The road to Hell!

It’s been probably a year now since I shifted to my new office…things have changed – some from good to bad and some from bad to worse. Well, nothing good happens to me anyway. My raise is minuscule, my responsibilities manifold. But life goes on. From grass and concrete and rubble to tiles, from grey walls to blood red exteriors, from colleagues being fired to new executives hired and from policeman pulling people by the hair to age-old dhabas being evicted from the very foundations – things have changed fast in (and near) my office.

But amidst all these changes, some things remain static like, sweaty colleagues who stink like dead dogs beside the highway, the burps loud and clear after lunch that you can separate easily the muli parantha from the paneer or curd and obnoxious figured lady colleagues donning even more obnoxious apparels that show the liabilities of a healthy life. O yes, I work in HELL! But above these, what had remained static or more appropriately stagnant is the road to this Hell. There is water on this road forever and the faece from the toilets of the factories near the road where hundreds of workers work each day raise a stink that is unbearable. The road, which resembles that of a mire has turned the red soil into black mud and welcomes you everyday as if to say: Still here? Isn’t this enough reason for you to quit…what a loser!

Occasionally good Samaritan factories try to fill the potholes (rather lakes) with rubble making it a driver’s nightmare instead. The sight of creaking cars with huge boulders kissing the floor and breaking axels, wading through the waters seems as if coming to office is more like competing in a dirt rally where only winners make it to the finishing line.

Now I was getting used to this prevailing faece smell, mud and the black water as were the others. Standing on blocks of bricks hungry workers gobbling on chole-bhaturay or rice and curry from the carts beside the road, oblivious to the prevailing stink – I was getting used to this sight each day…but that was till today.

After parking the car carefully and ensuring that my feet don’t land on the muck, I waded through the water from brick to brick ensuring that the shine of my leather shoes remains intact and most importantly that I reach to the attendance register before the cut-off time. While I was entering the office, I saw a couple of mounts of rubble and guys hastily trying to fill the potholes.

Other days I would mark my attendance and come upstairs to by desk, but today was different. Well, had it not been different, I would not have been writing this post. My urge for a packet of biscuits was much more than my urge for starting work early. And as I tried to cross the road towards the small makeshift shop-on-the-bicycle, splash!!! An overexcited worker who was filling the potholes with huge pieces of brick and mortar, let one fall in the puddle near me. I was covered from face to my shoes with flying droplets of the black slush. I let out a shrill cry, fired a volley of abuse at the perpetrator of the crime and hurried back to the washroom, my urge for biscuits buried under the rubble now! After several minutes of washing and cleaning, I still feel colleagues are discussing about how much I stink!

The entire mishap reminds me of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, the Hungarian Biochemist, who had once said, “Water is life’s mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.” I wonder what he meant by ‘life’s matter’!

I intend to go home early, throw all the clothes I’m wearing and scrub my body…probably I will take a medical leave tomorrow.