I have reached
Abbottabad safe and secure. It’s 1 a.m. and it was indeed a long day. The
weather here is as cozy as I was expecting it to be; the sky is as clear as it
was 12 years back when me and my friends used to lie down on the water tank
tops and stare at the stars for hours; my niece and nephew are cuter than ever
and their excitement to see me washed away my tiredness from all the
travelling.
The day started with a
call-come-alarm by a sales man at 8:30 a.m. I was late for work, 9: 15 a.m. and
I was office. The usual pouring of calls started and it was 12 noon already. I
had by than planned the production for the next 2 days. With much excitement, I
circulated the mail of my chutti,
among the concerned, and seconds later I was on my way home.
It’s been six months
since I have entered the professional world; IT IS as harsh as they say, but it’s worth the experience and
exposure. Our sales force is master of their art and they demand the same from
me. It was insane to fulfill that criterion when I joined but now I am getting
better at it (or at least I think I am ;p). It is definitely easier now, not
only because I am learning but also because I have a very good boss and I have
gotten along with a few people at work. The people are very competent,
cooperative and helpful. Its fierce competition; if you do well you are
highlighted like a candle in a dark night and if you make a blunder that too –
fortunately/ unfortunately- spreads like wild fire. Okay! coming back to the
point- I am on vacation. To be very honest, I was feeling a little guilty when
I left; who will look after my work? I am needed now, but then again when will
I not be? When will there be a perfect time to go on a vacation? I don’t know
but I am pretty sure that my family will accept me lazy and useless, so the
guilt didn’t stay too long.
Cellphone off, laptop
packed and placed safely at home. I had burned the boats and was on my way to
Abbottabad- slept half the way. The journey was pleasant till Hassan Abdal. By then I had finally
convinced my family to hear my melodious voice. As soon as I started singing;
the sky changed its colors to rainbow, the grass became greener, flowers
started to blossom, birds stopped chirping.. Well, unluckily the only thing
that stopped was our car that too after colliding with another one. We were
overtaking and the other car was too from the other side. *BOOOM*. The cars
kissed, it wasn’t a pleasant one. My dad, at first, parked the car in center of
the road and he and my brother got off to see the after effects of it on the
vehicles. Our car was bigger and was less affected but the other car had almost
almost lost half its right side – the windshield, bumper, bonnet, even the
tyre. Seconds after witnessing this, my dad sat in the car and started driving.
On this, my brother rushed towards us, opened the door of the moving vehicle
and jumped in- he thought we were running away. To his embarrassment, my dad
was just parking the car on road side. Me and my siblings had a good laugh at
it hours later. After 20 minutes of silent gazing at the cars, the crowd that’d
gathered, disappointed to see no fight, started to discuss cheap Bollywood
movies. Like C’mon people!! CHEAP, at least have some heart and discuss the
classy Bollywood movies only. Like Pakistanis, both the parties admitted their
mistake and left at a good note.
In the mean while
another car was arranged for us to continue our journey. On reaching our
destination city, we stopped by the shell-shop of PSO (Yes! I know the irony)
tobuy some biscuits and candies for my nephew. And after that, without waiting
a second, we went straight to my sisters. She’d prepared a delicious meal (as
she is now and constantly calling for my help as I write this). After dinner my
parents left for guest room, leaving us kids behind. We went for a walk after
dinner, had coffee to go with the weather, updated each other on our lives,
laughed at my brother’s action earlier today, THANKED GOD that we no one was
hurt from the accident and that all damage was materialistic and so much more.
It’s 2:00 a.m. now – I
am a slow write and a lousy cook. Day 1 ends with this
note. For all the people in Lahore- stay hot!
*
If someone from work reads my blogs; out of these three and a half days, one
was Saturday and one was Sunday- please do the math! And also IT WAS AN
EMERGENCY TRIP NOT A FUN-ONE AS IS OBVIOUS.
**
This was written on paper and is being posted online later.
