Misadventures and Me

Two weeks back


One fine evening, a bird decided to make my head its target object of practice. Yes, you guessed right. The bird realised that its potty was my head!

It goes something like this. One sleepy evening, as I alighted from the bus, something landed on my head. Sigh. At precisely the second my foot hit the ground, the shit hit my head. I dismissed it as probably something else falling under the influence of gravity. But my wandering hand confirmed otherwise. Holy shit!
When I reached home, I washed it off, but didn't dry my hair quite well enough. That's how I caught the cold. After a week of trying to put my immunity to test, I reluctantly gave up and decided to cave into the miracles of medicine. And one such day, when I finally had the medicine, was drowsy and thinking of sleep-walking the rest of the day at office, I realise that work's knocking at my door. Since then, almost every day, I've had to stay back till 9 pm to do my work. Don't get me wrong. It's not the volume of work to do. Just that I can only do mine after 5:30 pm or so. Net result: spending almost 10-13 hours in office! Highly insane! I could go late to office daily; but that's a risk, given that the project is in a critical stage. And given my luck, I am sure that the day I decide to cool my heels, something will turn up to upset the smug plan. 


Last week


I thought that my tryst with bird droppings were only a one-off misfortune till the rest happened.

I lost one of my white gold earrings, last week. Work kept me late at office that night. I reached home and was washing my face, when I realised that my earring's gone. The next day, I came to office and got the cap (i.e. the piece you put from behind the ear) from the keyboard. I searched the entire area here; I even got the Facilities people to track who cleaned my cubicle premises. They apparently searched everywhere, including the disposal bins and they say they didn't find anything. I could have as well lost it on the way, or in the night cab that I took. And what's more, since it was white gold (it looks more like silver), people might not think it's valuable. If it was gold, it would atleast mustered attention. Sigh. So that's one loss to the list!

Come Friday night, and there's another story. The Awards for Excellence ceremony was to happen at the Mangala DC (the 2nd Infy office at Mangalore). I had work to do, and it could only begin late into the night. So I decide to attend the ceremony till I can begin my work. I was watching the live performance at the amphitheatre there. I was seated on the side railing. I was expecting a call/message to intimate me that I can begin my work. I had placed my mobile ON my bag. Halfway through the show, I forgot that it was on my bag. I instead, lift the bag, thinking it's inside.... and..... whatdya know?

The mobile falls down, and conveniently through the narrow gap, into the drain!

Just beneath where we were sitting was the gutter/drain, covered by concrete slabs and cemented in place. And when my phone fell, it fell right through the narrow gaps between the slabs! I go numb for a second. I stand up and keep peering down the drain, as if there's some treasure waiting to be unearthered. I am sure that gathered some fair amount of attention. Not knowing what to do, I ask the girl next to me if she has a torch. She had one on her mobile, and as I flashed the light down the drain, I see my own reflection.... on my mobile screen! Phew! It was not a wet drain, and hence not much damage had happened to the phone. But I don't know how to retrieve it. In my desperation, I run to a bhaiyya from Facilities, standing close by. He's seen me in action by then. Even before I could complete my request for help, he tells me, "Kam se kam ek hafta lagega... cement ko nikalna hai aur slab ko uthana hai..."

As this message telegraphically registers in my head, I'm already composing a eulogy to my 3-month old phone. I could already see it... my sister and mom going on the "look how careless she is"- mode, my colleague trying to contact me regarding work... I shake myself out of that reverie, and plead to that bhaiyya to take a look. His friend also comes along and tries inserting his hand in, to see if he can pick it. But he can't insert it further that his forearm. Desperate that I am, I suggest to him to get a ladle or tong or something from the Food Court, so that the phone can be scooped or picked from the drain. He gets a brainwave, goes and gets a rake, inserts it, picks it and.... voila! My phone lives to see another day! Barring a small, teeny-weeny scratch and a slightly bigger, not-so-teeny-weeny dent, my phone was unscathed. So thankfully, I didn't lose my phone; I only almost lost it.

And if you thought that was the end of it, there's one more. It was Saturday night, and my sister and I were going about the business of making dinner. I had to light the stove to make chapathis. As I turn the knob.... whatdya know?

The knob's in my hand! Yes, I managed to flex my muscles and rip that off! I immediately turned off the gas supply from the cylinder, and with whatever I could manage, I stopped the gas leak from that burner. So, now that burner is defunct. Have to get it repaired....

I am seriously trying hard to lose the losing streak here. Any tips?