Halloween - Day 2

From what happened on day 1, it was clear that this year's competition is going to be tough. Someone like me can only imagine of what is going to happen next.

Elevator stopped at my floor with a jerk. It was a scary feeling for me."Relax JD. It is just a jerk. Besides the rule says that same trick cannot be used on person who has already used it before." - said a voice from behind. I looked over my shoulder to see Alice behind me giving a beautiful smile. I was scared like hell, for I know Pete very well. After what happened yesterday, it would be a clear intention from his side to get even with me soon. It is also true that same trick cannot be used again. The idea was to make people think to come up with more new tricks. Since Alice was standing behind me, I did not want to show her how scared I am today. As soon as my floor came, I dash out, but then stopped to wait for Alice.

As we were walking down to reception, I saw receptionist with a worried face. "Anything wrong?", I asked her as calmly as I can. Deep inside my heart, I hope she is not playing any trick on me. "Nothing JD, it is just usual stuff." - receptionist. "Ahh, okay then, I will see you later." Without waiting for her reply, I quickly dash my footsteps and headed straight to my cubicle.

"Ahh, finally. Now I am safe." I never liked concept of cubicles. There are 3 partitions, with height of about 5 ft. To look beyond your cubicle, you either need to stand up or sit as straight as you can. However, one open side partition is what makes cubical, not a cube. That one open side is like an open gate of a strong guard palace. You never know when enemy will strike, for that open side, is behind your back.

"Hey JD, wass up?" Sound of Pete brought me back from palace to my small cubical. "Ahhh Pete. I m good. How are things at your end? Everything fine." I wasn't trying to strike conversation with Pete. Instead, I was trying to figure out what is next in line for me. Is he up to something? While Pete and I were chatting, I saw Tina screaming from her cabin. Pete, Alice, I and few other colleagues stopped what we were doing and started looking out of curiosity of what is going on in her cabin. Through the glass sheets, we can see her bouncing like tennis ball from one court to another. In her case, from one chair to another. Finally, she was able to reach the door of her cabin and.... "AHHHHHHHHHH, HELP ME." came shrill noise from those glass door. It was so huge, it seemed like all the noise which she created came out at one. The noise was so huge, I can see our accountant jumping from his seat and under the table as if it was an earthquake.

Alice finally makes Tina calm. She was still out of breath. While she was catching up with her senses, Pete and I started sneaking into her cabin trying to look for anything suspicious. One thing in which Pete and I are horrible at, is our classification of what is suspicious. We have a poor track record in that.

I visited Pete a few days later after he came back from his honeymoon. That night, Pete and I were sitting and chatting while Patricia cleaned the table and was off to bed. A few minutes later, we saw strange lights coming from Pete's bedroom. It looked like lights from Alaska skies, but more scarier. "Pete, I think something is wrong in your bedroom." I whispered to him. "Yea... looks like some lights from star trek." Pete was trying to get full visual of what is in the bedroom. "Are aliens coming to take her away?" I asked curiously. "Naa man. I know sometimes she acts strange, but it is too early to tell if she is alien" Pete by now was in his bedroom, while I was behind him with a baseball glove. "What the hell JD. Are you planing to hit alien with that glove?"

"You never know. He might want to play baseball." I said with curiosity. "Besides, there was no bat over there."

"Yeah, it will be like that and you know why, JD? Because it is at your place."

"Ahhh. I see" By this time, we both were standing in Pete's bedroom.
"AHHHHHHH....." shouted Patricia. Seeing her, we shouted too, "AHHHHHH, AHHHHHH, AHHHHHHH" - and kept looking at each other. "What are you guys up to, with that.... that baseball glove and .... what is that Pete you are holding.... a frying pan!"

"Jessus, you guys. What is going on?"

I said, "We saw mysterious lights in bedroom, so we came in to check."

"Guys that is my aroma dispatcher. It blinks couple of times and oozes out different smells."

Tina's voice broke my concentration. "It's a mouse, there is white mouse in my office." - she said with all the energy she could get. "A what?" - Pete turned towards Tina, while still holding cabin door and then looked at me, who was already in center of her cabin. I could see evilness in Pete eyes and in a split second I could see what Pete is thinking. "No Pete, don't do that. Pleasee..."

SLAM! The door got shut and locked. He trapped me in with that mouse. "Nooooo Pete, help me out of here. I beg of you. Let me goooo." My voice and my banging were barely making it through the sound proof glass. It was like an adrenaline rush to me filled with scary thoughts. I was jumping from one chair to another, to the table; trying to stay off the ground as much as I can. Pete, Alice, Tina and all other colleagues were out there watching my Spiderman jumps behind the glass. Each time I jumped they will clap as if I was like a monkey doing tricks.

"What's going on?" - said Boss. The sound of clapping had brought him out of his office. "Nothing Sir. Just watching some monkey tricks." - said Pete. "Ha ha ha. I am loving it." said Boss who by now was all seated with an imaginary bag of popcorn's in his hand. "I must admit Pete, you made him do tricks more times than I have. Ha ha ha ha."

I looked from the glass and I could see my boss saying something and everybody bust out laughing. I cursed Pete and blamed myself to be in such a mess. "Hey, is there really a mouse there?"

"Yes boss. It is a tiny white pet rat of Susane." said Alice. "She brought it to open her account for halloween."

"Ahh, I see. Smart Susane. You know I am very scared of rats too. When they crawl on my body, that tinkling sensation makes me feel scared. Like the one I am having right now." said Boss with a smile. "Pete, take off that coat of yours. It is giving me tinkling sensation." said Boss without looking back. "Sir, I am not wearing coat." as Pete leaned to say more, "Sirrrrr, a rat!..."

"where" - boss jumped right from his seat and started turning round and round

"your back sir! A WHITE RAT. It is there!...." Pete was shouting at top of his voice.

"where?"

"There..... there..... still there!......"

I was doing my jumps from one island to another, and I could see boss doing his rounds (literally) like chopper blades. "Take it off, take it off me.... " - said Boss with troubled voice. By this time, everyone around was moving away from boss.

I missed one of my jumps and fell on floor. When I saw white rat jumping from boss's back and landing straight in front of me. Now between me and white rat was the cabin glass. He looked me into eyes and I (with my scared look) was looking at his. In a split second, the rat made his way under the desk. "AHHHHH, he is here....." - our manager almost made a high jump from his chair. "It is SHEEEEE.... not he..." - said Alice, who by now was already on her table, looking around.

"AHHHHH, does it matter? It is here..." - said Boss who was trying to get some space on Pete's table. And Pete was not letting him on his island. I grabbed a chair and sat comfortably in Tina's cabin, eating an apple and watching the show. Susane, was all worried looking around for her rat. Around half an hour later, she managed to get hold of her pet and everybody, who by now were looking like "Lost" survivors started returning back to their desk.

I saw Pete walking like a zombie next to Tina's cabin. I knocked on glass with a big smile. He saw me with sad eyes and unlocked the cabin door with a heavy heart. "It's okay Pete. Getting fooled twice in 2 days. Not your fault." - I said with a huge smile on my face. I saw Susane writing on board, her score for today. "28!" - I said in disbelief. "Yes, and that includes you too." said Pete in disbelief. "She managed to get the whole office."

"Hey, I was not fooled by her rat. There was not rat in Tina's office." I said with curiosity and disbelief.

"Exactly JD. There is no rat." - Pete was now acting like Oracle from Matrix. "She got you too, ha ha ha ha."

With angry look at my face, I went down to my desk. Picked up a piece of paper and started writing names of people whom I need to scare. Susane was on top of list now.

"Psst.. JD" - that was Alice peeping into my cubicle. "Did you finish the report?"

"No Alice, I haven't." I said with an angry voice. "And please get your long hair's away from my shoulder. It is tickling."

"That's okay JD. You can say that to the rat who is on your left shoulder now." - she said with an evil tone.

"NOOOOOOO GET OFF ME..... GET HIM OFF MEEEE..... " - I jumped from my seat and ran into the corridor.

"Hey JD... while you are going that way, can you please give rat to Susane..... And say Alice said Thanks..... I am heading for scoreboard to make few updates...."

While I ran down the hall, I could hear Alice's evil laugh.

Halloween

Every year, we celebrate Halloween in office. But unlike other offices which throw a grand party in which people where costumes and have a blast, we, at Marley Management celebrate it with a difference.

"Hey JD. What are your plans for Halloween." asked Pete as we jumped into the elevator.

"I don’t know Pete. It is a surprise." I said calmly without showing agitation. In our Halloween, we don't celebrate "just party", but by a competition. The rule is very simple, scare any person the most and the victim will get "Most coward Award." And if you manage to scare most people in 5 days, will get "The Scariest Award." There is one more award, "The Greatest Trickster Award", given to one who played the ultimate scariest trick of all. The reason why competition last 5 days, is because earlier we used to celebrate it on one day and everybody becomes alert. Thereby not many winners were there. Hence, the competition is now spread 5 days of Halloween week.


Day 1

Suddenly, out of blue, the elevator stopped with a jerk and the lights went off. The backup light was brought back on.

"Humm, looks like a power failure." I said calmly to Pete.

"Yes. Most certain it is...... righttttt JJJJDDD." Pete by now has lost his nerve. This is something which I always knew. Pete is scared when such things happen. Be it a roller coaster ride last year, when it stopped at bottom of the ramp.

"AHHHHHH.......... AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH..... AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"

"Pete. Pull yourself together." said Tina, who was sitting behind Pete, during the ride.

"Yea, we are AT THE BOTTOM of the ramp. Why are you screaming?" I said out loud trying to suppress Pete voice while sitting next to Tina.

"SO WHAT!!! THE RIDE IS STILL STOPPED........AAAHHHH HELP ME.... HELP ME..." Pete was crying like a baby by now. Alexia, Pete's wife was sitting calmly next to him all the time.

"Alexia, why don’t you do something?" I asked her. "You are kidding? This is more funny part of the ride. Watching my hubby cry all over like a baby. He He He He." Finally, the ride began back and Pete calmed down. Alexia was smiling all the time during the ride.

I was waiting for the bubble to bust soon in the elevator. It wasn’t for long, just took a minute and....

"AHHHHH HELP ME... HELLOOOO... ANYBODY THERE..... HELPPPP." Pete's bubble had bust.

After a good long 4 minutes. My cell phone rang. "JD, are we done yet?" It was Tina's voice. "1 more minute Tina and then you can switch power back on." I said with an evil smile. It was Tina and my plan to scare Pete on the very 1st day of competition. Last year, Pete won the "Most Scariest Award" and "The Greatest Trickster Award." So, this time, it was a payback time.

Ding...

The elevator landed on our floor. Pete by now was like a crying baby and Tina and I were smiling. But we both knew Pete would not give up so easily. We just needed to be alert all the time.

In afternoon when after lunch, everybody was half asleep at work.

"YIKESS! WHAT IS THIS!", the boss came out of his office shouting. He was holding a plastic roach. "The one who tried to play it is very immature. A plastic roach. Ha Ha Ha. You cannot play prank on me so easily. This one will not count for I did not get scared at all." said boss laughing like a devil.

"Sir, it is not a plastic one. It’s a real one." said Tom.

"AHHHHHH.... SOMEBODY GET HIM HELL AWAY FROM ME..." the boss by now had started dancing holding away the roach as far as he could. Soon, his grip got loose and the roach fell on floor, seeing this, boss ran back into his office and started screaming from there to get the roach away from there. Good thing for us, his office is sound proof. We all gathered around his office watching his dance as he still continued in his office.

"I wonder who did it to him." whispered Tina.

"Who ever did it, sure loved our boss sooo much." said Pete.

Among all who were surprised and trying to hide our smile. There was 1 face having a grin smile. As he proudly went up to the score chat placed in our conference room and added his score. "That’s one for Tom."

The chief accountant had finally even his score with the boss; which could make it as "The Greatest Trickster Award".

Stay tune for Day 2 ...to be finished in 1 week.

JD.

google wave

There is been a lot of hype of google wave invites over the internet. This is not the 1st time I am seeing such rush. It happened before, when mozilla launched Firefox 3, when google launched chrome and when microsoft launched Windows 7.

The hype is just part of marketing. Creating interest among people and spreading word to many more. They also implemented a cruel marketing strategy of sending limited invites only. This technique is not new. It goes way back in history during time of Caesar, Henry, Nefertiti and many more.

These influenced people (or kings & queens) organized a great ball to celebrate. (Celebrate what? It could be anything, from a new dress to new shoes. They are kings and queens, they don't need reason to celebrate, they can make up their own). So when they organized such great ball, it is understood already that ministers and distant kings and queens will be eager to participate. This rush of excitement is short lived, when they start spreading the word of limited invites. Kings and queens have to show their status and the only way they can do so (apart from throwing a great ball) is by limiting the number of invites. They can obviously have a ball in their big palace garden, but space is not the case. Who attends is the matter.

Due to this, high profile peoples like ministers, associates and distant neighbourhood kings and queens, always try to maintain good relationship with the king/queen. After all, the invite is one thing they can show around and make others jealous.

Only the time has changed. Scenario is the same. Today, people like us go over the internet trying to get an invite to such buzz. If you ask me this is not the first time I had adrenaline rush.

My marketing firm is more like a busy fruit market on Saturday afternoon. Many days come and go and I do not have any feeling of what just happened. Thursday, was one such day.

My boss called me up for some discussion. It is never a good thing. My boss is like a devil. If there would be any certification course on how to be a devil, I am sure he would have aced it. From looks of his, I can tell that he would not be the most popular kid in school. In fact, he would be the one who will be beaten up by most popular kid in school. And now, since he is "the boss", he would like to beat the hell from us.

"May I come in, Sir." - I opened the glass door slightly peeping inside.

"Come in my fellow. You are right on time." - Cheerful boss said. When my boss is in a real good mood, he is like a Ginni. He can make any wish of yours true, from taking a leave to getting a vacation. Before, I can decide which one I wanted (leave or vacation) he opened his mouth.

"So make your pick? Which one you want?" - he said glancing to the devices kept on table. Ahh, this is second reason why boss are happy, the first is obvious, good performance from the team. This is the second one. The time when bosses feel they haven't penetrate much into lives of ours and now they found out just how. I can see a line of blackberry pearls kept on his table.

"Pick anyone you want. Your color." - he said smiling.

I can see his evil smile and if you look closely at his face, you will see two devil horns too. I was still thinking..... Not on which color I wanted. (there were just two colors, black and grey.) But I was thinking on how to get out of it.

"You see Mr. JD. Our team is really doing well and so we have decided to make our team more productive by giving back something.So here it is. It will be your work phone. Technician will sync it up with your office number and so you will be able to get your calls anywhere you want."

That was the last thing I wanted to hear from him. It is not that I hate blackberry. In fact, I love blackberry phones. They are one of the coolest phones. But when your company is offering you one, that is sooo not cool.

This means that I will have to be available anytime, anywhere. This means that mine work hours are no longer 9 to 5. It means that I will be slave to my work. In olden days, people used to tie slaves up in chains. Now a days, it is business phones turn. I have seen people in subway during mornings busy with their blackberries. That was the last thing I ever wanted. Since there was no escape route of this situation, I picked up a black blackberry pearl and left the room with a sad face.

I sat on my desk and was thinking about how to get rid of the phone, when I saw Alice sobbing in tears walking out of boss office with (guess what) holding in her hands.

So how is google wave different. As cool as it looks with new features and concept. It is a communication tool that (which in not so later run) can be used as company's integrated chat client.

I turned towards Peter (pete) and told him, "He just found out how to beat the hell out of us."

Planning Ahead

There are two things which I deduce from life.

1. Your actions decide your life.

2. You plan most of your actions, leaving a few unplanned (or so, because it happened unexpectedly.)

I try to live my life with a plan. However, there are times when a lot of things happen out of blue. Apparently, those moments tells me to think again of what just happened.

Planing is good, as long as we follow it. :) I had a friend of mine, who would plan out a lot of things, but was not able to achieve most of it. Sometimes, I plan out so much that I myself does not know where to begin.

Yesterday, I happened to look myself in the mirror. A strange feeling ran across me. I thought to myself, where is my life going to? Is it under my control? Is everything as per plan? That made me ask one final question, "What is my plan?"

To be honest, there is no plan. I want to go with the flow. Do things that I want to. Do things which happens suddenly. There has to be no plan. If everything I do is planned out, where will be the fun enjoying it?

Before, I had planned out a lot of things, now it is time to let life loose and go in anyway it wants. After all, if you spend too much on planing, you would not have too much time to enjoy it.

(Special thanks to Times of India for the picture.)

JD

On the wrong side

Every morning before I begin reading my newspaper, I have a habit of going through the comic strips first. They laugh me every time I read it. The same thing, happened today. Take a look at this picture below.


When I first saw it, I laughed. Every time I see it, it makes me laugh. The situation described here is perfectly natural thing. We all, at every point of life, must have faced the very same question. "what am I doing here?" or "why am I doing it?" or my personal favorite "Why is this happening to me?"

WE make our own life. We do actions, which define our course of life. And even then, in spite of us shaping our lives, at one point of time (be it today, tomorrow or moment from past) we ask to over selves, "What am I doing?". If we were the ones to shape our lives, then why are we asking ourselves about it?

The answer is very simple. When we do actions knowingly or unknowingly, we are setting up the direction of our life. However, we never thought through it. We might have believed we did, but it is not the case. So when the life starts moving ahead in our pre-decided or decided course due to our actions, we tend to believe that this is how it should be. But, after a certain point of time, WE; ourselves, start thinking about as to why is all this happening? This is something we have never figured it out. Or it is something which we have never expected to be. We get this feeling not in beginning when we started the journey, but it happens somewhere down the line. The feeling as to why the life for us is not working out the way it should be.

When we do actions, we leave a part of it to faith. We believe whatever we did, will pay off. That part... the part which we left out, plays an important role in our life's journey. And all that happened in our life due to that faith which we left out, is the one now bothering us. The answers to all the questions we ask to ourselves, lies in that part.

So, take a moment over here to think about it.........

and enjoy the comic strip with a laugh.




JD

P.S. (special thanks to timesofindia.com for the image)

Obsession

"I never knew, people are obsessed with work." I said to Pete in a disappointing tone.

"Me neither." Pete was nodding his head in agreement. "I mean, she is crazy, she wants everything to be done. The dishes, the cleaning. She has gone mad."

"Yes, Pete. She............ she? Pete, I am talking about the boss."

"Ohh. I thought we were talking about my wife, Nancy." Pete, was now looking confused all over.
"I cant believe, that any person can get so obsessed with work. I mean look at him. Our dear boss, when he started working here, he was so cool, calm and always rocking. And now, .... now......"

"He rocks us!". said Peter.

"Yes, he rocks us. He is driving me insane now."

"3 days ago, he gave me the work. I told him, it will be done by next week. Next week, Pete. And still, helloooooo, 4 days to go. But he is all over me. I just dont get it. How can somebody get so obsessed with work. I have seen people getting obsessed with things, their principles, but with work. He is not even obsessed, he is crazy now. He is going mad, Pete. We need to do something."

"We ??" Peter was in no mood to support. "Naaah. I think we should leave him like that."

I couldn't stop me from thinking as to which parameters drives any person obsessed. One theory could be that he grew up in such atmosphere. Imagine a bunch of financial managers still on a table having dinner.

Father manager, pointing towards the pasta. "Pass, me the debit shares, honey."

Mother manager, "Sure dear. But you should take care of your assets too." while she points towards his stomach.

Father manager, "Oh, I have got it all covered. It shall be deposited using compound interest, next day."

Mother manager, "Ohh darling. dont forget the bonuses." while she pushes the plate of desert towards husband. And the boy boss. Poor child, sitting quietly on the table trying to figure out whats going on.

My second theory, tell me that my boss would have been total dush. He would be dush bag in school, then in high school, then in college. And so now, he is trying to live his life (or making our lives hell) by satisfying his bully needs.

Whatever be it with him, it did not stop me from making more theories, during which I realized a few more things. I have seen people obsessed with things. My distant cousin, Charlie, is obsessed with team T-shirts. He happens to collect all such T-shirts of entire team. And not just one team, every single MLB team. My ex-girlfriend, Stephanie, was obsessed with two things. Shopping and cleaning. She would spend her entire paycheck in just 3 hrs. All in shopping. Her house would be clean and sparkling all over the place. I wonder if she ever sleeps on her bed or cooks food, because from the point I see it, they are all cleaned up. One thing, I still dont understand is how she happens to manage her closet. If she is shopping a hell lot of things, he closet should be looking like hell by now (I know, mine would). However, she was not the only obsessed person I met in my life. My old neighbour, is still obsessed. She is an old lady, who has nothing much to do everyday. So all she does, is looks on the street from her apartment window and whenever, I am climbing the stairs, she would open her apartment door and would say the same old thing, "They didn't do it again. I knew those basterds are no good."

"Mrs. Locksmith. I know that the fruit guy is a honest person. I am sure, there is no reason to feel terrified." By now, I was exhausted and was trying to convince her.

"Terrified ! Huh! If he shows up to my apartment, I will shoot him with my shotgun."

"Mrs. Locksmith. He is just a fruit vendor. He is not a criminal. And you dont have a shotgun."

"He is a cheater. He gave me 2 apples less. You know what that means. In my days, we used to buy pounds of apples for a dollar. Now, all I get is 3 apples. Last week, there were 5 apples a dollar. He is a cheater and I call cops everyday to get him out of there. I will ruin him." said the old lady shouting. While I try to hurry back to my apartment.

I cant believe, how much the old lady is obsessed with that thing. Maybe because she has nothing to do the whole day rather than sitting in her window and looking down the street to see if the fruit vendor is still there.

Sometimes I feel I am the only one who is not obsessed with anything. In tube, I see people texting, emailing on their cellphones. Especially, guys with blackberries. They seem to be obsessed with those things like they have never seen one before. The minute, they seat in the metro, they start emailing, calling and working. Looking at them, I would always say in my mind, hellooo, get a life dude. look at you. you are like a monkey with a banana. wake up. I cant blame them too. Technology has got into us in a very bad way. Pete, would be working on his laptop while watching movies.

"Pete, why dont you just shut off the laptop and enjoy the movie." I said in a frustrating voice due to his constant typing.

"I am JD. I am enjoying the movie." Peter said while keeping his eyes fixed on the tv screen.

"Which part of enjoying you dont understand. And what are you doing on the laptop. I told you we will get project slides done by tomorrow afternoon." I told Pete.

"Its not work that I am doing."

"then"

"Check it out, I filled up the wikipedia page of the movie. See, its all complete now." Peter was smiling while he showed me the page on laptop, which, I felt like hitting on his head.

It is good to have obsession. It is something like too much of ambition. Too much of desire. But one should be careful, if this too much, does not become Too much. One should control every desire. Or else, one day, one will become a monster, like my boss. I can picture him clearly like a big red version of hulk. Except he is bad and ugly.

It just took him 1 week, to get over it. I did my job and he was happy to see it. So his obsession went by, from me to Patrica. Now, I would love to help Patricia. But I can't. After experiencing all the heat of obsession of my boss. I think I needed a break.

Lost and Found

Everybody tries.

What depends upon is how much anybody is willing to go further in it. Few gets lucky to get it in 1st try, while few keep on trying.
..........

The office was busy today. There were loads of things to do. Alice was running up and down the corridor while Tina could be seen nervously working on her project. Peter was busy looking around. It is not the first time I am seeing him do that. Peter has a good history of missing things out. I am not talking about losing pens, pencils and other stationary. Once while we were in gym. He forgot his trunks out there. Once in a restaurant while he was out dinning with his wife, Nancy; he forgot his wallet. Luckily the hotel manager called him up. Once, he happened to lose his coat in grand central station. I can still remember that day. We decided to go through tube instead of driving. As we reached out for our train,


"JD. I seem to lost something." said Peter.


"What is it?"


"Something... " - said Peter while still trying to figure out what is it. "Oh shoot. I forgot the coat, man." - says in a panic voice. "I had it when we got the tickets. Now, I don't know where it is."


"Okay. Lets not panic. The train is moving now, so ...."


"What !!! JD, we need to get off."


"Cant". - I said calmly.


"What do you mean cant?" - Peter was now looking everywhere as if trying to find a door open.


"Hey. Pete. The doors are shut. We will get off at next station and come back. Relax, okay. The next station is just 3 mins away."


What seemed to be 3 mins for me, it was like 3 years for Peter. I can see him running up and down around the car. As soon as the door opened. Peter rushed out and starting walking up and down the train station.

"Pete. You need to relax. The next train is in 1 min."

"What if somebody took it ?" - said Pete anxiously.


"well, they might have taken it already." - I said in a mumbling voice making sure Peter does not hear it.

"Said anything, JD?"

"huh... no. Don't worry. People don't touch stray things."

I know this. We all are scared. After the terror attacks, we make sure we don't touch any stray things. Instead we just call the cops. So I was hopeful that we will get the coat back.

Finally, what seemed to be like a decade, we reached back to grand central station in 10 minutes. Peter was now more like a German Shepard dog looking for a bomb. He was holding his head up trying to sniff out his coat. We walked all the way to the car parking, as if following a trail. Peter narrated out in detail as we walked the trail.

"JD. Here we were standing watching the schedule for next train arrival."

"right." - I nod my head in agreement.

"No. I was watching the schedule, while you were checking out the girl in pink dress out there next to ticket vending machine."

"okayyyy. So lets go further." - I said with little disagreement.


"We then walked up to the hot dog stand. We got 3 hot dogs and we sat on that bench out there. I remember it, you spilled the mustard on your shoe while you were trying to spin your head around looking for babes." - said Peter, who by now was looking like Sherlock Holmes to me.


"Okay. My detective friend. Lets just stick to your version of the story and not mine." - I said in agreement.


"So, did you had the coat with you on the bench?"


"No. I don't remember." - said Peter looking confused.


"Great! He remembers what I did, but does not remember where his coat is." - I said to myself. Looking at hot dog stand again, made me feel hungry.


"Well, since we are here, lets have a hot dog." - I tried to offer Pete.


"JD. I have lost my coat." He shouted this time.


"Relax Peter. Get a new one."


"No, I cant. Nancy gave it to me. And that too, two days ago."


"Ohh boy. Good luck then."


One thing I learnt was not to lose stuff of your girlfriend (In Peter case, his wife.) She will believe that we don't love her anymore and that's why we deliberately lost it or kept it in attic. It is best to keep a smile and wear those things, if you want to be alive.


"Okay, Peter. Look, lets go to lost and found department. They might have it there." I was sounding too optimistic. I know that majority of people believe that once they loose things on a train station, they have absolutely no chance of getting it back. Airports, will still have some chance, but not train and bus stations. So after much searching for lost and found department, we ultimately reached there.


"Boy, they do keep lost and found department ... lost. Ha ha ha ha ha." - I said to Pete. Trying to bring up his mood, who by now was looking sad than ever. I guess he must be wondering what Nancy will do to him, once she finds out he lost the coat she brought for him.

"Yes, gentlemen. How can I help you?" - said an old lady over the counter.

"Yes. I am looking for my coat. It is deep dark blue in color designed by Kenneth Cole Collection." - said Pete. Who was trying to impress the old lady as to how much he loved his coat. (Also, giving her a hint on the consequences that would happen if he lost it.)

"What time did you lost it?"

"humm.. I didn't lose it actually. It just got misplaced somewhere." - said Pete, still trying to persuade the old lady.

"You lost it, didn't you? And let me guess, your beloved one gave that to you."

"How did you know?" - said Pete looking shocked.

"Son, I have been in this profession since last 35 years. And I know every inch of it. So why don't you have a seat and I see if I happen to find it for you." - the old lady said mockingly as if we both were preschool kids.

It look a long time before the old lady came back. "Son, I am sorry. But your coat is nowhere to be found. Why don't you come along tomorrow and check. I have asked all the stations in central line, but nobody has information on missing coat.

Disappointed we reached office. The time passed quickly for me with loads of work, but for Pete, I was going like dead slow.

"Hey, Pete. Office is over. Lets go." - I said to him.

"Na man. I don't think I should. If she finds out, I am a dead meat." Peter was disappointed more than he looked in morning. "Hey, why don't I tell her that I kept it in office or kept it in your car."

"Pete. we came through tube today." - I said disapproving his theory. "Lets stick to leaving in office version."

"Right." - said Pete.

3 days later one night, I got a call from Peter. It turned out that Alice found her coat in grand central station which she was heading to work. She found it when she was waiting for her colleague to show up. She picked it up and kept with her.

"Was she mad at you, Pete." - I asked.

"Nope. In fact, she thought of a way to punish me. She didn't tell me she had the coat for 3 days." - Pete was angry on himself.

"Well, that's something. Woman are good in those matters."
..........

There are many things we lose in our lifetime. From material objects to soul mates. The whole life is all about lost and found of these things. Sometimes when we find it, it brings joy; sometime it doesn't. The same feeling goes when we lost a thing. It is so strange as to why we change our moods when we lose/find things.

Strange, isn't it?