Wobbling Life _T.Choda

From brushing the teeth to tying up the shoe laces; from breakfast to carrying a bag; from dinner to bed. It was the day when everything went wrong. It was the most unforgettable day for me.

It was on this day that I was going to sit for an interview for ex-country training. The documents that I carried in my hand just proved to be otherwise. I was carrying the bag that had my personal documents and not the official documents.

“Tshering Choda,” came the peon with a list of candidates in his hands. I was called inside to face the panel of interviewers. The next ten minutes proved havoc for me as I could be clearly seen down from the feel in my face when I came outside.

 I silently and pathetically moved aside the other interviewee and took to heels as soon as I was out of their sight. I never expected my world to go upside down, at least not on this important day!

A ringtone from the cell phone blared in my pocket as I was walking. I retrieved it and saw the LCD display name of the caller. It said, “My Darling calling.” I thought why at this hour? I   answered the phone and found out that my sorrows were coming in battalions’ I was informed that my son had an accident and the phone started beeping. I couldn’t make head or tail of it. I called back and there was no tone. Then I checked my prepaid balance and to my disgust I was with no balance at all. 

 I stopped a taxi and ordered the driver to take me to  Bhur. I was there in a jiffy. I ran after paying his fare and to my surprise I saw my son in the sitting room coolly watching his favorite, “Tom and Jerry Tales.”  I called my wife aside and shouted pots and pans at her. This was never an issue before as I was a person with a cool temperament at least with my wife.  Out of dire frustration I spanked her there.

Being an educated woman I was charged to the police for battering her. Nevertheless a strict warning from the police in charge I was allowed to go.  

Back at home, the result of my interview blared in the radio and the marks were announced. The least mark from the eighty four candidates was announced. Mine was the least. Everybody including my neighborhood heard that!

It was dinner time, the slap on my wife’s face proved fatal as I had to go to bed without a grain of rice. The bedroom was locked from inside and I had to sleep in the sitting room with the bare necessities available- With my jacket and socks on, I slept on the thinly carpeted floor with quilt as my gho and prayed ‘LET TOMMORROW BE A BETTER DAY!’

Things started shaping out. I was served a hot cup of coffee. It seemed to me that my educated wife was more understanding. She had forgotten all of yesterdays’ happenings and started to act like wise. After sipping it, she apologetically came to me and informed that she was sorry for all that happened yesterday. I agreed to her and narrated that it wasn’t my day. She understood all.

Later that day I was invited for a dinner party by my friends. My friends presented me with loads of happiness. They said to me that though I wasn’t selected for the ex-country programme yet I was enrolled for the PGDE Programme. It was good news.

After that it was happiness in battalions for I got my allowances that were pending for more than a year. I was also impressed that my promotion that was due had been passed with an increase in my salary grade (VIII to VII).

There I saw my wife smiling with the corner of her eyes. I went there and asked her why she was smiling? She simply smiled more and said that happiness and sorrow are but a part of life. You can never predict it. True to her word I realized the wobbling of my life for yesterday and today was in two extremes.

After the party I went to my place and saw that my mother had come after a very long break. It was an added happiness to my already happy person.

Later that night we chatted till midnight about the goodness of the day and then shared how weak our minds were. To make a person happy or sad is but the degree of things that work out. Any how it was the day when I had the best sleep of my life for everything was in order. I did the usual Bhutanese amen and that had a best night sleep!