Old Habits Die Hard

Once upon a time, a little girl woke up one fine morning to find out that it was going to be her first day at school. She was excited at the prospect of going to school because, at last, she could join the elite club of children who went to school. Her cousins always kept telling her stories from their schools and now she would also be able to join in in their conversations. She had a kind of hazy idea as to what school was, but you never know what it is until you actually go through the ordeal.

She quickly finished all her morning chores and was ready to go. She had a new uniform to wear and she felt quite majestic wearing that. She also secretly enjoyed the fact that her parents didn't have uniforms to wear. And not just the uniforms, everything she had to take to school that day was new, new books, new bag, new pencils, new waterbottle and a colourful new umbrella. The feeling of importance she felt when she left home cannot probably be put down in words.

Her school was close to home and so she went walking to school with her mom. She looked all around to see if people were as excited as she was, but it seemed that nobody was even aware that it was her first day at school. When she reached school, her mom introduced her to a lady and told her that she was the teacher. She knew teachers were the ones who taught you at school. Quite suddenly, before she expected, the teacher took her hand and led her to the classroom leaving her mom behind. She wanted to go with the teacher but didn't want to leave her mom. Tears welled up in her eyes. The harder she fought the tears the stronger it flowed.

Her vision was blurred when she entered the classroom but she sensed it was a totally different world from what she was used to. Till then her parents were her world, but now it was a strange crowd. There were lots of children about the same age as she was, most of them going through the same emotions; and there were a couple of teachers too. The place was a total chaos.
After a little while, one of the teachers sang her favourite nursery rhyme about twinkling stars, probably to pacify the crowd. But none of the twinkling stars in the class were in any mood to stop what they were doing. But it did have a little effect on her and she stopped crying. That was when she looked all around her to see how her school was. She got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the window. The flurry of emotions that had left her just a little while earlier came back rushing at her when she saw her mother there. She didn't even try holding back her tears this time and cried to her heart's content. She had been told that the first day at school would be short, but it seemed an eternity to her.

Eventually, after an hour of strong emotions, the teacher let everybody go home. The feeling of freedom and relief when she left school was the same as that when she started for school, something that cannot be put down in words. While walking home from school, she decided that she was not going to school anymore.

School days are over, college days are over, but those were exactly the same kind of emotions I went through when I joined office after a month-long vacation.
Old habits die hard..

Broken bones and...

It was the most promising day of every week. It was a Friday. The day when each one of us would set out from the hostel in the morning, dropping in at office on the way home. It was on such a beautiful day that my step faltered just a little bit. Probably, I might have been dreaming about my upcoming Delhi trip, which was less than a week away, that I didn't notice where I was going or it might have been the extra spring in my steps, the day being a friday, that I didn't have any control on what I was doing. The former seems more probable since the latter happens every Friday.

As soon as I stepped out of the hostel, I tripped on something. I later figured out that it might have been the floor mat which did the trick. My friend's helping hand, or rather, her helping shoulder saved me from falling down. But the damage had already been done. There was a striking pain in my left leg and I thought I was fainting. But that happens everytime I hit my leg somewhere, so I didn't bother much about the fainting sensation. But this time, it was for real and I blacked out. The next thing I can remember is a crowd staring at me and one of them sprinkling water on me. I couldn't immediately recollect what had happened and tried standing up on my feet. I was immediately reminded of the what happened and the fainting sensation returned. Luckily, I didn't faint this time. My friend helped me go to my room so that I could take rest. It was there that I saw the swelling on my leg which was growing at an exponential rate. I had an inkling that this was something big. I decided it would be the biggest of blunders to go to office and immediately left for my aunt's place. By the time I reached there, the swelling had become quite huge and it was hurting quite bad.
I had two options. One, meet a doctor immediately or two, go home and leave everything to dad. I preferred the second option. So had a pain-killer tablet and left for home. The threat of fainting on the way was looming, but I decided to tackle it head on. The trip on the way home was uneventful and I reached my dad's office without any trouble.
My leg was X-Ray-ed immediately. The look on everyone's face told me it was a fracture and I was hoping against hope that it was just a sprain and that I had a chance of being let off with just a bandage. I really didn't want my Delhi trip to be cancelled. I had been dreaming about it for a couple of months now.
The X-Ray technician was approaching dad and me with a slight smile on his face. The verdict was out, but I thought it was coming a wee bit slow. I didn't know what to expect. I sincerely hoped he would say that it was just a small sprain and nothing to worry about. Dad got up and went on to meet him. He said something but I was not able to read his lips. I was still awaiting the verdict. Finally, dad broke it to me. It was indeed a fracture.
I hoped over and over again that all this was a dream. But nothing could be more closer to reality and I had to accept it. Dad was running all over the place trying to find a doctor. One of my cousin's doctor friends asked us to come over immediately.
We got to the hospital and the doctor reviewed my X-Ray. He confirmed the X-Ray technician's diagnosis.
A bandage with some medication was put on to reduce the swelling. The doctor wanted the swelling to reduce before the cast was put on. He advised me 4 days of total rest and mandated that my left leg was always on top of two to three pillows.
I found that these four days were the longest in my life. I was struggling to kill time. It was as though all the clocks had gone on strike.
At last, the day dawned. I was supposed to go to the doctor to get my leg enclosed in plaster. I was hoping that the plaster would be small and that I could still be on that flight to Delhi. But once again, it turned out to be quite the contrary. The cast was a long one, one that stretched from my knee to my toes. Well, that was the last nail in the coffin.
The doctor again advised me 2 days of total rest and a not-so-total rest of 4 weeks. A welcome break from work, he joked. But lying down the whole day with your feet enclosed in plaster of paris is not what I'd call a welcome break. It's a break alright, but an unwelcome one, that too at an unwelcome time.
When all the formalities in the hospital were completed, dad dropped me back home.
And here I am, trying to kill time, with broken bones and a broken dream.