Kad,
Duja soni vi tu had.
Teeja roop tera cham cham karda ni")♫

(Katrina Kaif = wow!)
There are very few things in this world which are close to being called as universal truths. I guess even Einstein would have found her hot! I was sick and tired of the song though, was hearing it for the zillionth time.
FM sucks. The RJs, even more. Try listening to the Battle of the Sexes at 7.30 in the morning on 93.5-'Bajate Raho', and you'll know what I mean. And yes, I go to office THAT early. Thank you.

My car was swivelling amidst the erratic traffic on NH-2. It was particularly challenging considering the roads were packed with trucks on the right lane and bullock carts/tractors on the left. The fastest I managed was around 40 kmph- that too with a fair amount of risk!
People who know me would be familiar with the kind of risks I am talking about here!





7.00 pm
Home.

Honey, I am home- So not the way I usually returned.

The house was empty as usual. I gulped down my evening shake and hit the sack, in the same breath. It was time for FRIENDS. 'Hmm..Episode -412- The One With The Embryos!', I recalled.




7.45 pm
My room.

Jini and Monty returned after their tennis sessions.
'Monty was like all over today', as Jini threw her racquet and unwinded on the computer chair next to me.' Not even a single half a decent serve!'

'It was my shoe.. my feet were hurting.'

'Yeah whatever. Achcha bhai you've seen 28 Weeks Later right? The DVD?'

'Yup.'

'Chalo good. Then I'm ordering another movie..Umm..but which one should I order?' She logged onto imdb, moviemart etc and started checking out some new releases.

'Hey bhai have you've seen this one? Big Fish? Its been given an 8 and got a decent caste too.'

I kept mum.

'Wait. Lemme tell you the plot briefly... The story revolves around a dying father and his son, who is trying to learn more about his dad by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. The son winds up re-creating his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and his great failings..'