Ten bucks

"How much more do we have left?",he asks.
"10 bucks."
"Well, u keep it then."
"No, what will I do with it? Let's finish it off."

These coupons are valid only for one day. I looked around frantically trying to find out something worth 10 bucks. Maybe its the increased cost of living these days, but there was nothing much for 10 bucks. I was almost going to give up when my eyes fell on the packaged food stall. Bingo. Haldiram's Moong dal. "I like moong dal very much and its exactly 10 bucks", I blurt out like as if I was Columbus and I had just discovered America. "Okay then. I'll get it.", he blurts equally well. Of all the things that had to go wrong, the packet refused to open. It was no use trying to open it and it was getting late. So he asked me to keep it. He searches around for his cycle like it was a needle in a haystack. I was terribly amused at the amnesia he suffered but tried to control myself lest he should feel any more embarassed than he already was. After a long hunt, he succeeded in finding his cycle. Then, fiddled with the lock for some more time. After what seemed to be an eternity, we climbed on board our respective cycles, rode side by side for some time and then went our separate ways. I looked at the moong dal packet and wondered why it refused to open. Feeling bad about not having said a proper goodbye I decided to send a text message- "Thanks for the company." and as always.. no reply.

In my shoes

Zoom.. I practically fly on my cycle. It is not so surprising taking my weight.. er.. weightlessness into account. I like it when my cycle tyre is filled with air. The weather is just right but I will have to spend the next one hour attending a lecture. I try to drive this thought out of my head and concentrate on my cycling. If this road was never ending or the class cancelled for some reason, I would have cycled on and on. But alas, nice things like this never happen.

I park my cycle and take the usual path to the classroom. I enter the same old class mechanically with questions in my head and unlike most of the time I have answers too. Why am I here? Oh yes, attendance. What do I get from this class ? Oh yes, knowledge that is supposed to be useful for my future profession. Why do people make boring things seem interesting and make a mess out of it? I guess that is what they are supposed to do for a living. More mechanically than ever, I take my seat as usual in the first bench. I seem to have arrived earlier than usual. There are not many people around. There is a drastic increase in the sensible people who decided to bunk class.

I have no idea when the class began because I was lost in another notebook. It was when my neighbours started writing frantically in their notebooks that I realized that the class had officially started. In a vain attempt to make a new beginning, I started writing notes which were better off not written in the first place, taking my handwriting and negligible enthusiasm into consideration.

I am not very sure what the topic exactly was but it was not in the least interesting. You must keep in mind that I am talking for the normal people of the class excluding nerds for obvious reasons. Anyway, class went on as usual. A few minutes into the lecture and I realized that I had not worn my watch. That was hard to digest because I will not be able to know when the torture will end. There is nothing much to do now, is there? No watch to stare at, ticking, second by second, nobody to talk to as the others seemed to actually listen to the lecture and no electronic gadget to kill your time. Imagine my situation.

The professor seemed to be talking more than usual today. I also noticed that he was walking in a wobbly manner, but then again, it might have been the effect of drowsiness in my eyes. "How much more of this left?", I asked my neighbour, who experienced a lot of difficulty in taking her mind off the class. She did reply however, "25 minutes." Gulp. The information is being processed. Twenty five minutes is a lot of time when it comes to classes like this. I felt the powerful urge to make a dash for it. Even though I am almost invisible, the finite strength of the class would make it amply conspicuous if I dared to do anything as silly as that. Moreover, the attendance sheet had not reached me. So I had no choice but to wait and keep waiting.

I am not very sure what happened between then and now but I am guessing that I dozed off or listened to the lecture for want of nothing else to do. Well, I got out of the class after it got over and walked mechanically to the cycle stand. I was back to my own self. I hopped on board my cycle and zoom..