The Monday that Was!

If Mondays were to be precursors, then I will surely look forward to this week. Generally Monday is the most despised day all over, it being the “another” first day of the next five days in office.
As expected, this Monday was uneventful in the way it started. Familiar faces dragging themselves into office, still in a state of trance, cursing the clocks for turning fast, staring at the office calendar wondering if it is really another Monday! Well, I for instance, always pinch myself hard on a Monday morning to reconnect to reality.
Right after lunch (My canteen food is yuck), a few incidents unfolded which changed the course of the day and in the process ended up promising an exciting week ahead.
On board a bike nicknamed “Grasshopper” because of its colour and soon-to-be-realised trustworthy shock absorbers, a friend and I decided to play truant from office. It was reminiscent of those bygone school days when truancy was practised for the sake of thrill and measured as a count of heroism.
People mellow down with age, grow more sensible and behave responsibly. In my case, the clocks must have turned anti-clock.
The perennially congested roads in front of my office offered little scope for a cruise. Just try and put together Kolkata’s roads, her erratic traffic, a bike and two bikers without helmets- you have just learned the recipe for disaster. Somehow managing to wriggle free of the “bus-car-auto-cycle” chaos, we proceeded towards our destination.
The roads were in a state of disrepair, loose stones and gravel made us all the more vulnerable. At one ill-famed crossing, as we braked our bike didn’t respond well. It skidded on the gravel. In the next few moments, I saw my friend fall. I saw myself falling and then with a dull thud the bike landed on my leg. It dragged us a few metres on the road but more than that it had put a spanner in our plans! Luckily though, the road demons were busy somewhere else.
I could taste dirt! There was ample of it on the road to incite my taste buds. My first reaction was to spit out and then check for any broken bones. Thankfully my rickety framework survived the fall and the impact of the bike on me. I twisted free my left leg which had got nicely entangled in the rear wheel and tried to stand up. Shaken but steady, I saw much to my dismay that my trousers were torn, my right knee neatly lacerated and my palm dotted with bruises. The same injuries were reflected on my friend and fellow biker. But both of us were still strong and not dazed enough to abandon the trip. With bleeding knees, cut knuckles, dirty clothes, torn trousers and loads of sound advice from passers-by, we continued.
At this point, all I will tell you is that in The Alchemist, the author Paulo Coelho had said that life presents us with omens. Our wisdom lies in perceiving those omens and understanding them. I had decided to ignore the omen in spite of seeing it. And I paid for it. What happened afterwards, how successful the trip was remains to be said and will be a matter of deep speculation!
Yesterday I played truant from office but checkmated certain death!!