My Journey To The 'Sixth' Floor

It was not just another usual day. It was one of those f***ing days with a double exam looming over my head. My head was fuming because of the ‘formulae-one’ racing in my head (the first exam being ‘Mathematics’). It was almost 8 in the morning and I along with my flat mates (every one except for Priyanka, she was skipping the whole tiring process of breakfast) almost ran to the mess hall. "Oooh………" That was the collective response from every one of us seeing the menu for breakfast. It was Pav-Bhaji (Well… Even though it tasted good in the initial days, now I am quite bored of all these… No offense, but I really want some good South Indian food!). 

Now to continue with my story, the bhaji was also fuming at us (Hell… Give us a break!). I somehow managed to gulp down two pieces of pav and was leaving the hall for the 8.20 a.m. bus to the college (we have shuttle service of bus to and from the college, you see), when I remembered I hadn’t taken my library text which was to be returned that God-Forbidden day. It was already 8.19 a.m. as per my watch. I decided to return it the next day and casually asked Anamika (my flat mate) the fine for late return. She replied ‘I think its 5 per day!’ “FIVE??!” At that moment I didn’t feel like wasting my golden five rupee coin for NOTHING. I ran back to take the elevator to my floor, which was the ‘6^th’.

Usually (Again!), there were two lifts. But that specific day, one of them decided to take a ‘break’. So my only option was to wait for the only lift which had taken up the extra load for I wasn’t ready to climb a dozen fleet of stairs (Please!). I pressed the indicator button and waited quite patiently (Grr...). It finally sputtered in front of me and opened its doors. Thank you savior! I jumped right in and pressed the button to my floor, hoping all the while no one else would press the button along my journey to the sixth floor.

After what seemed like hours, it came to a stop. As soon as I got out, I saw the door to my flat wide open. I ran in. I stopped in midst to my room to check the geyser mains (we were to switch off the mains of the geyser every day before we leave), but the goddamn lid of the mains was not coming loose. I fought with it for a moment, thinking all the while it hadn’t had any problem in the morning. I cursed the mains quite violently and ran off to Priyanka’s room screaming for her “Priyaaaaaaaaaa….!” And stopped in short. There was no Priyanka. Instead there were three unfamiliar faces staring at me.

I could feel my mouth gaping open. What The HELL!

I asked them: Where is Priyanka?

All three of them: Which Priyanka? There is no Priyanka here!

I thought I had some problem with my hearing or was it my brain playing tricks on me? No way! It was too exhausted even to think properly. In short, I was totally confused.

I gathered my muddled wits and shot back: What are you girls doing in my flat?

They seemed taken aback. Slowly they looked at each other and said in unison: Whose flat, did you say?

There! I could feel something clicking back into position slowly inside my head.

I asked in a small voice: Hmm… Ermm… This is….???

I left the sentence open for them. Hey come and fill up the blank, girls. Don’t just stand there looking at me as if am crackbrained. I knew the answer before they opened their mouths (Not exactly. Though I knew I was in the wrong flat and on the wrong floor!).

One of them answered: This is 42!

Oops… Mine was 62!!! In my haste, I had accidentally pressed the 4^th floor button and had ended up myself in a mess (It was a mess… At least for me!).

I managed to mumble an apology and shot off from the flat. And jumped straight into the lift which was thankfully on the right floor at the right time. As I sat down on my seat in the bus (At last!), I checked the time. It was only (NOTE WELL… ONLY!!) 8.21 a.m. It seemed every embarrassing moment happened in a matter of a few seconds but leaved a lifelong impression in our minds. If only… Those two minutes hadn’t happened. If only… I had taken my book without fail. If only…