Days like this...

It was one of those days...To begin with, I overslept after a night of nightmares. Worse- there was no hubby to reassure me as he had left for the Gym already. I had missed yet another of my morning jogs that day. On top of it, the power went out early and I had to boil water on the gas in order to take a bath. Curse these MSEB valas, why can't they follow a schedule for load shedding - can't they even do this right?

And so it continued throughout the day. Received an angry mail from a friend and some not-so-complimentary mails from colleagues. Had a spat with the boss in the morning that left me feeling even worse. You would think that after serving 3.5 years in this organization, I would be treated with more respect. How ungrateful and ruthless these higher-ups are...

One of my colleagues inquired (with relish, I felt) - "What happened? You look like something the cat dragged in." How I hate it when people know exactly when I am not feeling my best? "Oh, why can't I be like those disgustingly cheerful and stoic faces that reflect good cheer even when they are dying inside?" I groaned for the umpteenth time.

By now you must have got the drift. Absolutely nothing was going right. It was enough to send one deep into the doldrums. A meeting got rescheduled and the venue was changed to our other building. Now I had to walk all the way there and meet more people who would comment on my ill-health. The prospect did not fill me with joy.

I gritted my teeth and walked to the other building. For some reason, even though the premises are excellent, there is something wrong with the algorithm for the 4 elevators in that building. No matter what time you go there or to which floor, it always takes at least 5 min waiting to get an elevator to fetch you. Showing the first signs of patience, I waited for one of the elevators to deliver me to yet another hell.

Soon one came. The doors opened and our liftman flashed his usual colgate smile in welcome. Since I was feeling far from smiling myself, I just nodded. I did realise that I had probably hurt him by not reciprocating, but I was not feeling very charitable just then. My misfortune continued as the elevator stopped at each floor to receive or deliver more people. I resolutely kept my face averted to discourage any chit-chat. As we reached my floor and the doors opened, I hurried out. I heard a small voice calling out - "Madam". I turned. It was the liftman. From inside his shirt, he pulled out an envelope. He handed it to me. I looked at him questioningly. "My daughter is getting married, madam. Please grace her wedding with your presence, I'd be much honored!" I was speechless. Belatedly, I realised that the elevator doors were still open. I hastily congratulated him - had to search my limited Marathi vocabulary for the word for Congratulations. And then I did something that I hadn't done all day - I SMILED :)

The man in the elevator, who perhaps had a limited number of wedding invitation cards, had actually thought me worthwhile enough to share one with me! It really warmed the cockles of my cold heart.

Needless to say, no one commented on my morose looks for the remainder of the day :)