Please don't get me wrong, I really like you!

"See you at 6pm :)" was the message that flashed on his mobile. He smiled and looked at the watch; it was time for him to leave to meet her.


**********************

Time: 6.15pm

She was sitting quietly in the cafe and he was looking at her expecting her to look at him and speak. They were in the same position for the past 15 minutes. They had ordered whatever they wanted and from then on there was silence. This was the third time they were meeting personally. He was thinking whether he said something that upset her in their last meeting or when they spoke last night, but he could not think of anything that would upset her.

He had known her for the past 8 months now and never was she upset. They met online and exchanged their interests and communicated with each other for hundreds of times through email and chat before they took their relationship to the next level i.e. exchanged their phone numbers. They had not seen each other yet, but were very good at communicating with each other. On phone, they gave space to each other and had fixed timings to talk with each other, but messages could be sent anytime as per their protocol. They were both having fun, in this friendship or relationship; at least that's what he thought. She was thinking hard and he was worried seeing this. In this acquaintance of 8 months, they never had a quarrel. He thought there must be something that he had done that was not right or maybe something that he had said that was not of her liking, but he also was thinking that she was alright just before they met as she sent messages throughout the day. They spoke the previous night and everything seemed normal. What is it that could have gone wrong in this short time?

He patiently waited for her to say something. The waiter brought their order and placed it on the table. She thanked the waiter and slowly picked up the snacks to eat. After some time, she left some money on the table and left without saying goodbye.

As he saw her leaving the cafe, a message flashed on his mobile - "How was your day?”

It was from her. He wanted to ignore the message, but he responded as he would normally respond giving some details on how his day went. At 10pm his phone rang and he answered it. This was the usual time they talk in the evening. This has been the case for the past few months; the day they exchanged their phone numbers. She spoke as if nothing was wrong. He was surprised at first and wondered what could have gone wrong in the evening, but stopped himself from asking the question. They went to bed after speaking for about an hour. He forwarded a "Good Night" message and she replied with a smiley and messaged "Good Night". He immediately replied, "See you tomorrow" to which he did not get any response. He waited for about 15-20 minutes, but she did not reply. He sent another message "Awake?” waited for few more minutes and thought she was asleep already and he went to sleep.

In the middle of the night, he woke up to drink some water and checked the message and he had a message from her and the message read...

"Good Morning. I hope you had a good night's sleep. I did not want to message you before because that would disturb your sleep. I cannot meet you again. I don't know what to say; I like you very much. I like the way you speak and I like the way you maintained dignity all through these months that we have known each other. You have respected me and I respect you totally, but there is something that is not right between you and me being together. I like the way our friendship has blossomed and would love to continue it the way it has been as long as possible. Maybe we have taken a wrong decision by meeting each other. Please don't misunderstand - you have become a part of my daily routine and I will continue to talk to you and write to you - but, it was very awkward to meet you. I don’t know maybe it was something wrong on my part that I am not able to communicate with you as freely as I could when on phone. I tried for 2 days to be comfortable talking to you in person, but it seems that it is better to have a virtual friend to whom I can speak my mind than to have to relate a face to the voice I hear. I will try to forget your face and try to be virtual friends forever. Please don't get me wrong, I really like you!"

**********************

A moment to cherish...

She slowed down and started walking slowly while her husband continued jogging and was a little ahead of her in the neighborhood park. She suddenly felt giddy and thought that she would fall down. She held a tree nearby and waited to become stable. She tried to remember what she ate the previous night or early in the morning. She just had her breakfast, but the previous night she and her husband had food on a road-side stall and a myriad thoughts crossed over her mind.


Her husband had warned her of having food from that road side stall, but she turned a deaf ear to whatever he said. She loved roadside food! She believed that to enjoy life, one should have the roadside food. It shows the culture of the city you live in and on top of that she hated the social clubs and the so-called elite restaurants that neither offer tasty food nor let you enjoy the food thinking about the price of each item on the menu. Not that they could not afford! They both certainly could afford these elite restaurants and they go out and visit these restaurants may be once or twice a month, but these road-side stalls have their own charm. You could have tasty dishes before or after your dinner without thinking twice - if only, you were not very particular about hygiene.

She was still struggling to control herself. She tried to look up and relax and now was looking at the morning sun that just came up and was piercing her eyes. She shut her eyes in disdain and looked down immediately. She turned around taking support of the tree for her back; laid her head to rest on the tree and slid down to sit on the ground in the mud. She did not care about how dirty the surroundings were as all she wanted to do was to take rest. If possible, she wanted to lie down and sleep there. She was not able to understand what was happening to her. She was, otherwise, very healthy woman and did not have any major ailments, but today she was not in her control. She sat down and closed her eyes trying to breathe deep & slow and trying to regain control over herself.

Noticing that his wife was not with him, he stopped and turned around to see that his wife was sitting under a tree. He ran back with a water bottle in his hand and checked with her about how she was feeling just when she was regaining control. He, being a doctor, asked her to take some water and relax while he checked her pulse. He observed that she was tense about having such an uncontrollable giddiness though it was for a short time.

He said in a very low tone, "You may have to go through some tests to get it confirmed, but I think you are about to become a MOM! Congratulations to both of us!!"

Relieved of the tension, she blushed, smiled & hugged her husband and made a mental note to take care of her health for the next few months.

P.S. Post dedicated to all Mothers. Happy Mothers' Day!


********************

Vision 2020 - AHB's experience

Disclaimer: All the incidents and characters are purely fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. In case, any of the events described here happen to anyone in 2020 (or before or after 2020) then the readers are expected to forget that they read this narration.



**** START *****



This story is about an average human being (AHB) who works in a software company.



Year: 2020

Date: Some Random Date in the year

Time: 6.45am in the morning.

Place: MLPL (Multi-Level Parking Lot) in a software company



AHB: Ooh, I am getting late. The call is at 8am and I am still entering the MLPL. I wonder whether I will get to park the carbot or not.



He swipes in and gets into the MLPL. He goes around to all the parking levels and is disappointed that all the slots are taken up. He curses himself.



AHB: I should not have watched the IPL13 matches. I dozed off late and could not come in by 6am and now, I will be missing this important call that is at 8am. Maybe, I will have to go out of the entrance and park my carbot outside the campus.



He travels down in his carbot and just before exiting, he sees that a parking slot has just become empty. He gets down from his carbot and orders to his carbot "D14".



The carbot doesn't move. He notices that he did not pick his ID card from the carbot and so it did not move. He thinks that he should remember to keep the carbot's carpod in the sun so that it gets charged and it announces why it is not moving. It is only giving out important messages and not announcing everything.



He again orders "D14". Carbot responds:



Carbot: 'NOT EMPTY. NOT EMPTY.



AHB: What do you mean, not empty? It is empty. The other carbot just left.



AHB then notices that the carbot just left the MLPL after the owner sat in the carbot. He realizes that the system does not know that the parking location is empty unless it leaves the MLPL.



AHB: The system should be intelligent enough to notice that the carbot has left the parking space, why should the carbot leave the lot to recognize the empty space! The person who developed this must be a fool.



He now orders his carbot "D14" and the carbot promptly drives itself to D14 and parks itself. He goes to the elevators although he was on the first floor and swipes his card and while the elevator comes to the first floor, he thinks -



AHB: I have unnecessarily used the elevator. I am on the 1st floor, I could have easily walked - now Rs.1000 will be deducted from my salary for using the elevator.



He pacified himself almost immediately as using the stairs also would have cost him Rs.500. He takes the elevator and comes down to the entrance of the building. He puts the bag into the scanner with his laptop inside the bag and swipes on the machine with his id card and the scanner starts. The security person wearing 'Ray-Ban' glasses sits in the shade and wishes him 'Good Morning' while the bag is scanned through and shows the items in the bag onto the screen for the security personnel to view these. The barcode on the laptop is matched with the swipe-in entry and after the scan; AHB takes his bag and leaves to his building.



While walking by he sees the e-smoking zone that is built on the way to his building. He notices that men and women go into the e-smoking zone and just stand there. The smoke is filtered and reused to remove any bacteria so that the users can enjoy the smoke without any adverse effects. He hears two people walking ahead of him discussing about the e-smoke zone:



Person 1: It was better in earlier days; we used to take our own cigarettes and used match sticks or lighter to light our cigarettes. Nowadays, it is all reused smoke; I am not getting the same satisfaction as before.



Person 2: Dude, think about the environment; this facility boasts of reusing the smoke and the recent advancements in technology have made it to reuse the same smoke for about a week and these facilities are maintained over the weekend to fill in new smoke for the next whole week. Previously this campus used to burn 5,000 cigarettes per day and now it is only burning 1,000 cigarettes per week!



He, not being a smoker, just walks past them and reaches his building. He opens the palm and keeps it in the sun and the time displays 7.30am. He tries to enter the building by swiping in, but then seeing others he remembers that he has to scan his finger too. His finger is scanned in the biometric device and he swipes his id card at the same time and walks past the turnstile to the elevator. He thinks twice before using the elevator and finally decides to use the stairs in order to save money. He takes the stairs to reach the 4th floor where his actual work is. Here again, he has to use the retina scanner and swipe in. The retina scanner does not recognize him and he goes to the restroom to wash his eyes so that the retina scanner can recognize him. He swipes the card on the tap and makes a bowl out of his palms. The water from the tap fills his hands and stops and without wasting a drop of water he keeps his eyes in his palms so that his eyes are cleared of all the dust and goes back to his wing entrance thinking, another Rs.200 deducted for this water.



He finally reaches his desk at about 8am and logs on to his system to see that the call is postponed to the next day. He checks other emails and replies to the ones that expect his reply and forwards with instructions that require delegation. After getting some work done and postponing some tasks for post lunch session he dreadfully walks towards the cafeteria for lunch.



***** INTERVAL ****



Menu reads:



Pan Pizza - Rs.2500

Sub of the day - Rs.2000

North Indian Meals (Full) - Rs.1800

South Indian Meals (Full) - Rs.1750

(Limited) Plate Meals (North Indian) - Rs.1400

(Limited) Plate Meals (South Indian) - Rs.1350

Any 1 item of your choice (Dosa, Idly, etc.) - Veg. - Rs.1000

Any 1 item of your choice (Non-veg) - Rs.1250.

Soft Drinks, Juices, Icecreams - Flat Rate - Rs.999



He feels sorry for himself to not have brought his own box from home that day and goes on to the counters. He orders one North Indian Full meals, but checks his wallet and sees that he has only Rs.1600 in his pocket. He immediately says that he wants the North Indian Plate meals (Limited). The person at the counter (vendor) asks him:



Vendor: Do you need a plate?

AHB: Of course, I need a plate. How else would I have food?

Vendor: It will cost you Rs.200 extra sir.

AHB: What!? But, how are others having it?

Vendor: Sir, most of the customers take plates for rent and when they return the plate, they get Rs.100 back. The same is applicable for spoons also; we charge Rs.100 for spoon and when they return the spoon we give them Rs.50 back.

AHB: (Surprised): But why do you need to charge for plate and spoon!?

Vendor: Sir, there were times when we had problems with spoons in our food courts. In order to curb the issue with spoons, we introduced this offer. It was successful - so, we extended it to plates and glasses.

AHB: (Calculating) Please change my order to 1 Masala Dosa and a plate for rent. Will I get the sambar and chutney or do I have to buy those separately?

Vendor: (Smiling) Sir, Sambar and Chutney are included in the price for Dosa. They will be served in the plate itself. Since you took the plate for rent - you will have a comfortable meal sir.

AHB: Where should I return this plate to get the money back?

Vendor: Sir, you have to give it near the 'Soiled Plates' counter to the right.

AHB: Thank You.



AHB goes to the Dosa counter, stands in the queue for 45 minutes to give the token. He is asked to stand in another queue to take the plate. He stands there for about 30 minutes and finally stands in the Dosa queue for 25 minutes to be served with a Dosa. He takes it and after searching for 20-25 minutes, he gets a corner seat on a table that still has flies all around and that is yet to be cleaned. Unable to bear the hunger, he sits there and immediately a person comes with a machine in his hand. Before he even asks the question, he says - 'Sir, please swipe your id in this machine. It costs Rs.100 to sit and eat here."



Without asking further questions, AHB swipes his ID card and finishes his lunch and waits in the queue to return the plate. When he reaches the start of the queue - The person says "Sorry sir, no change - we do not have Rs.100. Please take a fresh spoon instead - it costs Rs.100 anyway". Unable to say no and thinking he would exchange it at the original cash counter; he takes the spoon and comes out of the queue. He stands in queue to wash his hands and repents that he should have paid Rs.100 for the spoon - he would not have spent the Rs.200 here for water and he would at least have saved this time of standing in the queue, but satisfies himself by saying that Dosa could not be eaten with a spoon.



He goes to the cash counter and gives the spoon to the person and expects Rs.100 in return. The vendor returns Rs.50. AHB is confused now and asks why he was paid only Rs.50 and the vendor responds:



Vendor: "Sir, I had told you that when you return the spoon you would get only Rs.50"

AHB: "But I returned the plate and got a fresh spoon because he did not have change."

Vendor: "Sorry sir, we do not know whether this spoon is fresh or not and cannot give you Rs.100. We have to wash it again. The rates of water, detergent and everything else have gone up. You are in software field and earn a lot sir. What is this petty Rs.50 for you!? Please understand sir, please"



AHB doesn't understand what to say and just leaves the place and is now back at his desk to complete the remaining work carefully taking stairs (because they are charged only once per day) and is happy that the retina scanner worked fine for the first time. He finishes his work at around 5.30pm and is ready to leave when the security guard asks him to swipe a machine that is for leaving the campus late. He says that he just finished his work and that it was only 5.30pm, but the guard says that since the company working hours were only for 8.5 hours including 0.5 hours of lunch and that he overstayed for about an hour, the overstay charges will be deducted from his salary. Having no other option, he swipes and goes to the MLPL and takes the stairs forgetting that he took the elevator in the morning. He realizes that with this swipe he would lose another Rs.500 now. Not caring much, he just goes home slowly letting his carbot take him home.



The next day he comes in to the entrance of the MLPL at 6am and realizes that he did not bring his ID Card. He goes to the security guard and informs the same and the security guard says -



"Sir, if you want to take a temporary pass; we will charge you only half salary - and if you want to take a permanent pass, then we need a complaint in the local police station and we will charge you 1 month complete salary. Please tell me which one you want to go with."



AHB has a weary face and decides to go back home and take off for that day instead of losing his salary and knowing that he cannot go around in the campus without his ID card. He turns around to leave for home and he receives 2 messages on his mobile:



Message 1: "Dear Employee, Based on the attendance records, you did not spend more than 8 hours in the working area. So, your leave was deducted. Your current leave balance is 5"

Message 2: "Dear Employee, Based on the attendance records, you have spent more time in the building than the actual working hours i.e. beyond 8.5 hours (considering your first swipe in and last swipe out). An amount of Rs.10000 will be deducted from your salary for this 1 hour. Please note that these charges cover your overstay in any building including the Food courts. Please get in touch with HR in case of any questions."



AHB just exclaims "What a day!"



**** THE END *****​

Simple things in life...

She was looking out of the window of the office bus that she was travelling in on a Friday morning when she saw a two wheeler being driven by a person with, maybe, his daughter in the back seat who was trying to read for an exam. She suddenly remembered her school/ college days when her dad used to drop her at the examination center. He would take leave on that day to make sure his daughter reaches the examination hall on time and used to wait till the exam was over to bring her back.




She missed him; she wondered what he was doing at that time and immediately called him. He spoke to her with usual questions about his son-in-law and his granddaughter. He asked whether she wanted to speak to her mom, but she politely refused saying that she was on the way to office. She cut the call and looked out the window again. The girl and her dad on the two-wheeler were gone.



She decided that she would go and meet her parents this weekend. It has been a long time since she visited them; maybe more than 15 days though they were in the same city. She wanted to go there and get pampered. She could be free; not that she did not have freedom in her house now, but to be at your parents' house has a different feeling than to be in your own house. You feel you are relieved of all the tensions. She wanted to have no control anymore. She thought it would be better to let someone else handle her life.



She had to get up early in the morning, get herself ready and get her daughter ready for school. Also, prepare breakfast, lunch for all 3 members in the family and as soon as she reached home, prepare dinner and make sure her daughter's homework is complete. If there was a party or a function on a weekday then it requires a little more planning and running around. After all this, she was thinking that she was not having enough time to spend with her parents ever. On top of this, she would have pressure at work and travel takes most of the time. With this busy life it was getting difficult for her to continue, but she was just trying to make sure that their future is safe.



You cannot always live in the present, she thought. There are so many things to take care of; daughter's studies and wedding, home loan, their retirement and many more things that worry her and thinking of this, she again pacified herself that whatever she was doing was right. She continued to look around looking specifically at no one and thinking nothing in particular.



Once she reached office, she kept aside all her thoughts and concentrated on finishing her work for the day. With required breaks, and spending quality time with friends at work during lunch, she finished her work and promptly went back to take the bus back to her house. As soon as she reached, she got fresh and prepared dinner; helped her daughter with her studies and went to bed after having their family dinner.



Next morning, she woke her daughter up for her final exam for that year. After sometime she wished her daughter 'All the best' for her exam and saw her off when her daughter got on to the two-wheeler with her Dad and opened the book and held it against his back to start revising.



She smiled, went back into the house, closed the door contented that her daughter was also growing up the way she did and was not missing the simple things in life.



******************** THE END *************************

~ R-Square