The last day of the year 2008 finally arrives. Now this day is supposed to be the day of celebrations, making merry and having lots of fun. Rather unexpectedly, this day also turned out to be the day when the heating of your apartment breaks down while the mercury is expected to drop to -11!!
I woke up very early in the morning when my roommate was readying himself to go out on a skiing trip. He was all dressed up in heavy attire to brave the elements. I looked at him and thought to myself-why am I not dressed all like that as it is freaking cold in here?!! In the meantime as I my conscious self put away its blanket of sleep,I realized that I am inside my house and not in an Icelandic glacier trying to ski across its flat plain, then why the hell was I feeling cold??
“It’s so cold...” I just begin my sentence as I got up.
“The heater stopped working last night” my roommate answered the question for me even before I could finish my question.
“Whatttt..??” I exclaimed absolutely flabbergasted at the timing of this calamity!! It was as I said before, the last day of the year. It was supposed to be the day of joy and happiness. The day to recap about all the good things that happened in the year 2008. The only thing that I was recapping now was the fact that I landed in a country where it’s freezing cold and the temperature drops down to sub-zero and sometimes when you just require it the most-the heater blows out!!
“OK, don’t panic” I said to myself. The reason that I was the most worried person in the whole house was because both my roommate were going out for the day so fortunately for them, this thing was of no worry. I tried playing a bit with the thermostat, put it on and off a few times but nothing seemed to work. The office opened only at 9 in the morning so the only thing that I could do till then was to pity myself and get all the warm clothes out!!
I settled back inside my blanket and it felt really cold. Just then I had this real bright idea springing into my mind. I had a sleeping bag with me, why was I worrying so much!! I quickly slipped inside the narrow environs of my sleeping bag and in no time it was as comfortable as a Joey in its mother’s pouch!! I actually got a wee bit more comfortable and overslept and woke up a 12 in the noon. A time by which the whole thing was supposed to be back all in order.
My other roommate was up by then too and he had some other bad news in store for me.
“The wash basin is clogged with junk” he said as he got ready to move out on his trip “you might as well brush in the tub!!”
Now doesn’t the New Year come with its fair share of surprises!! We quickly flipped through the bills to find the telephone number of the office. There was no way that they were going to respond to this situation this quick and the fact that It was the last day of the work for them it was even more difficult to assemble things together. Finally three old men appeared trying to put an end to our misery. One of them did nothing to hide the fact that the work hours were coming to an end for him and this work was nothing but a nuisance that was preventing him from starting his holiday. Thankfully, the other two were very helpful. They managed to solve all the bathroom troubles but even their combined effort could not make the heater to work.
The old man who looked the most sympathetic thankfully stayed overtime and arranged three strange looking but effective radiators for us. He was quite relieved to know that there was just me in the home today as he would have to arrange for more of those. He still left three of them and even managed to find some fuses in case one of those blew off. Trying to comfort me, he said that he bought one of those recently and they had been very effective for his family. His concern was really praiseworthy and I told him that I will do fine and he need not worry and bid him farewell with a smile. Whenever I pass through a children’s school on my way to the college I always come across a sign that they have placed up. It reads “Few warm words can get you through this cold winter”. Isn’t it so true that not mere words but actions of other beings towards you can also change your somber mood (or sometimes the other way around!!)
So here I lie on the final day of the year waiting for the clock to tick over and usher in the New Year. My friends and family are already celebrating it back in India. Once again I have nothing to do so I will sit back and listen to some soothing music, finish a season of Friends (saw the whole season 9 in 3 days flat!!), cook some nice food, see a movie after which I will settle back with a Coke in hand and then will wait for the time to strike midnight (as you all know, a second late today!!).
Wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!! J
0 comments:
Post a Comment