The
first two months of 2013 are over and they have turned into memories. My memory
bank has now some extra lockers where fresh memories are stacking up. Among
those newly added lockers, there’s one that will always bring a smile on my
face and that locker is of 01st January, 2013 – the very first day
of the year. For me, 2013 is passing rather quickly as compared to the last two
years. I still remember the first day of 2012 that I had spent like a slothful
snail. But this year, it was very much opposite. It just seems yesterday, when
I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling on the night of 29th
December, 2012, trying to plan something interesting for 01st Jan.
But,
almost all my plans ended with one or the other flaw; so, I had to discard all
my lucrative ways of welcoming the year. Had I been at home, this brainstorm
wouldn’t have been necessary, but I wasn’t and hence, the plan. My very first
idea of greeting the day was a lousy one (sleeping late till 11 am in the
morning as my very generous office heads decided to grant a holiday on that
day). So, I continued searching for better ideas. My next thought was to have
tasty fried chickens, but for me, my Mom is the best person to prepare this
dish and as I wasn’t at home, I immediately kicked out this idea.
The
next one was to visit a decent restaurant that served extra-delicious food.
Unfortunately, I was running on a low-budget scheme at that time, which meant
that I couldn’t pay heavy load on my wallet; hence, this idea was formidable
for my wallet. After checking and cross-checking the probabilities of all my
ideas, I finally gave up on brainstorming and decided to embrace the day as it
would turn out to be. But, I did ask one thing from God, which was a different
and unique start to the year. My wish was granted as I did have the most
unusual start to 2013. I spent the very first day of this year hunting the city
for vampire fangs.
Yes,
you read it right – vampire fangs. This hunt was the outcome of the theme party
suggestion which was offered to our HR by my mischievously innovative
colleague, Gaganpreet who was accompanied in this task by the ultra-intelligent
ME. :P What was more appreciable than the suggestion was the very thoughtful
nature of our HR department to shoot the mail in the end of our last working
day of 2012 which was 31st December, which meant that we were left
with just a single day for preparation.
Both
Gagan and I were predetermined to be vampires for the day, but we felt that
just two of us weren’t enough to scare people; so we included Hina in our team,
and after office hours, we were on our way to become vampires. Wow! That was
some preparation. Hina and me hunted the shops on the 31st night
(when we were supposed to be partying around) and Gagan and me spent the entire
day of 01st Jan to gather all the things (when, again, we should
have been hanging around). What caused so much pain for us to find the teeth
was the inappropriate time that we chose for teeth-patrolling.
When
I opened my eyes on the pleasant morning of 01st January, every
artery and vein of my body was aware of the fact that I’ll have to go on
hunting, even before I turned into a vampire. At 11:30 am, Gagan and I set out
on our journey again. We knew that finding the ‘fangs’ was going to be an
uphill struggle and so, just to have some encouragement, we first went to
Gurudwara (a place of worship for Sikhs) to seek God’s blessings. After leaving
the Gurudwara, we went straight to collect our lenses. Getting the lenses was
less tedious as Hina and I completed that part of homework on the previous day.
But, the teeth – they were the real cause of our trouble. It took us almost
thirty shops (and all our energy and precious time of the precious day) before
we could finally shout ‘Hurrah’.
However,
all our efforts paid off on 02nd January, when our colleagues were
awed by our transformation. We were poured with appreciation from known as well
as unknown colleagues. We even won the prize for the best costumes. That day, I
came back to my room extremely pleased because we spent a quality time with our
‘vampire-selves’. At night, I sat down and looked back at the cascade of events
of the past two days. There was no doubt at all that those days were hectic and
back breaking, but I was happy that my wish my fulfilled and that I got to spend
my new year as a pseudo active-vampire rather than a slothful snail. J
