Busy

It was 8 in the morning. Karthik was getting ready to go to office. As usual, he got up very late and he had just 15 minutes to take the office bus at Jayanagar 4th block. On missing he bus, it would be almost 10.30 when he reaches the office at Electronics City. He was making his mom run all over the place, to help him get ready. After all, she prepares his breakfast and packs his lunch. She asked him, “Karthik! Do you have to go to office today?”. What a stupid question – he thought. “Something must have gone wrong with you.”, he told. He said nothing more. His mom continued with her duty to prepare him for office. It was almost 8.10 when he finished his breakfast. He had just finished half the plate and did not have the patience to eat further. Despite his mom’s requests, he flew away with his bag and lunch box.

“Thank God”, he said on reaching the place where the bus stops. A sense of achievement filled him, as he reached there on time. He began waiting for the bus. 15 minutes were gone. There was no glimpse of his company bus. He started growing suspicious. To add to his suspicion, none of the regular colleagues who commuted along with him were present. When the clock showed the time as 8.45, he lost his patience. He thought twice about taking an auto, as it would cost him as high as 200 Rupees. But he had no other option, as there was a regular onsite call at 10. He called an autowallah and bargained for 200 Rupees. He was very surprised to see that the traffic was very sparse. Praising his own luck, he was happy that he could make it definitely for the call.

He reached the office at around 9.45. He was stunned to see that almost all seats in his floor were empty. Puzzled, he logged into his machine and opened the mail client. When he saw the first mail, he was almost shocked!

The subject of the mail read – “Happy Independence Day! 15 August 2006. Have a happy Holiday”.