I am a happy guy. Simple fellow with simple thoughts. But it is unbelievable how stressful some mornings can turn out to be. I get on an auto to reach the bus stop and as soon as I give him a 10rs note, he starts performing some kind of a ritual with it. I was apparently his first customer of the day. What if his day turns out to be bad with poor collections or some cop stops him and fines him. He is sure to put the blame on me. I cannot take that responsibility man. That is a huge baggage to carry on my shoulders considering that I only paid him 10rs. Actually it should be 8rs only but I cannot demand for the change now that I am indirectly responsible for that guy’s future in some way. This could also turnout to be the best day of his life and then his family would bless me. Suppose he wins some lottery (don’t know if they still sell those here. They sure do in some parts of Kerala.) then he would thank me in his prayers for the rest of his life which is pretty sweet. But all this is full on pressure man.
And I am not even in the bus till now. Sighhh….
Imagine the scariest roller coaster ride in the world. Place my emotions in the cart and send it for a spin.. That is perhaps half of what it is like on a bus ride to my office. Let me explain in brief what a normal day would be like.
As soon as I find a seat and sit, I start listening to songs on my iPod. One, because I love music and two, to avoid small talk with my co-passengers which is painfully pointless to say the least. But as it turns out, it is not much of a help. A guy comes and sits beside me. All macho and tucked in. He then without any hesitation proceeds to look down upon both literally and figuratively. What the hell did I do to that guy?? It is not a competition of who the better man is. Of course he is taller and stronger but that doesn’t give him the right to see me as an inferior being. Hmm may be it was true in the prehistoric age when men had to prove to women of their worth by showing off their physical attributes. They had to compete with other men constantly because of the natural need for reproduction love and because biology/God gave the power of choice to women. While traces of this phenomenon still exist in our present day social structure, why the hell should there be a competition between me and the guy beside me in this bus right now? It’s not like there is a girl near by who would later have sex with the better man after all this is over and I am definitely sure that there is no way either of us would go back to our caves and inform our respective mates about how emasculating the whole experience was and that she should leave us for a better man.
Anyway all these assumptions and theories aside, the on going competition is happening whether I find it reasonable or not. Even without knowing why, I should start showing off my attributes in order to prevail as the better man. Modern day utilities and devices comes to the aid in several of such situations. As I was already using my iPod, I clearly have the head start in that category. He takes out his 5 and something inch mobile phone from his pocket, instantly overpowering me. He then proceeds to play some game which I can only assume is “Candy Crush” (from all the hate statuses on Facebook). A part of me wanted to ignore and go to sleep but this is no longer a game to pause in the middle and take a nap. this is war.. if you stop, you are as good as dead… or not.. what ever, this is serious!!
Half way through the journey and we are pretty much evenly placed. Then he starts to make phone calls to his friends making plans for the coming weekend. That is a home run for sure because I have no friends. I look at my phone pretending to read the messages that were never really there. It clearly doesn’t fool him. I wanted to take out my 7-8 inch thing and prove once and for all I am the better man. I am of course talking about my iPad. Out of desperation, I take it out and start reading a book. Unfortunately all these e-books deny the facility to show the cover of the book that you are reading which has the ability to project you as a pretentious yet sophisticated person. But the good news is that I am back on top.
Then all of a sudden something unexpected happens. a couple of girls walk towards us. I am all confused. Are they following the on going Battle Royale? Are they spellbound at the sheer intensity of our fight?
“Ladies seat” they say looking smirky.
We now stand there like idiots while other people look at both of us like we are a couple of cruel misogynists. If you think that this is the end of the race, you haven’t been more wrong. That guy will not give up so easily. He masterfully places himself near a seat ready to pounce on it as soon as it is vacant, kind of like an ex-girl friend’s new boy friend. Damn.. he is back in the lead. I have to stand while he sits. All the effort so far gone to the dogs. I start feeling like a loser. But as Abraham Lincoln or Abdul Kalam or any other famous “quoting” person quoted for Facebook pictures, in times of despair and when all hope is lost, there comes a kick ass idea that will make everything okay. I remembered a small incident from my college days.
I had a friend(I had) who was rejected by another girl (who was also my friend. Was) and eventually he went on to start a relationship with a much cuter(his words not mine) girl which for some reason pissed off the first girl very badly. Then one day he was going somewhere with his new girl friend and came across the other girl on the street. What he did next was true genius or incredibly stupid. But it worked. That’s the point. He looked away with a frown and pretended as if he was chewing gum. Yes you heard me right.. CHEWING GUM!!! Which is not even real. He just pretended like he was chewing it. Why? Nobody knows.
Nothing in the history of mankind can even come close to chewing gum in making a man look like a total asshole and that he does not give a shit about anything that is happening. Try looking at yourself in the mirror while chewing gum with a frown on your face. Tell me if you don’t feel like punching yourself in the face. As soon as I remembered the story, I took out the gum from my bag, and started chewing it like it was the last day of my life. I don’t know how that matters but I am trying to portray the intensity of emotions. With a smirk, looking away towards the horizon, it is like I don’t even care about anything anymore. Nothing he was doing or was going to do will provoke me now that I am chewing gum and looking away. That is the ground rule and the new commandment when it comes to being a top quality asshole. That ladies and gentleman is the end of the race. I win fair and square and at the end of it all, prevail victorious with a few bruises. I was successful in proving to myself and that I am an asshole and that left me with mixed feelings about everything that happened.
This is basically what any normal day would be like and the stress doesn’t stop here. All this is just in the first one hour and even before my day starts at the office. What happens there is an entirely different story, brutal to say the least. But that is for some other time. This will be all for now. Thanks for reading. Hope this helps you in some way or the other during your daily battles. If you find this pointless and stupid, you most probably are right. There might never be any stress and it perhaps is all in my head and that I am acting all paranoid. In which case I might need some therapy as soon as possible. Anyways thank you for dropping by and do stay tuned for more 🙂