Mind Maze, The

Hating to wake up every morning. Its a nightmare opening the paper and reading mood-spoiling news. I still do it. I still read it. The sickness sets in immediately. The mind goes into a maze.

What all should I do today? What all can I do today? Can I step onto the street and come back home safely? I'm taking a risk with this one. What if some stupid guy draped in 'pink' misses his shopping-mall-window-pane target and breaks my head with a stone? What if I meet a friend on the road and some cop comes and arrests us for forming a 'group' on the road? What is happening to the city I only just began to explore and love?

I gotta buy some stuff. I gotta get some vaccinations done. I need to rush to the bank to finish up the financial stuff. I need to meet my friends before I leave the country. I need to meet relatives/family. I need to step outside home for all this. When do I do all this? Life cannot afford to go out of gear because of some stupid 'pink' guys who are lead by lying Pinocchios with noses so big that the point is way too obvious!

I go out to buy stuff. I go get my vaccinations done. I reach the bank amid all worries about closing... oh! And the bank is another whole new problem at hand. We have these 'bankers' to deal with! The T issue is nothing before this. Applying for a loan for the first time? Aha! Enjoy the ride of your life! You ask what documents you gotta bring to finish up the process, and they lazily say, "Ah! Your usual visa, passport copies, stamps, BURP! (no "excuse me" follows), and yeah.. that's it". And you go there the next day with the required documents and the lady at a counter gives you a letter and says, "Get a Rs.10000 registrar stamp on this". Bam! They mention docs but not the money? And here comes the tighter slap. She gives me a draft with recipient as the bank itself and the value on that? "Rs 1,21,583 /-" "Pay that downstairs and come back now". NOW? What do you think I'd carry that amount in my pocket and walk around??? That 'simple' thing cost us a whole day.. how very appropriate when time's happily running out! The next day, another bandh. Tell me something new...

These frustrations piled up so bad, my head got jammed for a few hours! I entered the mind maze. Trying to find a way out. Every turn seemed to lead me only deeper and deeper in but never out. The walls were getting higher, darker and creepier. The self-confidence was ebbing. It was matter of holding on to the last fragments of confidence.

Somehow I held on and things got clearer. Some quick calculations led us to understand why we were expected to pay that amount in the first place. What lessons for first timers!

Reached the end of the maze at least! The cup was there, gleaming in the darkness. Is this another Harry Potter plot? Will this portkey transport me to a darker, creepier, more dangerous place after all this struggle i went through? I just hope not. But it may well be so.. only the next year will tell...