A fling with fate

I saw it in the mirror, I saw it in my face. That this was not going to be my day. The clocks had moved forward. I thought it was 8.45 but time had moved to 9.45. My cell phone was ringing. I sleepily picked up the call. An angry female voice greeted me at the other end. "The cab driver has been calling for the last 10 minutes. Are you coming or shall we move on?" It was that damn girl from the cab again. I had heartfelt empathy for her boy friend whoever he was . I said "You please proceed. I am working from home today"  and cut the phone. I was not keen on enriching my knowledge on what constituted responsible behavior. I hoped she would not call up again to educate me on the same.

 I congratulated myself on reading the signs well and staying out of harm's way by not going to office that day. After all fate had limited options to ruin your day at home. So thinking I went on to open the fridge to pick up my morning cereal and milk. The minute the fridge door opened, crimson fluid began to seep out and soon the whole kitchen floor was painted red. What kind of a nightmare was this! Then I realized.  It must be a nightmare only. Probably I had still not woken up. I had woken up from a dream which was still within another dream. If what I say sounds crazy, I suggest the reader to check out the movie 'Inception'. Now I had to find the 'kick' to get out of this dream.

But then when nothing like that happened for the next 5 minutes, I decided to investigate further. I soon located the source of this blood like liquid - a tetra pack of tomato juice. It had got soaked and had begun to leak. But where had the water come from? I noticed almost every item in the fridge was wet and soggy. Then I remembered my room mate mentioning something about defrosting. I had not paid much attention then. But I was paying dearly for that mistake now. Seemed like he had gone ahead and tried to defrost. I had heard of people becoming victims of frost bite. But I was probably the first victim of defrost bite. Hunger was biting into the inside of my guts and the only edible item that had survived the melt down  was the juicy Papaya I had picked up the previous day. I was thankful for the small mercies. I quickly retrieved the Papaya from the fridge and moved it to the hall table.

I decided to quickly freshen up and have a bath before cutting the Papaya. Nothing like a bath to clear the head. I definitely needed a clear head to handle a knife. I was sure water would have stopped in the bathroom or the drainage pipe would have got clogged.  I had faced both these situations before and walked in bravely into the bathroom ready for anything. But your opponent has no fun if you have begun to anticipate his every move.  So my foresight had probably stalemated fate and the bath turned out uneventful. Maybe my hard luck had ended. My lovely papaya was waiting to be cut. And then I should get on to my office work. Phew! What a day it had been.

With these pleasant thoughts I entered the hall after my bath. My mind was hardly prepared for the scene of terrible violence and mindless carnage that was awaiting me on the table. My dear papaya  had been the victim. Lying there on the table torn to shreds, it was hardly recognizable. I could not withhold my emotions seeing the fate of my Papaya. It was with a heavy heart that I went on to investigate the perpetrators of this dastardly crime. They had left in haste and had left behind their traces on the table and the floor - little footsteps. I followed the footsteps that lead towards the balcony - and there they were! The felons themselves - a pair of monkeys caught red handed. Orange handed in this case though for the papaya was nice and orange. But what is the use when there was no means to bring them to justice. I took the remains of the Papaya and flung it at them with full force giving vent to my emotions. They neatly dodged and scampered down the pipe. So there went my last scrap of food.

I decided probably fate was indicating a day of dieting for me. So thinking I at least decided to have some water. Nothing as refreshing as a glass of cold water when emotionally distraught. I was hoping the monkeys had done nothing to the water at least. Thankfully the water was still there. Pure and clear Kinley water, reflecting the color of the green vessel kept near the water dispenser. But then wait a minute! There was no green vessel near the dispenser. Then what was the green reflection I had been seeing for the past couple of days? A closer examination revealed that the source of greenery was not outside the dispenser but inside it. A thick layer of moss had got formed at the bottom of the dispenser. And we had been drinking water out of it all this while. From a practical stand point whatever would happen out of drinking such water should have already happened. So one glass more or less shouldn't make any difference. But then mind does not always work by logic. After seeing that moss, I could not have a drop more of that water!

In Hindi movies, they have a dialogue that the hands of law reach very far. I had now realized same can be said of fate. You can't escape fate even shut safe inside the 14th floor of an apartment. This fling with fate had made a stoic out of me. I had seen it in the mirror, I had see it in my face. But yet I had refused to accept and sought to escape. But now I had learnt my lesson. 

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