"Have a nice day"

(ps-- this draft was actually written at 3.30 in the morning)

Life is a mean teacher. It taught me 2 things today. First, to stop being a lazy carefree idiot. Second, the claim by windows 2007 about perfect autosaves and recovery, one-touch recovery and other such fancy technical blah-blah is just bullshit. Yesterday, my prof gave me a piece of assignment to write. I said I would do it and get it the next day,to which he refused. "Get it when I come next, I am going to Chandigarh". The big lazy sloth that I am, I take off the whole day, I read a novel, take an extra long coffee break and so on.
Next day when I crossed this prof's room, I saw he was in...the heavy rains had cancelled his chandi trip. Shit.Shit. Shit. Damn me. I could see a "you-are-just-wasting-your-time" scolding coming my way. Scoldings are ok with me, what feels far lot worse is when he shrugs his shoulder and smiles at me and says "okay, when you have the time"---i feel like a total disappointment. I had it once and I didn't want that anymore.
I slam down my satchel, whip out my lappy and get working like crazy. Shit. I had left the algo paper back at my room. It was 10.30 I think when I recovered from shock and mustered enough wits to start writing from scratch. I had an appointment with the Asso. Dean too. And bank work. Priya ma'am forces me to go with her for lunch--she is the latest in the long line of people who reprimand me for my unhealthy fooding habits. But somehow I convince her I'll survive one more day on coffee and sandwiches.
I reached the AD's office right on time. "He is in a meeting" his assistant tells me. I was irritated...."my time's precious too" I wanted to scream. I had been so many times to the deans' section here, I perhaps knew every single spider and his home on every single corner of the walls. But when it is with the boss, you just cant just protest verbally. So a firm resolve not to go back without meeting him this time, I set down my things right in front of his office, sit down on the floor myself and start working (I had to finish the damn thing too, boo-hoo!). AD comes out with his meeting group and they stare at me. I stand up and say "Goodafternoon everyone, A*** Sir?" I ask. A small kind and calm looking gentleman, who seemed most surprised of the lot nods and ushers me in. Gandhigiri rocks!! I almost burst out in a grin when he says "you shouldn't be so stressed for work. You are in delhi, enjoy!" And he gives me a list of must-sees in delhi. You have no idea, sir....hadn't I been in a race to save my skin, I probably would have been chatting away in the lab and trying stupid Facebook applications.
Anyways, the job is finished at 15.30 and I am pleased. I happily report to my prof. "Run the prog" he says. I then realise I am so hungry I could eat my nails. "Uhh, can I have my lunch first please?" I ask. Another scolding ending in "kama paen pagala heluni, jaa ebe bhala se khaiki aa (you are going crazy for work, go and eat properly)". Sandwich again. That would be 4 slices of bread and 3 cups of coffee since morning.
Back at hostel, I got a new roomy today!! Well, nothing compared to my former sweetheart, but she is an awesome shiny different coin anyway. Tough, pretty, smart and great attitude....she exudes it all as I shake hands with her and welcome her.....back from my guide days, I have stuck to the habit of sometimes using my left hand for a first-time handshake. She looks flustered at first, then realises why I offered her my left hand. "I am glad" she grins. I wish I had something to offer her, she sure must be hungry. But the sole occupant of my food boxes is last-week's chilla that fungus had already feasted upon. It then dawns upon me that I had forgotten to brush again today. Dont pucker up your nose, reader, I have a perfect alibi for it: Su's absence. Almost everyday she went through a verbal checklist, verifying that I hadn't forgotten the mundane under work pressure. "Brush kiya? Nahaaya? Khaana khaya?" This kiya and that kiya. If I had forgotten anything, she would start shouting at me till I had finished doing it. The hostel is brimming over with new students and it really feels nice to watch them...happiness glows bright on their and their parents' faces for making it into the premier institute of the country. So I just wander about watching them until I reach the basement. I see this sweet little all-smiles girl dragging about a mattress alone. I help her, and we start chatting. Whoopie...another nice friend, the types I knew I would love to hang out with!! But damn, I am here for less than 2 days more.
I come back to my room and I start simulating my program- a crazy 20 variable function optimisation with something like 1000 iterations. My phone beeps, it is an unexpected call and before I can stop myself, I slam down the lid of my lappy. It was after the call that I begin to comprehend what I had done....too late. The program was corrupted now and useless. I start swearing until I realise I am not alone in the room. I end up squeaking "What the f-ell" but no use lamenting over that caller's bad timing!! . So I move out to the reception, sink into a comfy couch and start all over again. I even dozed off...the hostel night-shift female guard I chat with every night after my coffee trip wakes me up, hands me a bed-sheet and says "beta, sofa pe hi so jao, bahot thak gaye ho". In a strong wave of emotion, typical of me when I am sleepy, I feel like giving her a hug for the gesture but I feel too lazy to get up from the couch and do that. How I wish I could sleep on that incredibly soft couch but I cant and tell her so. So she says "achha, aap kaam karo, khatam ho jaae toh mujhe utha dena beta". So well...right now I am manning her desk for her (And working. And blogging too) until the control room sends a dispatch for checking (:D) while she sleeps peacefully on the couch.....chances are that she is going to get lucky enough and have a full night's sleep today.....The 3rd lift of the lift shaft nearby has gone bonkers and the mechanical female voice says over and over again "have a nice day". It is so irritating that I get up and walk to the lift, jab at the 7th floor button and kick its door hard. That set it right I guess and it whooshes up the shaft, its parting voice echoing down "have a nice day"....I curse again. Hah! Nice day...my eyes look like a racoon's, my hair is in a worse mess than usual, my face almost reminds me of that hungry-Jen-face in Jennifer's body and I am actually hungry (not for human innards though). But I love what I am doing, I am happy, I have great company and I guess that's all that matters....so yep, I am having nice days (without the sarcasm this time)