Valentine’s Day 2018
Valentine’s day – 2018 was supposed to be a very special day for me. I had been eagerly looking forward to it and so much that I had applied for a leave for the 14th almost a month prior to it! Off Course, I could have easily taken a day off from my unplanned leave quota but then at no cost did I want I to miss this particular occasion (in the evening ). And this should adequately explain the gravity of the occasion and thus my odds (or evens maybe) of not being in office on the 14th.
But then I realised that maybe sleeping late on 14th and going back to work on 15th wouldn’t be a very good idea so I postponed my leave to 15th (there goes my month long planning to the drain).
On 14th, I woke up early so as to not miss out on my daily workout because of my ahem, engagements (read multiple engagements) that evening. A gym comrade who was pretty confounded on seeing me early, instead at my usual workout slot in evening, asked me if I had changed my timings. I politely told him that I was making an exception for that day. He presumed the reason to be the Date (14th) and spoke with an evil grin “oh, Valentine’s, haan. Good. Lucky you“. I smiled back as if in acknowledgment to his remarks. Sure, I felt lucky!!
Coming back to the point, my usual office work went on and the evening saw me hurriedly and happily pack away my bags. But my colleagues had some suspicions of their own and wanted me to confer their heartfelt ‘Namaste’ to their Bhabhiji. I don’t know if my reaction to their action was good enough, but by the time I left, I was all smiles. The happiness on my face had settled their conjectures.
In my excitement, I drove almost 20 kms to reach the venue on the Date! It was my cousin’s engagement and while she officially had met her valentine, I got to meet my family. What more can one expect on the day of love! Every single person who works away from his hometown would know the feeling of meeting their beloved people after a long time. The gym friend was right when he said I was lucky. Alas, my colleagues weren’t but then I ensured their Namaste was conveyed (though to the not-intended recipients.
But the day of presumptions and suspicion was yet to come to an end, especially when my maami(Aunt) strongly believed her 6th sense that said that I was running an affair behind everyone’s back. She spent nearly two days bribing me in various ways so that I would reveal something to her. It was funny because I couldn’t manage to explain to her that I wouldn’t have been with them, had a certain ‘She’ said a yes.
To add to her, I had my friends sarcastically state,“Bohut thaka hua lag raha hai, raat ko der se soya tha kya ”(You look very tired . Did you sleep late?) when I got to office on the following day. I readily agreed yet again as the affairs of the Date did tire me out and well the rumours are good and all. Later at the scrum meeting, my Manager asked me how was my Valentine’s and the entire team burst out laughing.