Gettting out of my house to get to office as every morning. My car clock says 8:42AM. I can't believe 2 weeks in a row and I am still making the same time every day.. I am turning into a machine. Alas!
I try to change a bit in my course of action, so as to feel human again. But there is not a lot to do when you are stuck in the drivers seat of the car and paying attention on 65 speed limit of the interstate. So instead of my regular Ipod, I decide to start the radio. But I am not in mood of playing the blarring hip-hop or soft country music or the instrumental jazz. Still I just turn it on without giving another thought and a guy(radio-man as I will hereafter call him) is talking about 'Barack Obama'.
Yes!! the news is on from Market Place New York on 90.3.
Well Since I hardly read a paper in the morning and don't have time to watch news on TV, my only source of news is the BBC website which I have access to from the desk in office. Yep a Software engineer's life. And since its impossible for me to bury my head in New York times in the morning, this feels like a pleasant change. For the 15 min drive to my office, I get completely transported to the busy streets of NewYork and around, with commotion, stock rates, traffic, crowd pushing their way in and out of path-rails, people who make page3-of-fashion-section walking on the roads with aristocratic suitcases, waiting a while at the buzzing round-the-corner coffee shops to pick up breakfast, news from important places like white house, NSE, WallStreet pouring in. I get all excited and ready to be at work. Being a city girl at heart, these things catch on to me.
Wait!!, Can I smell coffee, bagel...Can i? This wakes me up a bit. I want to get out and stop at a bustling coffee shop, when my exit 252 calls for me to get off the interstate. Good God, the coffee worked (atleast the virtual one). I din't miss the exit. I check my clock again 5 min to 9. I dont have enough time to squeeze a coffee and more so I don't have a bustling coffee shop around the corner. Drat!
I am suddenly on the slow moving, calm quite country road. This reminds me I am in a small city which at times and mostly on internal roads feels like a town. No-one is in a hurry to move forward. People are chilled and relaxed. Atleast I like the look on their faces. No tension, no rush.
The radio-man goes on Dollar rate, Gas prices fall.....Well did he just say gas prices..Did he just say "Fall"...Woooo I look at my gas tank, showing half full.. Well I don't need to get any gas today. Maybe I can just wait and listen to this news every morning for it to fall more. Maybe I will just make it in time for the lowest-gas-price-day-of-the-week. Now I am happier in the self analyzed version of what the radio-man just said. My eyes are still set on the couple of gas stations near the exit showing high prices near to 4/gallon in font size 72.
Just then the radio man changes the topic and now its a zero-calorie sweetener. New found from some herb. And all aerated drink companies are rushing for it. Diet coke just became 'Anorexic coke' because you might just loose the will to drink it anymore. Hey coke lovers, just kidding here!! I think they should even work on changing the shape of the bottle. Well why not, when companies have already worked on changing color like the pepsi blue. No try is going to harm the already declining market of diet coke (quoting the radio-man here). Another sweetener, well why does it keep reminding me of coffee!! I can take it no more. Just then I halt at exactly 2 min to 9 in front of my office. Look at the building. take a deep breathe, visualize it as the tall 60 storey office (well in reality its just 4 storey ;), say hi to a couple of people on my way in, stop at the break room, get my dose of coffee - feel important carrying it to my seat and have my first sip. Yup! back to normal, the first sip did it :)
